Winter Tyres

[carl_w]

Bradgate said:

As a RWD BMW owner, I have decided that I have to get some winter tyres, so I would appreciate some advice on the following :

Might be too late, as they tend to go out of stock around this time of year. November is prime season for winter tyre availability.

I may have a spare set in March if you're interested

[g3org3y]

Bradgate said:

As a RWD BMW owner, I have decided that I have to get some winter tyres, so I would appreciate some advice on the following :

1, Is there such a thing as winter runflats?

2, Will I need a second set of wheels, or will my summer tyres simply be removed from the rims and stored ready to be put back on in the spring?

Thanks!

I'm assuming it's for your 330d (must be an E92 for runflats to be an issue)?

What size are your current alloys/tyres?

Tbh I'd be looking to get a second hand set of smaller alloys - this will allow you to get cheaper winters plus narrower tyres are better in snow. Imvho I don't think constant mounting/remounting is good for tyres.

[goldblum]

Bradgate said:

As a RWD BMW owner I would appreciate some advice ..

That's a phrase I never thought I'd see on here.

[trashbat]

WorAl said:

2) you can use the same rims, tho I don't think it's advisable to put on/take off tyres from rims too often. After all you can buy part worn tyres.

What do you think happens? Genuine question - though I don't believe the availability of part worn tyres is related.

[Wombat3]

Bradgate said:

As a RWD BMW owner, I have decided that I have to get some winter tyres, so I would appreciate some advice on the following :

1, Is there such a thing as winter runflats?

2, Will I need a second set of wheels, or will my summer tyres simply be removed from the rims and stored ready to be put back on in the spring?

Thanks!

Yes - I've got Goodyear Ultragrip runflats on mine

Upto you - I bought some BMW alloys off Ebay (identical to ones already on the car) - was cheaper than some of the steel wheels on offer. You'll be lucky to get tyres swapped over for much less than 50 quid a time - so £100 a year. A seperate set of wheels therefore makes sense pretty quickly.

[Bradgate]

g3org3y said:

I'm assuming it's for your 330d (must be an E92 for runflats to be an issue)?

What size are your current alloys/tyres?

Tbh I'd be looking to get a second hand set of smaller alloys - this will allow you to get cheaper winters plus narrower tyres are better in snow. Imvho I don't think constant mounting/remounting is good for tyres.

Thx for the reply.

Yes, it's an E92 330d. A quite superb car for 50 weeks of the year and, on its current tyres, an entirely useless heap of junk for the other 2.

It's on 245/55 18s from memory, but it's far too cold to go and check. I would prefer not to incur the expense of buying new alloys, but if I have to, I will.

Edited by Bradgate on Monday 21st January 00:01

[Bradgate]

carl_w said:

Might be too late, as they tend to go out of stock around this time of year. November is prime season for winter tyre availability.

I may have a spare set in March if you're interested

I really should have sorted this in Nov, but I didn't get round to it. Sounds like I might have to nick a set off another Beemer in that case!

[Bradgate]

Wombat3 said:

Yes - I've got Goodyear Ultragrip runflats on mine

Upto you - I bought some BMW alloys off Ebay (identical to ones already on the car) - was cheaper than some of the steel wheels on offer. You'll be lucky to get tyres swapped over for much less than 50 quid a time - so £100 a year. A seperate set of wheels therefore makes sense pretty quickly.

Good point...thx

[Wombat3]

Bradgate said:

g3org3y said:

I'm assuming it's for your 330d (must be an E92 for runflats to be an issue)?

What size are your current alloys/tyres?

Tbh I'd be looking to get a second hand set of smaller alloys - this will allow you to get cheaper winters plus narrower tyres are better in snow. Imvho I don't think constant mounting/remounting is good for tyres.

Thx for the reply.

Yes, it's an E92 330d. A quite superb car for 50 weeks of the year, and, on its current tyres, an entirely useless heap of junk for the other 2.

It's on 245/55 18s from memory, but it's far too cold to go and check. I would prefer not to incur the expense of buying new alloys, but if I have to, I will.

Buying a second set of wheels is a cash flow issue - you can get most if not all of your money back out of them (unless you buy brand new from BMW!)

Paying Kwik fit / ATS etc to swap tyres over is just dead money.

I'd be looking at putting some 17s on it for the winters - they will be much less expensive. There will be a wheel/tyre combination that will retain the original rolling radius (i.e. the speedo accuracy etc)

[blueST]

I'm up in Penines, just got in from work about 10mins ago. I live at the top of a steep partially unsurfaced road and it's been snowing hard for about 2 hours. I've got Vredestein Wintrac. Mostly no problem and I know I'd be screwed on summers but struggled on the steepest bit even though it's well surfaced there. The main problem seems to be that the TC fights the wheel spin so hard it almost stalls the engine and I lose all momentum. I'll try it with electronics off next time, but with quite a lot of torque it's hard to stop the wheels spinning instantly.

[jshell]

grand cherokee said:

as an aside - many Range Rover owners run the Vredetein wintrac 4 Xtreme all year - something confirmed by tyre companies and 'specialist forum' members

I'm toying with the idea of doing this with the Cayenne rather than have 2 x £900 sets of tyres!

[j4ckos mate]

Well the snows a lot worse today.
(manchester)

My works transit, got through no problems, couple of smashes on the way in though one Peugeot 107 was sat on top of the deformable bollards, one car gone up the rear of another,

just to be on the safe side told her to stay in on the summer tyres,

i still thing alot of it is down to anticpating the conditions

[tenohfive]

blueST said:

The main problem seems to be that the TC fights the wheel spin so hard it almost stalls the engine and I lose all momentum. I'll try it with electronics off next time, but with quite a lot of torque it's hard to stop the wheels spinning instantly.

I've got a much lower powered (and diesel) car than yours but turning off ESP or TC is the first thing I do when the snow settles on the road - it's much easier to get going and stay going. I don't envy you in something a bit more free revving - sounds like a lot of delicate throttle control is required.

[WorAl]

trashbat said:

WorAl said:

2) you can use the same rims, tho I don't think it's advisable to put on/take off tyres from rims too often. After all you can buy part worn tyres.

What do you think happens? Genuine question - though I don't believe the availability of part worn tyres is related.

The inside diameter (bead) of the tyre will eventually get stretched, therefore the seal wont be as good on the rim of the wheel, that's why I said "too often", I'm sure it'll be ok to do a few times, but (I'm only presuming here) that if it's done too many time the bead will lose its elasticity and won't seal properly. I may well be wrong, but it's always been something I've thought would happen.

[WorAl]

Also, 350Z on Summer rubber (Eagle F1's) was eventually defeated today in 6" of snow this morning. It actually defeated itself as the TC cut in on a hill and I lost all power and momentum, had to abandon in a local carpark less than half a mile from my parents, not too bad since I had covered 7 miles prior to that. Hopefully I'll be receiving my snow socks soon, heard great things about them, so I'll be able to get my baby home.

[Munter]

Bradgate said:

As a RWD BMW owner, I have decided that I have to get some winter tyres, so I would appreciate some advice on the following :

1, Is there such a thing as winter runflats?

2, Will I need a second set of wheels, or will my summer tyres simply be removed from the rims and stored ready to be put back on in the spring?

Thanks!

I went for the Nokian WR A3 runflats on the 325. 225/45/17 for me. Yesterday I popped out to the shops. No bother in both the compacted snow/ice on the way into and out of the supermarket. And no problems on our road where I've had to push a 330d E46,a 1-series almost got stuck this morning, and a Vectra has been abandoned. Using the same tyre style on the Mrs MX5 and no dramas there either.

For speed I'd probably get the winters fitted to your current wheels. Then contact breakers (e.g. www.fabdirect.com)/ebay and get a 2nd set of wheels to fit the summers onto after a referb if they need it.

The other problem is storage. 4 tyres take up a lot of space.

[WorAl]

tenohfive said:

blueST said:

The main problem seems to be that the TC fights the wheel spin so hard it almost stalls the engine and I lose all momentum. I'll try it with electronics off next time, but with quite a lot of torque it's hard to stop the wheels spinning instantly.

I've got a much lower powered (and diesel) car than yours but turning off ESP or TC is the first thing I do when the snow settles on the road - it's much easier to get going and stay going. I don't envy you in something a bit more free revving - sounds like a lot of delicate throttle control is required.

It's not quite that easy when you a have a car with a lot of torque as the torque makes the wheels spin up even on the lightest of throttle input, it's a very fine balancing act, which I found out this morning.

[Zod]

blueST said:

I'm up in Penines, just got in from work about 10mins ago. I live at the top of a steep partially unsurfaced road and it's been snowing hard for about 2 hours. I've got Vredestein Wintrac. Mostly no problem and I know I'd be screwed on summers but struggled on the steepest bit even though it's well surfaced there. The main problem seems to be that the TC fights the wheel spin so hard it almost stalls the engine and I lose all momentum. I'll try it with electronics off next time, but with quite a lot of torque it's hard to stop the wheels spinning instantly.

Switch off traction control and set off in second. I manage it with an engine that produces rather a lot of torque. You get a bit of initial wheelspin and some squirming as the tyres fight for lateral grip against the torque, but just counter-steer and you'll get up the hill. The only problem is on very narrow roads with obstacles close in on both sides.

[Chicane-UK]

I found leaving ESP on helped me make better progress than turning it off on really icy roads.. with it on the wheels just lit up as the turbo came on boost and I didn't really move anywhere, but ESP was able to modulate it to provide admittedly slow but steady acceleration.

[Ullevi]

Bradgate said:

carl_w said:

Might be too late, as they tend to go out of stock around this time of year. November is prime season for winter tyre availability.

I may have a spare set in March if you're interested

I really should have sorted this in Nov, but I didn't get round to it. Sounds like I might have to nick a set off another Beemer in that case!

You'll still be able to get winter tyres, including runflats if you want, from internet suppliers- usually European. Try MyTyres, Reifen or Pneus on line.

Don't forget, if you go the run flat route, you may have to get another set of tyre pressure sensors if you get a second set of alloys, unless you can turn off the TPWS in BMWs.

I just have a second set of alloys with winters on and swap them over Nov/Apr or thereabouts and have done it for 2 cars the last 3 years.