Winter Tyres - again

[x5x3]

I need to get some this year - work has changed so will need to leave the house a bit more often.

According to the BMW website the tyres for my car are £1900 including the wheels.

Tyres are Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3.

1) anyone have any experience with these?
2) my car currently has 19", these are 18" - anything else required setup wise?
3) £1900 seems a lot - any other options?

Doing nothing is not an option, last year there were quite a few occasions when my car could not even get up the hill outside my house.

Thanks in advance.

[mondie]

Are we talking M5?

I bought a set of OEM winter tyres and rims from a seller in Germany in July, cost about 1400 delivered. Fitted them yesterday and wow what a difference. Transformed driving in the wet, half throttle accelerations are no problem, takes a bit of effort just to get the rear to step out in the wet and slush we had yesterday.

[x5x3]

oops - forgot to add that bit - it is an E92 M3!

[LoonR1]

I'll be fitting mine when I get back to the UK next week. Michelin Alpin something or others.

They're just going on the normal competition pack wheels. No idea what size they are either.

[BullyB]

I have Falken Eurowinter tyres on some standard 18" BMW wheels.
Really good and not too expensive. I would shop around online if I were you.

[pjv997]

I found them to be very good for my E90 M3.

I have read that a rear wheel drive on winter tyres will cope better in snow than a 4x4 on regular tyres - can't comment personally on that.

As it happens, I have a set of 18" OEM wheels (cost c £1,900 as you say) and winter tyres from my M3 which have only done about 2,500 miles. I bought them last winter and then swapped my M3 for an M5 earlier this year, so they are almost like new. Sitting in my garage and planning to put them up for sale before Xmas.

[jm doc]

mondie said:

Are we talking M5?

I bought a set of OEM winter tyres and rims from a seller in Germany in July, cost about 1400 delivered. Fitted them yesterday and wow what a difference. Transformed driving in the wet, half throttle accelerations are no problem, takes a bit of effort just to get the rear to step out in the wet and slush we had yesterday.

Was this delivered to the UK? And do you have a link to their website?

[krallicious]

x5x3 said:

I need to get some this year - work has changed so will need to leave the house a bit more often.

According to the BMW website the tyres for my car are £1900 including the wheels.

Tyres are Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3.

1) anyone have any experience with these?
2) my car currently has 19", these are 18" - anything else required setup wise?
3) £1900 seems a lot - any other options?

Doing nothing is not an option, last year there were quite a few occasions when my car could not even get up the hill outside my house.

Thanks in advance.

1)They are superb. I have not been stuck at all since using them and there a lot more snow in winter here than in the UK and I take my car skiing every year.
2)Nothing needs doing as they are a straight swap.
3)German ebay.

[mondie]

jm doc said:

Was this delivered to the UK? And do you have a link to their website?

I will email you the details. Price was 1700 Euro delivered.

[jon-]

The Pilot Alpin range are some of the best winter tyres in the big sizes.

[Jarrod]

Just had these fitted to my M3, 265s and 245s on my existing competition wheels. The ride is much smoother than my old tyres but suppose the real test will come when the weather gets bad but very impressed so far. Think the retail price is about £1200 for the four tyres. I picked up a very nearly new set from ebay for £600so was very chuffed!

[x5x3]

Thanks for the replies all - I think I'm going to get the new ones on the basis they should last a few years and I am not planning on changing cars.

I hear what you are saying about ebay but I am always a bit nervous about where things come from when buying off ebay!

[krallicious]

Just a quick look on ebay and I found these.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/4x-BMW-LM-Rad-Doppelspeiche...

They are used but appear to be in good condition with a couple of mms left on the tyres. Could be a good buy if you can get them cheap.

[jon-]

krallicious said:

Just a quick look on ebay and I found these.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/4x-BMW-LM-Rad-Doppelspeiche...

They are used but appear to be in good condition with a couple of mms left on the tyres. Could be a good buy if you can get them cheap.

Only for the wheels, winter tyres become pretty useless after 3mm.

[krallicious]

Or even better

http://www.ebay.de/itm/18-Zoll-Winterrader-orig-BM...

1340€ including postage to the UK. Two tyres haves 4.5mm and the the other two have 6.5mm.

[Big E 118]

Alpin's are available in for 19 inch wheels. Ordered mine today for £1,348.00 including fitting.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of winters out of them.

[krallicious]

jon- said:

Only for the wheels, winter tyres become pretty useless after 3mm.

Exactly. Wheels for about 500€ and you would be laughing.

[krallicious]

Big E 118 said:

Alpin's are available in for 19 inch wheels. Ordered mine today for £1,348.00 including fitting.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of winters out of them.

I've had mine for two winters and have driven about 16000 miles on them. They will last this winter too before having to be replaced so just nder 25k will be pretty good going I think.

[Big E 118]

krallicious said:

I've had mine for two winters and have driven about 16000 miles on them. They will last this winter too before having to be replaced so just nder 25k will be pretty good going I think.

Excellent, they sound a bit better value for money now!

[LoonR1]

Big E 118 said:

Alpin's are available in for 19 inch wheels. Ordered mine today for £1,348.00 including fitting.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of winters out of them.

Mine went on today, as the normal rear tyres were shot anyway.

Michelin Alpins 245/35/19s on the front and 265/35/19s on the rear.

I ordered the fronts direct from Germany last month at a cost of around £500 delivered and the rears were in stock at my local tyre place (they charged me £690 for the rears and to fit all of the tyres).

Not too bad IMO.