How rubbish is your BMW in the snow?

[///Mike]

I was expecting getting home to Newbury to be difficult last night but I did expect to get out of the car park.

I was the only car that didn't make it out which I was suprised at. Its not that I can't drive in the snow either, I spent most of my life living in the Peak District so have a lot more idea on what to and what not to do than most people.

I tried all the different traction control settings but frozen stiff, wide runflats with no give in them coupled with the first turbo spooling up at 1300rpm makes for a pretty shocking effort in the snow. I saw quite a few BMWs struggling in the snow last night but the 1ers seem to struggle the most.

Whats working for you then folks, what is the best traction control setting, they all seemed pretty useless to me. I even swithed it all off completely engaging the E-diff which I thought would help but it didn't

This isn't a whinge btw, for the other 364 days of the year it beats most cars on the road hands down in all the departments that I care about.

[rassi]

Did a 1000 km journey yesterday in conditions that ranged from terrible (snow, ice, slush snow mixed with salt) to almost dry roads, and the M5 did it amazingly. The small print:WINTER TYRES

[tuffer]

Just managed to get home last night, heading south on the A34 from M40 to A303. It got a little dodgy around Abingdon but kept it pinned at a steady 40mph at a decent distance behind a HGV in the outside lane and it was OK. Got all the way home and was beaten by the 1/4" of snow on my drive that has a less than mild gradient, nearly slid back into the garden wall. Stuck a log behind the back wheels and left its ass hanging out over the path.
Oh yeah 530D Auto.

[Speed addicted]

No problems at all here! X5.

Of course the other 4 BMW's I've had were pretty poor in snow, a set of Pilot Alpines transformed the 3 series.

[Slurms]

I just lurked in my office in bracknell till about 7 and then drove home to thatcham..

M4 was ok, A4 got a little ropey

Maybe the only time I've ever been thankful that my M3 doesn't arrive till tomorrow

[Bodo]

I was quite surprised actually. We had about 15cm of snow, with new snow over old. It's a hilly area, and there's lots of run-ups in uphill direction. The car moves always, and DSC/DTC off made no difference in progress. My guess is that the traction control finds a compromise when, technically, the conditions are that the rear wheels must spin in order to get the car moving, as even with everything on, the rear of the car was slightly weaving with its tail uphill

I use run flat winter tyres 205/17.

[Vee]

My manual 118d was OK getting back last night.
It's got less than 200 miles on it and had to take off in 2nd for most of the journey. Clutch didn't like it as I could smell some burning.
Left that for the Mrs today so am in a 335d m sport which is an experience.

[///Mike]

I just can't bring myself to purchase a set of winter tyres as the winter is never really that bad, mostly wet with 2 or 3 snow days.

I have been looking at snow socks this morning.

Slum it was in Thatcham that I got stuck last night!

I spoke to my mate who has a 123d up in the Peak District and he got completely stuck too.

I did honestly think it would fair better than it did but in all fairness I tried for 10 minutes without being pushed anywhere and then gave up thinking how upset I would be bending a brand new car when I had the option to leave it and get a lift. I have become way more sensible over the years.

[Slurms]

///Mike said:

Slurms it was in Thatcham that I got stuck last night!

Ah well next time you should take a PH flag with you and other members can help tow/push you along

[rich_vw]

I have to admit that the difficulty has always been to get moving, once on the go I've had no problems, just take is steady. I put this to the test in a 120d coupe last year when we had the bad snow, made it from Gwynedd to Skipton for an interview, was only about 10mins late and the chap mentioned that his local work force hadn't made it in so was supprised to see me.

[///Mike]

Slurms said:

///Mike said:

Slurms it was in Thatcham that I got stuck last night!

Ah well next time you should take a PH flag with you and other members can help tow/push you along

Haha yes, tbh I thought I would park it up very quietly and slip into a company Honda to avoid embarassment.

I am looking at these:

http://www.goodyear-snowchains.co.uk/product.asp?u...

[bennyboysvuk]

///Mike said:

I just can't bring myself to purchase a set of winter tyres as the winter is never really that bad, mostly wet with 2 or 3 snow days.

Apparently, the compound from which summer tyres are made hardens noticeably at below 7 degrees. Therefore winter tyres are better below 7 degrees, which of course covers 2 or 3 months of winter.

They're still around £600 a set on my car though, so it will have to remain on summer tyres.

[Slurms]

///Mike said:

Slurms said:

///Mike said:

Slurms it was in Thatcham that I got stuck last night!

Ah well next time you should take a PH flag with you and other members can help tow/push you along

Haha yes, tbh I thought I would park it up very quietly and slip into a company Honda to avoid embarassment.

I am looking at these:

http://www.goodyear-snowchains.co.uk/product.asp?u...

I've thought about them as well... Might order some and just keep them in the boot for days like this..

I assume they can only be used on snow though and that if you ended up driving on slush and tarmac you'd have to take them off again?

[Ed]

My wifes 130i M-Sport was absolutely mental in the ice / snow. Short wheel base RWD and a decent grunty engine meant making progress down the country lanes near home ranged from the enjoyably drifting under power to the wholly less intentional 'thank fk I caught that one in time'.

Quite frankly, my gran would have made more rapid progress up some of the hills though.

[BliarOut]

My E39 actually fell off the camber of the road while it was stationary

[Huff]

E34 540i on 9J rears: hilariously useless yesterday, but fun

[westmoorfarm]

Not rubbish at all, in fact I would say good fun. I run winter tyres on steelies from Mid November through March, they are V rated so there is no real compromise in fitting them. They work really well on cold wet winter roads as well as snow - thats why I think of them as cold weather tyres rather than snow tyres.

[LordGrover]

BliarOut said:

My E39 actually fell off the camber of the road while it was stationary

I went pretty steady in the E46 yesterday in 6" snow and it wasn't undriveable. No real problems though on the odd occasion I blipped the throttle 'just to see' - it definitely had the potential to get way out of hand very quickly with little effort. Driven sensibly it was fine.

[BliarOut]

LordGrover said:

BliarOut said:

My E39 actually fell off the camber of the road while it was stationary

I went pretty steady in the E46 yesterday in 6" snow and it wasn't undriveable. No real problems though on the odd occasion I blipped the throttle 'just to see' - it definitely had the potential to get way out of hand very quickly with little effort. Driven sensibly it was fine.

I know... I was sat there and I thought WTF as she just slid towards the kerb of her own accord Shoulda took the Griff instead

[CommanderJameson]

Mine's not too bad, but it's not on terribly wide tyres (225/55R16).