E90 320d M Sport Plus Winter Tyres

[Goa'uld]

As seen by the title I have a very specific question to ask. I should be getting my new work car end of August approx and I wanted to get some early studying done on the winter tyres that I will need. I barely managed this year in my FWD car with good tyres on, I have alot of remote country driving to see family over the xmas season and I don't think that the 320d would even get up the easiest lane to the folks farm. Has anyone got any experience with this model and winters? As this is a company car the option to put different alloys on with winter tyres becomes an issue and I want to see if someone has put winters on the Sport Plus 18's. The sizes are as follows;

Front 225/40/R18 8J
Rear 255/35/R18 8.5J

I know they are going to be pricey but theres no way I want to be reverting to the tractor (yes you could argue that the 320d is a tractor aswell)this year!

Alternatively does anyone know the smallest Alloy that could be fitted to clear the brakes?

[gizlaroc]

You may be better to buy some 225.45.17s tyres or similar (205.50.17 would be ok, as would 215.45.17 or 235.45.17's) and some cheap 17" wheels off ebay.
Keep your good wheels for the other 8 months of the year.

You could put 225/40/18's on all round, they may look a little stretched on the rear but will fit.

[Jedimindtrix]

How about buying Steel wheels wrapped in Winter Tyres? Looking at doing the same for my D3 but unsure of which ones to go for.

Mytyres seem to have a good range.

[stongle]

gizlaroc said:

You may be better to buy some 225.45.17s tyres or similar (205.50.17 would be ok, as would 215.45.17 or 235.45.17's) and some cheap 17" wheels off ebay.
Keep your good wheels for the other 8 months of the year.

You could put 225/40/18's on all round, they may look a little stretched on the rear but will fit.

^^^this^^^

Alternatively, if it;'s a company car look into BMW's winter tyre programme. If I remember correctly they switch out your wheels for 17's on winter rubber for the snowy months and BM store your other wheels for you. It's more expensive than the above route, but might be an option dependent upon how your company scheme works.

I've got a 2009 M Sport Touring, on the M Lites with runflats. Absolutely gash in the snow and ice. Try being stuck on the up slope of the dartford bridge for 2 hrs with a screaming 6mth old in the back. It's worth the "bag of sand" or so on winter wheels tyres.

[Goa'uld]

Hmm, talking to them today about it (trying to push the H&S side of it...) and it may be allowed to put another set of alloys on for winter. I guess the 17" will offer more reasonable priced rubber aswell. Pretty tempted by these on ebay;



Not sure I could put up with steelies all winter long. Are there any actual packages that BMW offer? I have sent a mail into my local dealer as they were clueless on the phone but the last question took them an age to respond to. They must spend too much time having 'joy' as opposed to customer service.

[GWMD]

I just picked up a spare pair of alloys (17's) off ebay, and had some more suitable tyres fitted.

If I were you go for the lowest size possible so for a 320 16's, much cheaper tyres, and the alloys will be cheaper. You dont have to get steelies, and I wouldnt bother going for wheels that are in perfect condition. They will get scratched etc!

Mine on the winter set of alloys.

[mekondelta]

Goa'uld said:

Hmm, talking to them today about it (trying to push the H&S side of it...) and it may be allowed to put another set of alloys on for winter. I guess the 17" will offer more reasonable priced rubber aswell. Pretty tempted by these on ebay;



Not sure I could put up with steelies all winter long. Are there any actual packages that BMW offer? I have sent a mail into my local dealer as they were clueless on the phone but the last question took them an age to respond to. They must spend too much time having 'joy' as opposed to customer service.

Each dealer has their own policy on storing tyres. Some are set up for it and will charge you upto 200/yr (IIRC)and throw in some goodies (a flashlight or something) and others will stare at you blankly and kick themselves for not having thought of this already...

[Silver993tt]

gizlaroc said:

You may be better to buy some 225.45.17s tyres or similar (205.50.17 would be ok, as would 215.45.17 or 235.45.17's) and some cheap 17" wheels off ebay.
Keep your good wheels for the other 8 months of the year.

You could put 225/40/18's on all round, they may look a little stretched on the rear but will fit.

I use 225/17s winters all round on my 330D, car looks fine. They're a bit more recessed than the standard 18s but it's not worth faffing around with spacers etc. The 17s on my car a great in winter time ane the car gets used to drive to Austria during the winter.

[gareth h]

I ran 225/255 vreds on 18"s on my m3 last winter they were unbelievable in the snow, previous year I ran Mich ps2s and the car was undrivable in the white stuff.

[Goa'uld]

gareth h said:

I ran 225/255 vreds on 18"s on my m3 last winter they were unbelievable in the snow, previous year I ran Mich ps2s and the car was undrivable in the white stuff.

Do you mean the vredestein wintrac xtreme? That seems to be top of the pops on all the forums that I've been on. I think it's going to be a case of trying to source them from Europe and not a UK company - I don't really want to lose those smoked 18" alloys for half the bloomin year up here. Where did you get yours from?

[swanny71]

Goa'uld said:

Do you mean the vredestein wintrac xtreme? That seems to be top of the pops on all the forums that I've been on. I think it's going to be a case of trying to source them from Europe and not a UK company - I don't really want to lose those smoked 18" alloys for half the bloomin year up here. Where did you get yours from?

I also ran these on my M3 last year with brilliant results. Got them from mytyres who were good to deal with.

[theboss]

I bought a BMW winter tyre package for my E90 330i in December and then sold the car barely 6 weeks later... the OP can always PM me closer to the winter if interested... they are currently in storage with my dealer

[gareth h]

Goa'uld said:

Do you mean the vredestein wintrac xtreme? That seems to be top of the pops on all the forums that I've been on. I think it's going to be a case of trying to source them from Europe and not a UK company - I don't really want to lose those smoked 18" alloys for half the bloomin year up here. Where did you get yours from?

Yep they're the ones, mine came from Mytyres, they ship from Germany, uk stock is virtually non existent as winter approaches as they all go to Europe.

[sanjoyp]

I have 225/45/17 & 255/4/17s on my 2007 320d M Sport Touring, would 225/45/17s stretch on to the offset rears ?

tia

S

[Silver993tt]

sanjoyp said:

I have 225/45/17 & 255/4/17s on my 2007 320d M Sport Touring, would 225/45/17s stretch on to the offset rears ?

tia

S

I use 225/45/17 winters on my 2009 E91 330D touring without any problem. I've done several trips to Austria withthese wheels/tyres during the winter.