Winter wheels and tyres for an F30 3 series?

[Bobupndown]

Idly thinking about changing my wife's current VW for a 3 series, she has always wanted one but never went for it so far. Where we live a 4x4 is a huge bonus in winter. Wouldn't get out of our lane without one sometimes so a 320d Xdrive would seem to be the best all round model. Most of these seem to come with 18 or 19" wheels as standard. My query is - what size wheel can you go down to to run sensible sized winter tyres? Are there different sized brakes on different trim levels which would prevent this? Thinking that 17" wheels and winter tyres would be a good option. Thanks.

[RBrown]

I ran my 330d xdrive on winters and it was great.

A SUV may give you better ground clearance.

It depends on which model you get. If you get a M Sport model with the blue brake callipers, I think 18” is the lowest you can go.

Can I recommend you have have a look at the following website. The guys are great to deal with a they offer “guaranteed fit”.

Hope this helps!

https://www.mrwinterwheels.co.uk/bmw-winter-wheels...

[SteBrown91]

If you go and look at one it will tell you on the door sticker what wheels will fit the specific car. As a rule of thumb on smaller engines you can run 16 inch steels (I did this on my old 320d for winter) but if you have blue brakes you need 18s - though some people say you can fit 17s but it may depend on the design of the wheel

[b14]

Get on eBay and get a set of 400m 18s second hand for £300 odd. Then tyres for them. From memory mine are 225/45/18s on the front and 245/40/18s on the back, Vredestein Wintrac Pros. Work great on my F31 340i, no problem going over the blue brakes.

[naturalaspiration]

320dx can go down to 16 inches on standard brakes. The narrowest tyre is 205/60/16. If you want good grip in snow don't go wider than 225.

http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/F30N/Europe/320d...

[mmm-five]

SteBrown91 said:

If you go and look at one it will tell you on the door sticker what wheels will fit the specific car. As a rule of thumb on smaller engines you can run 16 inch steels (I did this on my old 320d for winter) but if you have blue brakes you need 18s - though some people say you can fit 17s but it may depend on the design of the wheel

The sticker on my 320D gives the sizes and pressures for 16" wheels, but BMW tell me I can't go smaller than 18" to fit over the 340mm front brakes.



If it doesn't have those brakes, then as said, you can go down to 16" (better winter ride, pothole protection, and cheaper wheels/tyres too).

[ian in lancs]

i have 225/45 R 18 and 255/40 R 18 Continental Winter Contacts (non RFT) with TPMS valves and circa 5mm tread left fitted to BMW 7845880 and 7845881 alloys. They were fitted to my F30 325d but I didn't bother this winter.

[Pica-Pica]

ian in lancs said:

i have 225/45 R 18 and 255/40 R 18 Continental Winter Contacts (non RFT) with TPMS valves and circa 5mm tread left fitted to BMW 7845880 and 7845881 alloys. They were fitted to my F30 325d but I didn't bother this winter.

They had a good reputation for performance in warmer (well, milder) weather too, so they could be a 6+ month tyre.

[Theoldfm]

I’ve got the 18” M Sport rims for winter to replace the 19” summers