Wonders of Ebay again
Discussion
Found out that the 18" rims with 255's on my X5 can't take snow chains which I need to go to the Alps in Feb. According to BMW you need a set of 17 inch with 235's to give enough clearance.
BMW new price - nearly £2000 all in
Ebay to the rescue again - find a full set with almost brand new tyres (M+S which are ideal as they are designed for snow). snip.pl'd it. £245 for the four.
Picked them up this afternoon. Cracking deal gromit
J
BMW new price - nearly £2000 all in
Ebay to the rescue again - find a full set with almost brand new tyres (M+S which are ideal as they are designed for snow). snip.pl'd it. £245 for the four.
Picked them up this afternoon. Cracking deal gromit
J
joust said:
Found out that the 18" rims with 255's on my X5 can't take snow chains which I need to go to the Alps in Feb. According to BMW you need a set of 17 inch with 235's to give enough clearance.
BMW new price - nearly £2000 all in
Ebay to the rescue again - find a full set with almost brand new tyres (M+S which are ideal as they are designed for snow). snip.pl'd it. £245 for the four.
Picked them up this afternoon. Cracking deal gromit
J
Feel sorry for the bloke who's car is now on bricks!
They might of - but they do seem to be a bit of a faff and if you had a serious bit of suspension compression they would probably hit (it seems there is bugger all clearance between the wheel and the body/wheelarch on the outside that's the issue).
Plus I get M+S tyres on the 17"s (with about 6mm of tread left) which are far better in light snow than the standard tyres on the 19"s that I have on there at the mo.
J
Plus I get M+S tyres on the 17"s (with about 6mm of tread left) which are far better in light snow than the standard tyres on the 19"s that I have on there at the mo.
J
I have a much better suggestion. My X5 wheels are 20" and 335 at the back from memory and when it snows rather than trying to faff about with snow chains..........
............I fit a Discovery 3. Sure it's a little more than a set of wheels but my wife leaves one hanging around most days!
See what 6 months without my Noble has done to me!!! Matt you have mail!
............I fit a Discovery 3. Sure it's a little more than a set of wheels but my wife leaves one hanging around most days!
See what 6 months without my Noble has done to me!!! Matt you have mail!
Had a riot this morning driving down the mountain fron La Plagne in the Alps after it had dumped nearly 2 feet of snow in the last 12 hours! (yes, just as we are leaving!!)
Can some one tell me why you can't turn off ABS on cars as it nearly killed me and 4 mates! The snow was about 2 inches thick on the road down and even the slightest touch on the brakes in many spots just before the hairpins, induced abs judder and a huge understeer slide. One of such slides left us about 3 feet from the sheer clif drop that had no barrier!!
I feel that if abs had not kicked in, I would have been able to far better regulate the brake pressure and avoid locking up. Also would have built up a wedge of snow under the wheels which would help stopping.
Not the best road trip of my life today!!
Greg
ps. It was in the Chrysler Voyager. (which is a great car to get 6 folks and 6 snowboards across countries in comfort!)
Can some one tell me why you can't turn off ABS on cars as it nearly killed me and 4 mates! The snow was about 2 inches thick on the road down and even the slightest touch on the brakes in many spots just before the hairpins, induced abs judder and a huge understeer slide. One of such slides left us about 3 feet from the sheer clif drop that had no barrier!!
I feel that if abs had not kicked in, I would have been able to far better regulate the brake pressure and avoid locking up. Also would have built up a wedge of snow under the wheels which would help stopping.
Not the best road trip of my life today!!
Greg
ps. It was in the Chrysler Voyager. (which is a great car to get 6 folks and 6 snowboards across countries in comfort!)
ABS, as you have found out, is crap in Snow. You need a "wedge" of snow to build up in front of the wheel to allow the car to snow, and ABS stops that happening.
Fortunatly the X5 has hill decent control so I would have just used that, and it allows the wheels to lock that makes it controlled, but you are right, it's amazing they build cars like it.
J
Fortunatly the X5 has hill decent control so I would have just used that, and it allows the wheels to lock that makes it controlled, but you are right, it's amazing they build cars like it.
J
Getting close to my own people carrier decision now:
Did back to back viewings of XC-90 and Discovery 3 and reversed earlier impressions...discovery 3 definitely looks the better buy (if for no other reason than more adult friendly rear seats)
Think I might go for the unloved variety - 2005 V8 with 2.5k miles for 34k (list £48k)...and we complain about Noble depreciation!
4th kid due April...so anyone needing an XC70 please consult the small ads. (Advertisment over)
Did back to back viewings of XC-90 and Discovery 3 and reversed earlier impressions...discovery 3 definitely looks the better buy (if for no other reason than more adult friendly rear seats)
Think I might go for the unloved variety - 2005 V8 with 2.5k miles for 34k (list £48k)...and we complain about Noble depreciation!
4th kid due April...so anyone needing an XC70 please consult the small ads. (Advertisment over)
Presumably if you'd had snow chains (yes even on a 4x4) the grip would have been better and the ABS would have worked better?
Personaly I'd vouch for snow tyrres. I came down of the mountain last year after a 2ft dump in a fiat of some sort with snow tyres rented from Lyon. The road was littered with trucks and cars, the first we saw was a Cayanne parked with two wheels the wrong side of a small wall, but our little fiat just sailed down, the grip from the tyres was tremendous and the sense of security enormous. We had snow chains on teh second (UK) car but didn't think to need them on our car.
However once on the dry the problem was that of you went over 160kph the tyres started to melt, the stink from the hot rubber was attrocious.
Regards
Paul C
Personaly I'd vouch for snow tyrres. I came down of the mountain last year after a 2ft dump in a fiat of some sort with snow tyres rented from Lyon. The road was littered with trucks and cars, the first we saw was a Cayanne parked with two wheels the wrong side of a small wall, but our little fiat just sailed down, the grip from the tyres was tremendous and the sense of security enormous. We had snow chains on teh second (UK) car but didn't think to need them on our car.
However once on the dry the problem was that of you went over 160kph the tyres started to melt, the stink from the hot rubber was attrocious.
Regards
Paul C
paulcundy said:Hence I've ordered chains for the X5.
Presumably if you'd had snow chains (yes even on a 4x4) the grip would have been better and the ABS would have worked better?
Interestingly the manual says to only put them on the rears, but I've got M+S tyres which are designed for "mud & snow" (hence the name) on there as well so I hope I shouldn't have Greg's problem.
Couple that with HDC and I think I've got everything covered (although having a Land Rover family vehicle would probably be easier!)
J
I am of the opinion that if you take snow chains, it won't snow. And we don't want that to happen!!
Still, the snow starting just after your last run of the week is very insulting!!
The bigger problem I had was putting the car in "L" mode (steep decent with no gearchange) and driving down the mountain for 45 minutes until we noticed black smoke and a terrible burning smell.
On consultation of the owner manual it stated that the car should only be driven up to 2000 rpm for a maximum of 3-5 minutes!!
OOOpppsss. Got home alright though!
Greg
Still, the snow starting just after your last run of the week is very insulting!!
The bigger problem I had was putting the car in "L" mode (steep decent with no gearchange) and driving down the mountain for 45 minutes until we noticed black smoke and a terrible burning smell.
On consultation of the owner manual it stated that the car should only be driven up to 2000 rpm for a maximum of 3-5 minutes!!
OOOpppsss. Got home alright though!
Greg
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