What winter/all weather tyres do you use

[9designs]

Searching around and reading reviews, first issue most don’t go as wide as 255 for the rear (18 inch)
Looking more at all weather/season, as number of snow days is small, but wet and cold is everyday.
My P zero are rubbish, never liked Pirelli, cold damp conditions is very low grip.
Hence my theory to go all season to keep better grip, stopping distance etc in the cold and sacrifice a little snow grip of a full winter.

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure about your logic oponeo shows 26 different winter tyres in that size?

Winter tyres are not for snow they are for winter...ie any time temp is 8c or below with any form of moisture..

The only issue for winter tyres is that they wear rapidly and possibly start to go off in circa 20c plus

All season as they say are all season but not quite as good as pure summer tyres and not quite as pure winter tyres in hard winter conditions..

So not sure where you are going with this...

As someone who runs / has run every combination of summer /winter/all season not sure what your question is?

 

[Mr Tidy]

Personally if I was driving a Z4 all year round I'd swap between winters and summers rather than have the compromise of an all season tyre like Cross Climate, etc.

But the last 5 years I've had a daily driver 3 Series and have swapped between winters and summers.

I've had Michelin Alpins which were great in cold and damp conditions, but never got tested in snow as we didn't have any!

Then last year I had Bridgestone Blizzaks that were amazing when the Beast from the East arrived.

This year I've got Hankook I cept evo2s and they seem OK so far, but obviously no snow down here yet.

To be fair if I was starting from scratch I'd use an all season variety on the 3 Series as it is a different sort of car to a Z4, but my last 2 came with winters anyway so I just swap wheels twice a year.

 

[9designs]

My question or debate is for winter, switch to full winter or all season/cross climate. From looking on black circles and mytyres I don’t seem to find that many winter or cross climate options. Obviously come summer I’ll revert back. But for our climate verse say somewhere like Central Europe i’m thinking a cross climate type would be a better choice than a full winter tyre.

Edit,
Never seen that oponeo site before, 18 winter 1 cross climate. ( 255/35/18 )

 

[Anakin]

I've found this You Tube Channel very good.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvB1bmKjPWZ3V1wSdBnXPQ

I have just bought a set of Pilot Alpin 5 245/40/18 w rated for my TT. Not really used them yet though ...

 

[Anonymous]

The winter tyres issue is driven by many key questions for an owner..

If the Z4 is a sunny day toy..why bother?

If you like to use it all year round?

Then is it a keeper?

Then next thing is to have a set of summer wheels maybe 18/19 and a set of winter wheels 17/18.

You may want to have a higher profile on the winter tyres as a pothole defence measure..

Swapping repeatedly from winter to summer on one set of wheels is not good for the tyres or wheels and costs probably £120 per year

If you use it all year round and its not a keepers..then maybe some all season tyres are the best (most cost effective) solution..

Depends where you live but one key issue in many parts of the UK is as the winter drags on the potholes get deeper and deeper..

A winter tyre set in a 17 with good high profile is a great defence..

I've now run 17 18 19 wheels with summer and winter on 17 and summer on 18 and 19..the 17 and 18s ran summer and winter premium continentals..the 19s were bridgestones runflats

Subjectively the 17 wheels with either set of continentals were great..the winter tyres were a revelation in terms of grip in a wide variety of conditions up to the point of 20c days driven hard when the wear rate through the roof (280bhp used hard doesn't help)

Like many things untill you've tried it you don't know what you are missing..

 

[dhobbs]

I have 18 inch summer tyres and then swap to 17inch for winter. These have a higher profile perfect for winter potholes.
My summer wheels get a good clean and hibernate in the garage away from salt etc.
I currently have Nokian winter tyres and they are fine.

As for wear and tear, you won't be using both sets at once so the mileage is spread over the two sets.

My car is a daily driver so I want to know I can get to work, or more importantly get home from work.

 

[Beeacon]

As stated above by others, last year I used Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 (225/40/18) on all 4 wheels and I have to say, they were bloody fantastic below 8 degrees; I also bought some wheels specifically for this (making sure to get painted wheels as diamond cut go horrendous with de-icing salts).

Had a blast in the snow with the roof down. Everyone else struggling to get grip and winter tyres will allow you to just sail past, can't stress enough the difference they make, and I'll be re-fitting them this weekend I think.

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1616460#p1616460

 

[9designs]

I was most interested in what brand people use and have tried if they were in your chosen size etc.
I use mine weekly, I have 19 inch diamond cut face wheels for summer, and some "old" 18 inch 294 BWM wheels to collect tomorrow, so need to order some tyres.
Was also thinking to up the profile a step as well so 255/40 on rear not 35 and 225/45 on front not 40. All depends on what combinations are available and in what brand etc.
It seems sometimes you can find the rear but not a matching brand for the front in the required size.

With 340 odd HP and buckets of torque through an auto box it gets interesting real quick in the slippy conditions !!!!

 

[Jembo]

Michelin M&S Alpin’s in answer to you first question OP.

Found the test below very interesting, where down to 2 degrees in the DRY, summers still perform quite well... if it’s wet or damp prepare for brown trousers.

https://youtu.be/bKtnczk8Mxk

I drive regularly on summers & winters, where arguably I’ve found the biggest difference is on (Black) ice - oh & by the way from earlier today.... winters coming!

 

[9designs]

Excellent Jembo, great video, exactly what I was trying to conclude, All season are the way to go for winter in the UK.
The description of how it all changes once it's damp is spot on, which is most days I guess.
Off to find something that will fit !