Winter tyres

A

aml_al

Member
 Leamington Spa
After a bit of backround on winter tyres for the m4c.

I've been thinking it might be an idea to preserve the wheels over winter anyway, (especially having done 3k in 6 weeks of ownership!!) so figure it makes sense to go for winter tyres too.

Do any of you fine gents (and ladies) run winter tyres? And if so have you any benchmark to compare and contrast?

Thanks in advance. :D
 
I recently put on Bridgestone's Blizzak LM-60's. I have not had any chance to test them in any serious bad weather yet but they are acceptable for normal driving. They feel just a bit soft for anything real aggressive but that does not concern me as I stay off the throttle for the most part as I want to get 3 winters or more out of them.
 
Have you used winters before? Anything to guage the performance against?

I've only had FWD before the mc so was always quite happy coping with the daily slide to work in the blissfull arogance that the car wouldn't cost that much to fix anyway! Not too keen on sticking this one in a ditch!
 
I had a pair of Blizzaks on my M3, they seemed fine but I didn't do much in snow. Just a couple of short runs here and there. I got them because I was stuck in Spokane Washington with a fist sized hole in one 19" rear tire and canvas on the other rear. (Note: don't drive on I-90 on PS2's in the summer if you want good tread wear, the road surface eats them)

I hardly noticed them being on there, the road noise was not noticeable and the handling seemed fine. All in all the Blizzaks were a good tire and I'd buy them again if I needed snows. They were a bit pricey @ $650 each.

another note: I live in Canada and drive a 4 wheel drive pickup for the 5 months (Nov -April) that I can't/won't use the BMW. The M3 only went out on decent days last winter and I needed snows to get out to the main roads which were usually in OK condition, just a few patches of snow and ice, nothing major. Probably more than adequate for a UK winter.
 
aml_al, have a look on this site http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m11b0s0p0

Any of those will be adequate for our winters. I ran with Avon Ice Touring last year.
 
I`m looking into doing something with winter tyres also. I`ve found the MC worse than my 3.0Si was last year, dunno if it`s the Conti M3 Sport tyres or (and?) the different suspension setup the //M has - and of course the slip diff might not help in treacherous conditions either. Live axle more suited apparently.
Thinking about getting a new set of wheels for Summer and keeping my current ones wrapped in Winter tyres.
 
I fitted Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 in front and PA2 in the rear on the stock wheels (bought a second set somewhere secondhand, did not want to lose the sports driving on dry winter days) and at 6 degrees celcius on a dry road, the PA's stop 70cm shorter than the PS's I run outside of winter, braking from 62mph to 0.

I originally wanted to go for Dunlop WinterSports, but an M5 owner who had had both advised me against the Dunlops which according to him did nothing to improve driveability on winter roads, and lacking any good driveability in the dry or wet.
 
I've had trouble sourcing winters at an acceptable price so ended up just sticking another pair of Conti M3`s on the back to get some new tread as they were low and one had a slow puncture (£320 for two fitted). I`m hoping the winter gets no worse :). By the time the rears wear down next year I`ll be due an entire new set so might stick winters on the wheels ready for next winter.
It`s a pity there isn`t a better market in the UK for Winter tyres, instead they seem to be 'special order' item which increases the price.
 
Vredestein tires are not generally available in the US but from everything I've read they make an excellent winter tire at a reasonable price.
 
WLH said:
Vredestein tires are not generally available in the US but from everything I've read they make an excellent winter tire at a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Over here I was quoted over £920 for a set of Vredestein Ultrac Etreme tyres, the only Vredestein winter tyres I could source in the size required, in fact the only winter tyres I could easily source. That price is a lot more expensive than either Vredestein performance tyres or even the Continental Sport M3`s :(.
 
Darren M yes finding the right size is a problem for the "M" and the only tires I could source without difficulty in the right sizes were Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60's which I had mounted a few weeks ago. A set of Vredestein Ultrac Extreme tires would be about $1,100 if I was willing to drive 2 hours to the nearest dealer in New Jersey.
 
I got my chance to test Blizzak's reputation tonight in my E90 3 Series,
about 3-5 inches of snow on the ground right now, More is expected,

But wow was I impressed,
I drove fine with very minimal slippage or drama, I even went to a un-plowed car park and turned DTC and DSC totally off and I could still drive fine,
I was very skeptical on how great these were esp after having a 4WD Jeep in the snow last year (which was pretty much unstoppable in the snow) so for these tires to impress me that much says a lot!

Last year I had the factory Bridgestone RE050A run flats on the 3 series and tried to move the car and it wasn't happening at all,
The summer tires wouldn't even make it out of the driveway, So I was scared and skeptical about the Blizzaks as we don't have the Jeep anymore,

But ever since I fitted them last week my total winter driving has been great, They are much softer than the runflats, the ride has improved and grip in the cold had very much improved,
Its almost like I don't want to switch the summer rims back!
 
well
wintertyres help but dont think for a second that your car will become invinsible .

driving on ice the gain is minimal ,in a bit of snow or wet roads they will help .
 
I'm living at the west coast of Norway. We do occasionally have some snow here, and I have invested in some stud free Michelin X-ice (on 17" Dotz rims). It works well on snow, but not that good on ice. Due to the fact that the rubber in the snow tires is "softer" than summer tires, the car behaves calm with very little tram lining when driving at high speed on the motorway.
 
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