I was recently amazed the difference some decent winter tyres can make on a car that would otherwise be quite a handful in the snow (in proper snow in Chicago, in an an M3) and I decided that I'd invest in a set only to have this reinforced by the fact that I can't actually drive anywhere at the moment as I'm unable to drive off my road. Apparently the tyres I'm on at the moment (Bridgestone RE050A) are amongst the worst in cold weather, joy. So, I'm after a wheel/tyre set. Any recommendations of particular tyres for the winter months? (ideally run flat, though I could always bring along a repair kit). Any places on the interwebs that do decent wheel/tyre packages? I'm not after any flashy wheels, as small as possible (which brings me to this question, how do I know how small I can go, I would have thought 16s would be fine) How flexible am I with regards to the width? Do I need to match what I've got at the moment, or can I get all four the same size? I must admit, I'm not one to dick about too much with cars, so long as they get me from A to B (and are entertaining in doing so) I'm happy, but it isn't getting me very far from A at the moment. Free cookies for anyone who assists! EDIT: and possibly helpful: The car is a 2009 BMW 123d M coupe, budget is no more than £1000, though from what I've seen £800 shouldn't be a problem.
From what you've said, are the front tyres a different width to the rear tyres then? I wouldn't go ridiculously thin, if you could tell us what width the current tyres are that would help. With regards to width, snow/ice requires thinner tyres, you then get more pressure in a smaller area, for example, my Dads Jag S-type, which when it last snowed really bad a few years ago, got completely stuck due to it having the wider tyres (and I assume they were normal weather ones too). It just ended up wheel-spinning and pulling itself further into the verge. What size/diameter are the current wheels. The thing that affects how small a wheel you can get is how large the brakes are. However, go too small and it will probably have bad consequences. I would only ever go 1" smaller than whats standard, if anything. From BMW site, this is what they quote as being on the 123d M coupe sport. 205/50 R17 (front), and 225/45 R17 (rear) I think I'd stick with those, you'd be able to go to a narrower tyre with a narrower wheel, standard rim is 7J, so you could probably drop down to 6.5J, but I don't think I'd go much smaller than that.
What dictates the smallest wheel size is basically the diameter of your brake disks +calipters. I have no idea what's minimum on the M3, but standard should be 235/40R18. I have my doubts about being able to fit 16" on it. AFAIK the M3 have larger brakes than normal. (I have no idea about what year we are talking about here. These data is for a E90. I presume other models will have about the same specs.) I wouldn't go for any wider tires than stock, tbh. In the winter you need to be able to "poke through" the loose snow on the road. You should never drive active on winter tires because of the soft rubber anyway. I wouldn't recommend run flat tires. They tend to be a bit stiff and noisy. As for specific recommendations on what to get, I have no idea. Try to find some car magazines/sites that have tests of tires.
I don't want to go too thin. There's probably only a couple weeks out of any year with actual snow/ice on the roads, whereas a good few months where it's cold enough to warrant winter tyres (apparently summer tyres harden up something fierce at 7C?) The current tyres are 215/40 front and 245/35 rear, 18" wheels. I was hoping to go 16" for cost, and the same tyre/wheels all round. You can spec the car with 17" wheels, so that would only be an inch down from that. And yes, its not an M3. Driving with them on an M3 is the reason I'm after a set With regards to brake size, I figured that was what was standing in the way, but can't seem to find out what the minimum would be on my car. Can I just take a ruler to them ?
Ah right, yes, I'd got for some 17s then, 17 must be the stanard wheels as thats what I got from the BMW site. 17s with 205/50/17 tyres would probably do quite nicely. Blackcircles would be a good place to look, lots of tyres and lots of reviews. I just had a quick look, but couldn't find any tyres listed as specific winter tyres, but I didn't look at all of them. Although looking at the BMW site again, the base model 1 series do have 16" wheels, 16x6J rims, so if the braking system on your car is the same as every other 1 series, then yes you'd be able to fit 16" wheels on it. However, with it being an M 1 series, I wonder if the braking system is the same, probably, but you'd want to check.
That bit was put on while I was writing /being distracted. Yeah, 17" is stock. The standard brake size is 330 front and 300 rear. I have no idea how big the calipers are, though. You could measure, but remember that the dimension on the rims doesn't say very much about the actual inner diameter. Find a local tire/BMW shop. they should be able to tell you. (You don't have to buy there). And yes, summer tires in cold weather is no good. Especially when you get onto ice/snow. You'll have no grip what so ever. edit: The 120 uses 300/300 brake discs, that's why it can be fitted with 16" rims.
I would imagine that if the smallest tyre size available is a 17" I'd go for that, I'm sure someone would have bought 16's if possible.
17" it is then. Pushes up the price a bit, but still well worth it in the long run. I'll probably cruise ebay for second hand alloys, so I'm looking for 17x7, 5 stud... Any other specifics? (I really do need someone to hold my hand here ) EDIT: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ac-schnitzer-..._tyres_Rims_Car_Wheels_ET?hash=item20aeb4cb0f These are a bit scagged, but they're going to be filthy for most of the 3 months of the year the car is wearing them. Am I barking up the right tree here?
It hasn't been that warm here in months I've heard good things about Dunlop SP Winter Sport and Michelin Xi2's, but haven't had the need to pick up either one. Mind you, these are US prices, but I can pick up either set for under $600
I know you aint a dummy, Tad, but beware of fake alloys on eBay; try and see 'em first if you can. BMW alloys are (allegedly) a favorite for people who make knockoffs
£1000, stuff that go buy a beater for couple hundred something front wheel drive and a petrol. Your diesel is dumping a bucket load of torque down at low RPM on fat tyres with sod all weight over the rear end. Tyres wont do much, unless you chuck some weight in the boot and pull off in 3rd, but then your clutch will take a hammering and fuel economy goes down due to the extra weight.
I've learned one very important thing since moving from an E55 AMG to a Jeep. When traction is low, you could "air down", i.e. let air out of the tyres so they're running at less PSI than normal. As I recall my Merc ran 33 PSI or thereabouts normally, though I could safely drop to 18 or so for more traction. BUT!!!! Keep the speed down, drive safely, and inflate as soon as safe to do so... And in any case, if you're on ice, nothing will help you I'm afraid - I got my Jeep stuck in 4wd on a bad camber ice road outside my house. And even worse I looked like a complete arse Cleggy.
Depends on the tyre; some BMWs have their rides utterly ruined by them (which, IIRC, is a primary reason REAL M-division cars (M3, M5, M6, Z3M, Z4M, not X5M, X6M etc) usually junk them for normal tyres). On the other hand they're OMFitment on most Porsches, and those are fine, as are all recent Minis etc. Snow chains or studded tyres Cheesecake! They're like the gold standard of ripoffs. I've seen more fake M3 CS alloys than real ones. Frankly, for two months of winter driving a year, and having seen what road salt does first to the lacquer and then to the very substance of alloys, I'd be tempted to get a set of steelies. There's nothing more satisfying than watching people skid horrendously expensive alloys into kerbs, safe in the knowledge that you could have all four of your wheels stolen and it'd still be cheaper than the repairs they're now contemplating. Second-hand alloys are also a bit of a lottery - you'll only find out about faults like being porous and being ruthlessly kerbed and badly repaired after you've taken delivery. Still, let us know what you go for...
I presume you know changing wheel size will alter your speedo? See here so you are aware of the difference..... http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html And what Burnout21 said is actually quite true - the massive low end torque is going to nullify much of the gains of chunky tyres in such a lightweight car. I would never consider paying a grand for that....
I could probably get a taxi everywhere too for £1000, but that's not the point. An M3 dumps out a lot more torque, and it was embarrassing 4x4s stuck in 6" of snow as it passed. With cheeky wave for comedy effect Run flats, unfortunately. I've had no complaints about them, until now. :/ Point taken, I'll ring round some local places today and see what kind of deal they can do on alloy/tyre packages. I can't quite bring myself to putting steelies on, but I will go for whatever 17" alloy is cheapest. May be £100/wheel to start out with, but once Yep. Should only under read by a couple % though. I figure the torque would help out, as I can just ease out the clutch and idle to get going then throw it straight in to second, then third, without even touching the accelerator. I'm not just getting winter tyres for snow though, there have been a few occasions before the snow came when I noticed a lot less grip than I was used to under breaking on dry roads that I suspect was because of the low temps hardening up my tyres. I'll ring round today and try to get some prices, though winter tyres are looking a bit short on the ground at the moment, unsurprisingly :/
Open your NSF door and their is a sticker which tells you all wheel sizes and psi for your car. My E90 is on 16" 205 winter tyres and it's still not drivable in these conditions although that hasn't stopped my car park fun ^^
Also remember that you'll want to get a wheel with the right offset and the correct stud positions. I don't know what the stud sizing is on BMWs, if its 5 stud, it'll be expressed as 5x***. For example most fords are 4x108, meaning four studs, and the centre to centre of opposite studs is 108mm. For 5 stud wheels measure from back of stud one, to the center of stud three. Offset is more tricky, this will determine how far out/in the wheel sticks compared to the hub. The measurement is the distance from the mounting face of the wheel to the centre line of the wheel. You'll want to get a wheel with the same offset as your current ones, so you need to find that out, its usually stamped on the inside of the rim, something like ET**.
Tad, have you been driving an M3 in America, and come back here to notts looking for winter modifications for snow driving in your 123d Its getting awfully confusing! Your 123d produces 400Nm at only 2000 RPM, and a M3 produces the same torque at 3900RPM, nearly twice the engine speed to generate that torque. Look at the power curve info here Look how steep that torque curve is, very narrow rev range low down. Your traction control will be going nuts, making it impossible to drive, i actually suggest switching it off and let your foot and brain work it out! Also find some large rims, go big as possible, by doing this you're effectively gearing up, reducing the wheel speed, helping to put the power down.
You have to fit runflats. Your suspension etc is setup for them (to compensate for the harder sidewall), using normal tyres will make the car horrible to drive & will kill the car rather quickly. For winter driving go for narrower tyres with chunky grip. Don't go for chrome or fancy laquer as salt will corrode it. Make sure you regularly clean & wax the wheels to protect them. (above info was from a major BMW dealer in the Staffs area, not me) I follow the above advice with my 120d & have no problems in sensible amounts of snow.
