Which Tires and rims to choose?

[tekman]

Ok, so I've already ordered a new F25, Black on Black, Aluminum trim, Sport Package, Premium and Cold weather package.

I'm uncertain if I should update the order and get the sports tires and rims for only $600 more. It seems like a decent upgrade for the price, and it makes the SAV look much more sporty, however I have one problem.

When I take delivery it will still be winter, and although we don't get a ton of snow here in the St. Louis area, we do get some and we do get Ice storms occasionally. With the sports performance tires I know I would need dedicated Cold weather tires right away and put the performance tires up for the remainder of the winter.

That being said, are the performace rims and tires in the upgrade option, that much better than the normal tires and rims?

Also,

Is it a smarter option to just get the dedicated 18's and Spider style rims that are defaulted and use them for normal cold weather driving, then get a custom set of summer sport rims and tires later in the year for summer driving? Again, I'm not really knowledgable on what after market RIM and tire options will fit the new X3 yet.

Thanks in advance.

[Naz24]

Get the sport package, either deal with the summer tires for this season or immediately switch out and get all seasons. BUt if you dont switch out now, i'd say right before next winter to put a good set of all seasons or get dedicated snows

[Drtdvl]

+1
If cost is not an issue, I would get the sport package. I'm not too sure how much winter you get but I am planning to get snow tires when my unit comes in. I think a set of non run flat tires and alloys are about $1,500 (plus slime kit) or less.

You guys have the luxury of Tirerack and their pricing is always pretty good.

[JCL]

Get the sport package if you like it. Get a set of take-off wheels from your dealer, with performance winter tires.

I don't understand the point of buying a performance vehicle and putting non-performance tires on it, for either season. It isn't the snow you need to worry about, it is the cold weather. And even if you don't have much this year, you likely will next winter. If you are keeping the car a few years, it is worth getting it set up right from the start.

[tekman]

Sport package is already decided upon. The only thing I was trying to determine is if I should get the upgraded sport Rim and tires, then go out and buy new rims and dedicated winter tires or do the opposite. Get the default 18's and use them as winter tires and then purchase a new set of custom rims and sport tires for summer.

I think the later is how I'm leaning. The sport rim offerings aren't overly exciting yet for this model, and there are some nicer all black rims, I. E. Falken or other custom rims, that when put into a java simulation tool, look pretty damn sweet. I'd rather not spend 4K on sport rims from BMW just because they have the BMW logo on them.

If I need to upgrade to Blizzaks on the default rims I may eventually do that. STL winters are pretty mild as far as snow goes.

Thanks for your input all.

[JCL]

Sorry, I meant sport rims.

If you get the sport rims, then you can have performance tires for both summer and winter. That will give you the most out of your new vehicle.

If you get the standard rims, you get all season tires, which you would either have to sell and get performance tires for winter, or put up with until they wear out.

[tekman]

I was really not wanting to have to swap the tires on the same rims, twice a year. I'd rather just swap out the entire wheel/rim myself when winter arrives and then again when summer arrives. I know it's pretty cheap to have a tire mounted and balanced, but I'd rather avoid the hassle of haviing to do it each year.

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by tekman

I was really not wanting to have to swap the tires on the same rims, twice a year. I'd rather just swap out the entire wheel/rim myself when winter arrives and then again when summer arrives. I know it's pretty cheap to have a tire mounted and balanced, but I'd rather avoid the hassle of haviing to do it each year.

As suggested earlier, get the 'performance wheel/tire set' now. Then cop a set of used 'smaller' winter wheels with dedicated winter tires next fall for the few months you need them in winter season.

The smaller wheel/winter tire set will do wonders, it saves your 'summer set' and it's cake swapping wheels as opposed to having some knucklehead beat on your rims swapping tires twice a season, imo.
GL, mD

[JCL]

Originally Posted by tekman

I was really not wanting to have to swap the tires on the same rims, twice a year. I'd rather just swap out the entire wheel/rim myself when winter arrives and then again when summer arrives. I know it's pretty cheap to have a tire mounted and balanced, but I'd rather avoid the hassle of haviing to do it each year.

That is what I was suggesting, to have two sets of rims.

If you get the sport rims with the vehicle, you get summer performance tires. Buy a cheap set of rims with winter performance tires right away.

If you get the standard rims, you can buy larger rims with performance summer tires later, but you are stuck with the all season tires that came with the vehicle.

[AzNMpower32]

I agree with the others. The Pirelli Cinturano C7 that comes on the 35i standard, even though its marked "M+S", has a tread pattern that is not suitable for snow. In fact, the model itself is a summer tire, but Pirelli probably modified the compound a bit so it could be marketed as M+S for BMW. So even if you didn't get summer tires, the alternative is a summer-biased all-season.