Winter vs Summer tyres on X-drive

[bcredliner]

I think it is important to keep to experiences with an E53, at least a X5, rather than a sedan or two wheel drive etc. The experiences with other vehicles may not be applicable at all.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

Many folks are not going to watch a video. I usually won't, although I did in this case. Like with most of these videos, it's about a paragraph of meaningful commentary spread out over nearly a quarter of an hour.

For those that can't justify spending 15 minutes to listen to a video that provides great input--you're making a mistake. As I have posted, the video includes much more pertinent information than the summary. But whatever floats your boat, just my opinion.

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

I've used at least half a dozen different winter tires, all from new. I'm just saying that the Wintersport 3D was the worst in the snow of all of them. They trade snow traction for dry performance, which is probably why you like them so much as an all season. Because they really are basically an all season.

What width? PSI? I had 235s and 255s. there was absolutely no comparison between the two I was blown away by the 235s and the 255s were like you described.

I would describe the 255s similar to how you described them as a very decent all season tire 235s a true Nordic winter grip. ¹/₂ g braking force on slush over cement at 2C.

I have no problem whatsoever driving on fresh 15 inches of snow With the 235s. 255s definitely float on top once you get deeper than about 10-12" But I never had a problem plowing through a foot of snow on the 255s

I have parked my car in 3 inches of water in the morning drove out of solid ice Without spinning the ti.res. That may have been With the 235s I have to look at the photos

With the 255s I have no fear of driving down into a ditch with 5 inches of snow to tow out of car that went off the road. I drove in and out about four times to pack down the snow before pushing the car out of the ditch with my car.

This will not happen with 6000# car and all seasons.

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

I think it is important to keep to experiences with an E53, at least a X5, rather than a sedan or two wheel drive etc. The experiences with other vehicles may not be applicable at all.

+1 very very different. Also as mentioned the 235s have FAR better traction in snow than the 255s but they suuu uuuck every other moment.

The 255s do a fine job with the 3.0 in every situation I've thrown at them. They aren't perfect always but they are the best compromise for my use.

I will take a couple videos to try to compare on wife's 50i which has enough power to break traction vs. My 3.0i which cannot.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

I think it is important to keep to experiences with an E53, at least a X5, rather than a sedan or two wheel drive etc. The experiences with other vehicles may not be applicable at all.

Going to have to disagree. A tire is a tire. You can adjust for fundamental handling characteristics.

And if you actually believed that, why do you think that the tire review video is relevant? (And to be clear, I do actually agree that the tire review video you shared was very good.)

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

Going to have to disagree. A tire is a tire. You can adjust for fundamental handling characteristics.

And if you actually believed that, why do you think that the tire review video is relevant? (And to be clear, I do actually agree that the tire review video you shared was very good.)

Looks like I should have been more clear. There was no intention of even implying the results of the controlled test are applicable to an X5. It was purely to post the difference between anecdotal opinions and a professional test.

What adjustments would you make if the tire you choose results in too much understeer?

If I had a Camaro I wouldn't go to a X5 forum to ask about the best tire for a Camaro. And I pay little attention to what tire works best on a Camaro when my interest is solely getting input on the best tire for an X5 on this forum.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Looks like I should have been more clear. There was no intention of even implying the results of the controlled test are applicable to an X5. It was purely to post the difference between anecdotal opinions and a professional test.

What adjustments would you make if the tire you choose results in too much understeer?

If I had a Camaro I wouldn't go to a X5 forum to ask about the best tire for a Camaro. And I pay little attention to what tire works best on a Camaro when my interest is solely getting input on the best tire for an X5 on this forum.

You are radically over-indexing for differences between cars. If you look at conepacking, in the street tire classes where cars have lots of choices, the competitive people all end up on a very small set of tires (or even the same tire) on very different vehicles.

Yeah, if you have a set of fairly similar tires, direct experience is going to help differentiate. But that's at a point when you're talking subtle differences.

The fact is that most people haven't even used enough different sets of tires to have a valid opinion on whether a tire is good or bad. At best, they can say that the tire meets their expectations. But what is their expectation reference? Do they even know what understeer is? If they know what understeer is, how much of that understeer is caused by their driving style?

[andrewwynn]

It off course is assumed that we are talking about tires on an X5 in the X5 forum.

The "dissenting voice" has a screen name based on 325 though also has X5 in their signature.

So: is your "bad experience" with Dunlop tires germane to the use on an X5? Or was that on a 325.

Different tires will be much different on different cars off course. What works great on an X5 could be total crap on 525.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

You are radically over-indexing for differences between cars. If you look at conepacking, in the street tire classes where cars have lots of choices, the competitive people all end up on a very small set of tires (or even the same tire) on very different vehicles.

Yeah, if you have a set of fairly similar tires, direct experience is going to help differentiate. But that's at a point when you're talking subtle differences.

The fact is that most people haven't even used enough different sets of tires to have a valid opinion on whether a tire is good or bad. At best, they can say that the tire meets their expectations. But what is their expectation reference? Do they even know what understeer is? If they know what understeer is, how much of that understeer is caused by their driving style?

You didn't answer my question. What would you do if the tires you have chosen cause too much understeer?

I don't view this as splitting hairs, far from it. I see it as information to help make an informed decision rather than just do what others do not knowing if your results will be the same.

I don't think it matters if they know what understeer is or not. If their driving causes understeer and the tires magnify understeer they may not know why but they will know they didn't like going into the ditch. A stock X5 is designed to understeer. I would never want a tire that would add to understeer.

We aren't discussing racing. That is entirely a different breed of cat and we would be talking about summer or race tires only. This discussion is about winter tires. If you are a serious racer you are aware of the sensitivity of width, size of tire, tire pressure, track conditions, alignment, weight distribution etc. have on handling. And likely the first place you would go to get the best tire input, if needed, would be to someone that does very well and has the same or very similar car, setup and similar HP/TQ.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

It off course is assumed that we are talking about tires on an X5 in the X5 forum.

The "dissenting voice" has a screen name based on 325 though also has X5 in their signature.

So: is your "bad experience" with Dunlop tires germane to the use on an X5? Or was that on a 325.

Different tires will be much different on different cars off course. What works great on an X5 could be total crap on 525.

Have you ever compared the same tire across a bunch of different cars? I have. The characteristics of a tire remain consistent across different cars.