X5 + Snow = ?

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by Wagner

10", amazing considering the ground clearance is about 6.5" on the frame

j/k

It can be done...we've plowed through a footish plus with white
knuckled success, when we lived on the Mtn full time. Course we
had a set of style 57 17" with Mich Arctic Alpin tars on. And, we
never came to a full stop, .

ML: all good info above: snow tires are the ticket. We got up and down
4 miles and ~3000 vertical feet with no problem and that was with our
'01 which has the orig. and less spectacular old AWD system, not the
newer XDrive system. The sumbitch goes in any weather, imo.
GL,mD

[Wagner]

Originally Posted by motordavid

It can be done...we've plowed through a footish plus with white
knuckled success, when we lived on the Mtn full time. Course we
had a set of style 57 17" with Mich Arctic Alpin tars on. And, we
never came to a full stop, .

ML: all good info above: snow tires are the ticket. We got up and down
4 miles and ~3000 vertical feet with no problem and that was with our
'01 which has the orig. and less spectacular old AWD system, not the
newer XDrive system. The sumbitch goes in any weather, imo.
GL,mD

Was it light powder...the slush crap we get here would bend the bumper back haha

[hani831]

The X5 is amazing in the snow, and i'm not even running winter tires, just regular all seasons.

[MotoLinz]

Good info, thanks! But, I'm tire-retarded unless we're talking about motorcycles...

Most of my winter driving will be around-town garbage in Knoxville, which gets basically no snow and only occasional ice (that I've thus far handled without issue in my crapbox Honda). Snowy mountain roads are weekend fun, and I don't plan on much more than a few inches of fresh snow on a generally hard-packed surface and patchy ice.

So, would it be reasonable to run real winter tires for the entire season, for both of those driving purposes, or would I be better off to run something less serious and save the ride quality for the bulk of my driving (grocery gettin')?

I have no idea if any of that made sense.

[Boston X5 4.4]

Originally Posted by nrgetic99

Ding Ding Ding !

We have a winner

I would like to get hold of some Grantrek Wintersport M2's for next season to try as the reviews are incredible ... they appear to combine dry road performance with snow traction while being quiet and wearing well... however, they sell out every year by October

David

Awesome tires

I have these in 17's on my X and they are excellent. I would get them again without any question. I go way up in Maine/Vermont in the winter and regulary hit the 6" + of snow and have never had a problem.

[Boston X5 4.4]

Originally Posted by MotoLinz

Good info, thanks! But, I'm tire-retarded unless we're talking about motorcycles...

Most of my winter driving will be around-town garbage in Knoxville, which gets basically no snow and only occasional ice (that I've thus far handled without issue in my crapbox Honda). Snowy mountain roads are weekend fun, and I don't plan on much more than a few inches of fresh snow on a generally hard-packed surface and patchy ice.

So, would it be reasonable to run real winter tires for the entire season, for both of those driving purposes, or would I be better off to run something less serious and save the ride quality for the bulk of my driving (grocery gettin')?

I have no idea if any of that made sense.

You can't run winter tires in the summer - rubber compound is designed for flexibility at low temp so it will wear out in no time at high temp.
If you don't want to go summer and winter sets then maybe a good set of all-seasons will serve you well. Although you need to understand their limitations in snow.

[nrgetic99]

Originally Posted by jimbeattie

Up here where snow is not unknown, 18" rims with Scorpion Ice work just fine.

We should start a poll... I think this wheel tire set up is very, very common as that is what I have.

David

[MotoLinz]

Originally Posted by Boston X5 4.4

You can't run winter tires in the summer - rubber compound is designed for flexibility at low temp so it will wear out in no time at high temp.
If you don't want to go summer and winter sets then maybe a good set of all-seasons will serve you well. Although you need to understand their limitations in snow.

Got that bit.

I'm not opposed to winter and summer sets - I just need something in the winter that would handle 90% around-town driving and 10% mountain roads/snow. In the summer, I'd need around-town driving and mountain road twisty carving tires.

[nrgetic99]

Originally Posted by Tomaz

I've driven my X5 with 19" Pirelli Zero's through 5" to 10" of snow in blizzard conditions with no problems. If you are a able winter driver the X5 is more than capable. Enjoy

I would not argue that fact but the original poster implied he did not have a lot of experience in the snow ... ability or not, experience counts.

In that same line of thought, I have driven rear wheel drive and front wheel drive vehicles extensively in the snow and if you gave me a choice, I would take an X5 over any of them , with or without snow tires ...but I just wanted the original poster to be aware that the wrong tires can lead to an elavated confidence when driving in poor weather.

If you are new to the vehicle and expect the X5 to make up for a lack of grip then you may be in for a rude awakening as evidenced by the handful of vehicles I see getting hauled out of the ditches or worse on the back road up to the resort every single day I drive it. Its all about confidence with the equipment you have.

Now if you truly prefer wide P-zero's in the snow over something more all season, I suspect your last name may be Grunholm and you may drive a rally car for a living

David

[Werewolf]

instant death

Sorry, that was too easy.

Most snowy conditions can be handled by the x5 with All Season tires. That said, if you are really in a snowy place then a 2nd set of rims with snow tires.

2004-06 x5s have more advanced all wheel drive systems (xDrive) while the 2001-03 x5s have a fixed 35/65 front back AWD system.