questions for owner of 20" w/summer tire?

[us_matrix]

I wonder you have to change winter tire or all-sesaons tire when you drive in snow if you have 20" w/summer tire. Here is my quesiton. If I am going to upgrade from 19" (255/50) to 20" staggered setup, I think 4 wheel alignment must be needed after I upgraded to 20"....
If that is the case, what happen if I switch back to my 19" all-season for driving in snow just for short period of time (like a week or two to Lake Tahoe ski) and then switch it back to 20" staggered setup? Do I have to do alignment again? Would that screw up the alignment setting since I am changing back and forth in different size 19" 255/50 to 20" 315/40 ? What do you guys do? Do you do alignment again after you switch back 20" rims and tire?

Thanks.

[motordavid]

No front end specialist, but I don't see why a wheel/tire combo switch would
require an alignment if your front end is in good shape to begin with...

Our old '01 E53 has never had an alignment in 8 years/72K miles and I switched
winter wheel sets for 4 seasons and then went from stock 18s to oem 19s without
a blink.
GL,mD

[Denalio]

Originally Posted by motordavid

No front end specialist, but I don't see why a wheel/tire combo switch would
require an alignment if your front end is in good shape to begin with...


GL,mD

I agree I do this currently with no alignment required.

[TaMbALoLoNg]

I think you're worryin' about it too much and gettin' too technical. You'll be fine.

[rh71]

1) Don't know how much weight to put on this since the service advisor said it but they indicated when you go from 19s to 20s (staggered), the camber is different and needs adjustment if you don't want your tires wearing unevenly/prematurely. Someone else recently posted their numbers in a jpg here as well after their alignment and one side was further off than the other. I'd say if you don't mind, do the alignment once with the 20s and leave it at that.

2) Is there a reason you have to go with a summer tire, such as the Vredesteins that don't offer other options? Depending on how often you're going to snow-country in California, and how much is actually on the ground, I'd go with 20" all-seasons year round if at all possible. I've driven in about 4-5 inches of falling snow with no problem with my all-seasons. Just a suggestion. I really wouldn't want to put the plain 19s on my vehicle again if I could help it.

[us_matrix]

All-seaons would be ideal but the problem is that I have 3rd row seat (No spare tire). Run flat only available in summer tire.

Originally Posted by rh71

1) Don't know how much weight to put on this since the service advisor said it but they indicated when you go from 19s to 20s (staggered), the camber is different and needs adjustment if you don't want your tires wearing unevenly/prematurely. Someone else recently posted their numbers in a jpg here as well after their alignment and one side was further off than the other. I'd say if you don't mind, do the alignment once with the 20s and leave it at that.

2) Is there a reason you have to go with a summer tire, such as the Vredesteins that don't offer other options? Depending on how often you're going to snow-country in California, and how much is actually on the ground, I'd go with 20" all-seasons year round if at all possible. I've driven in about 4-5 inches of falling snow with no problem with my all-seasons. Just a suggestion. I really wouldn't want to put the plain 19s on my vehicle again if I could help it.

[Zoich]

Originally Posted by rh71

1) Don't know how much weight to put on this since the service advisor said it but they indicated when you go from 19s to 20s (staggered), the camber is different and needs adjustment if you don't want your tires wearing unevenly/prematurely.

that was my concern when I changed to change from 19's to 20's. The 20' really shows how negative the camber setting is for the rear. I think I posted my concerns here too and even called my service advisor. It's funny how his reply is totally different than yours. He claimed the camber is the same for the 19in (255mm width) vs. 20in (315mm width) -- I wonder if he even bothered to looking it up.

[us_matrix]

Did you do the alignment after you upgraded to 20"? If not, any issue until now....

Originally Posted by Zoich

that was my concern when I changed to change from 19's to 20's. The 20' really shows how negative the camber setting is for the rear. I think I posted my concerns here too and even called my service advisor. It's funny how his reply is totally different than yours. He claimed the camber is the same for the 19in (255mm width) vs. 20in (315mm width) -- I wonder if he even bothered to looking it up.

[bklynbm]

'I'd go with 20" all-seasons year round if at all possible. I've driven in about 4-5 inches of falling snow with no problem with my all-seasons. Just a suggestion. I really wouldn't want to put the plain 19s on my vehicle again if I could help it."

Did you buy your car with the current wheels or did you get them afterwards? If you did buy afterward...where did you get them? OEM BMW?

[TaMbALoLoNg]

Originally Posted by us_matrix

(like a week or two to Lake Tahoe ski)

To eliminate the extra expense on tires and alignment. Rent a 4WD truck if its only gonna be for a week. No headache.