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  #1  
Old 01-18-2010, 05:29 AM
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Snow Chains and/or Winter Tyres

Hi,

I've got an 08 X70 with 20" wheels.

I'm based in the UK and will be skiing for a couple of weeks this season.

I'll ski in France (Les Arc) so need to be equipped to get up the mountain (Bourg St Maurice to Arc1950).

Any recommendations on suppliers for snow chains or which snow chains work with these wheels?

(Generally this route is cleared pretty well but you can always get caught out - for a couple of weeks I don't think it merits changing to winter tyres)

Thanks
Nick
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  #2  
Old 01-18-2010, 06:26 AM
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Spikes-Spider: Easier, Better than Tire Chains

Very expensive ones but the only ones which work for me very well on my 20". Also very fast and easy to fit.
If you can afford it go for snow tyres.... much better IMO.
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  #3  
Old 01-18-2010, 07:24 AM
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Many thanks, I'll take a look at these.

Somebody also highlighted these - www.autosock.co.uk

Does anyone have any experience of using them?

I don't think they're officially recognised for use by the French authorities, so I'm not sure whether the FR police would have an issue but I'm more concerned about being appropriatly kitted out and if these function as well as chains then they off other functional benefits.
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  #4  
Old 01-18-2010, 09:07 AM
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I haven't tried them on but as far as I know they don't fit our 20"..... Also I've heard that they are not so reliable when conditions are mixed (snow, ice, dry, snow again etc.) they can wear out while driving on dry surface...
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  #5  
Old 01-18-2010, 09:26 AM
RTC RTC is offline
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Chains don't help much on summer tires. They help though a little bit...if you put chains on all four tires.
Driving to the french alps with summer tires is the dumbest thing someone can do. Not only do you put YOUR life at risk, you also put others at risk.
I met such a clever person last year in Austria, a family father from Liverpool with a Range Rover. He not only rear ended a friend of mine, he didn't "get it" when the police tried to explain to him why driving in winter Austria without winter tires and specifically on that street is ILLEGAL.
In France, some mountain roads request winter tires, it is the law. For all skiing regions, winter tires are highly recommended and trust me, if something happens, you won't find anybody from french authoroties having mercy with you.

Why don't you just fly over to France and rent a car with winter tires ? Lots of lads from Britain do that.
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  #6  
Old 01-18-2010, 10:23 AM
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I've got an apartment in the alps and 3 children and lots of equipment to take so this year we're driving.

Normally I'd take the train direct to Bourg-St-Maurice and then the funicular.

I appreciate generally what you're saying but surely chains must make a difference on the rears? And having the X5 with 4wd must be benefial over 2wd cars?

In all reality I'll only be doing one trip up the mountain at the beginning of the week and one trip down at the end. In all the years I've driven this route there's probably only one occassion when the road hasn't been cleared.

Getting a full set of winter tyres is surely overkill for this trip. BMW don't even know if they can provide them and they estimate the cost at over £2,000 without storage, plus the hassle of changing over, etc.

If the road from Bourg to the resort is really bad then I could leave the X5 in Bourg and take the funicular up.
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  #7  
Old 01-19-2010, 06:36 AM
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Hi Alpha,

I spoke with www.autosock.co.uk to see if they can supply for the 315/35/20" tyres and they don't do that size. Shame because given the speed at which these could be fitted they would be beneficial on those occassions in the UK when we have a few inches of snow, etc. For the ALPs whilst perhaps functionally being as good as chains on snow they're not recognised by the FR police.

Interestingly though they rent out the Spider Spikes. They stock the Sports and stated that the XXXL fit. I need to supply the wheel nut diameter.

Did you go for the Sports? Any idea what the wheel nut diameter is? (I'm away at the moment so can't measure).

Thanks
Nick
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  #8  
Old 01-19-2010, 10:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicke View Post
Hi Alpha,

I spoke with www.autosock.co.uk to see if they can supply for the 315/35/20" tyres and they don't do that size. Shame because given the speed at which these could be fitted they would be beneficial on those occassions in the UK when we have a few inches of snow, etc. For the ALPs whilst perhaps functionally being as good as chains on snow they're not recognised by the FR police.

Interestingly though they rent out the Spider Spikes. They stock the Sports and stated that the XXXL fit. I need to supply the wheel nut diameter.

Did you go for the Sports? Any idea what the wheel nut diameter is? (I'm away at the moment so can't measure).

Thanks
Nick

Hi Nick,

I have the sport model. First you have to fit on your rims a round steel hub. If you see on the website there are pictures Spikes-Spider: Easier, Better than Tire Chains
i think also in youtube. This takes me aprox 10-15 min to install. But this can be done for once in the beginning in your house. Then you can travel as far and as fast as you like with the steel hubs installed on your rims.. Then once you decide to put the chains on, it just takes 15 seconds for each chain to fit on the round steel hub. Very easy.... On the beggining it was little bit complicated in how to fit the steel hub on the rim but eventually after a couple of time... Its very easy... I chose the from wheels 275 to put the chains on because 1st i have the steering control there and its useless if you put only in the rear wheels... 2nd I am not sure if they fit on the 315 rear.. I use them only twice per year and in extreme situations of ice.... so far so good... ofcourse dont image that you can speed very fast ... but its by far better than the regular chains... the noise is a lot less.... be careful because if you speed very fast on ice in a turn with chains in the front and no chains in the back its very likely to make a 180..... if you know what i mean.
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  #9  
Old 01-19-2010, 04:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicke View Post
Hi,

I've got an 08 X70 with 20" wheels.

I'm based in the UK and will be skiing for a couple of weeks this season.

I'll ski in France (Les Arc) so need to be equipped to get up the mountain (Bourg St Maurice to Arc1950).

Any recommendations on suppliers for snow chains or which snow chains work with these wheels?

(Generally this route is cleared pretty well but you can always get caught out - for a couple of weeks I don't think it merits changing to winter tyres)

Thanks
Nick
Hi Nick I am doing a similar thing only to Austria. I have 20s too and decided to buy a set of oem 19s from ebay, I paid £600 for these and then bought a set of vredestien wintrac 4 tyres costing £500 and paid £60 to have them fitted. I would highly recomend buying winters. Have a look on www.camskill.co.uk. This is where I ordered mine from, they were very helpful and very reasonable price wise.
I also have these Toyo open country winter tyres lying in my garage, they came off my old E53 having only done 2000 miles and cost £1000 new. I basically couldnt find a cheap set of spare 20s to put them on and the 19" route worked out cheaper at the time. I also couldnt get it confirmed if they would fit on my E70. They are all 295/40/20s and fitted fine on the E53 which has the same tyre size as the E70 as standard on 20s. PM me if you are interested.
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Last edited by gen2c4s; 01-19-2010 at 04:37 PM.
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  #10  
Old 01-25-2010, 08:44 AM
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Thanks Alpha for the info on the spikes. I've ordered the Spikes-Spider for the rears and autosocks for the front. If I more regularly am going to be driving in snow then I'll get another set of Spikes for the front.

Thanks gen2c4s for the offer. I'm not going to commit to winter tyres at the moment. I've got storage issues currently. Again, if I do decide to drive to the majority of my skiing weeks I'll look at purchasing then.

Cheers
Nick
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