Winter tires and rims
 

Hi
I am looking for rims and tires before the vinter.
Have you any proposals, or can you tell me what your are driving with?
That looks god on the car???
I think is has to be 18", but is the right choice?

Thomas

Winter tires are not about looks, rather functionality. It is recommended that one downsize to the 17" size for optimum traction in snow.

I drive on the Pirelli Snowsport 210, size P235/55R17.

using 235 / 55 R 17 Avon Ranger Ice tyres , they are very good . they have covered 20 thousand miles . still at 6.5 mm . will probably last forever .

It is also about looks, I think :-)

I have looked at BMW, and they are selling:

model 110, 111, 112, and 143. They must have a special coating??
The 3 first are 17" and the 143 are 18".
110 and 111 are with continental tires, and 112 and 143 are with dunlop.
Link to pictures of the rims:
Felgen-Katalog - BMW-Treff - der Treffpunkt fr alle BMW-Fans und -Fahrer


The 18" rims looks easy to clean in the winter, but do you realy think the 17" is a better choice?

Hi
Thomas

Well, after looking long and hard, there aren't a lot of choices. I'm sticking with 17", it will be a bit softer and have more grip on the road, plus the tires are slightly cheaper than 18"

Since its winter too, with all the salt, I'm going with replica rims too, OEM just isn't worth it for the salt and slush of winter. I'm going for the CSL replicas (OEM Style 127 in 17") as rims. They are the YKW Motorsport BMR-3 17x8 5x120 ET35 (ET40 is better but they are sold out) YKW Motor Sports Inc. - EURO Klasse

For tires, I'm sticking with a set of 4 Michelin X-Ice Xi2 235/55R17 - I believe you get what you paid for with tires. Very highly rated - but I live in Toronto, Canada, so I might get more snow and slush than you.

I haven't quite seen an X3 with CSL rims on before, but they will look OEM since they accept the OEM BMW center caps. I'll let you know how they look when I get them on this weekend!

If you want 18" for looks, I suggest style 205- it will fit. Style 113 is also an 18", as is style 143.

Narrower, smaller tires cut through the snow better than wider tires, so 17" is best for effective snow driving. However if that is not much of a priority, then you can choose a larger diameter as you wish.

Looking forward for pictures.
On the M3 the rims are 19", in style 127!!! But very nice.

Both the continental and the dunlop i am talking about are both very god tires, also in test. Bmw is supplieng both rims and tires.
The price is(her in denmark) from 2040$(styling 110) to 2620$(styling 143).
And they are vinter rims from BWM.
I do not know about the quility, but i expect more than from china!!!

please post pictures with x3 on winter tires...

a little update.
The 18" tires from bmw are not wider than the 17".. !

So this mean the snow performance are the same???

235/55-17
235/50-18

Snow performance depends more on rubber compound and tread design than it does on width. Older designs of winter tires drove from the edges (the lugs) and so it was important to get a narrower tire if possible. Modern winter tires with soft compounds have sipes across the whole tread width, and so drive from the full width.

Excessive width still matters in that a tire tends to have to climb up continually in deep snow, it just isn't as critical as it used to be.

I put Firestone Firehawk PVS all around, and they are great. The PVS is for pursuit vehicle snow, ordered for the local constabulatory Crown Vic's. Only beef is they are noisey, but great directional stability at speed, on wet or snow....Wow! Mine are on the stock 17" rims, porbably going to 18's for the summer tires, sell the mid mileage 17's and new 18" rims. Any suggestions with my silver grey?

You can't fit snow chains on 18s either. Or at least my 18s are 255/45 and you can't put snow chains on these on the X3.

You can fit them on the P235/50R18 size, but the staggered ones that you have are not compatible.

Where did you get the michelin x-ice, I am also looking for a set 235/55/17.
you can pm the pricing and where you get from if not convenience to post on the forum.

cheers

I have been running Dunlop WinterSport M2 tires on the X3. This is the second year, but I used them on a E320 4Matic wagon for 5 years and ML320 for 2 years. These tires rock on snow and dry pavement.

They give up a little snow/ice traction compared to Q rated winters, but I have mostly dry roads in winter where I live.

I have also used Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 on a BMW 325i. There were great also.

We do not have real snow here in Aus but I still run Nokian WR G2 235/55R17XL for Winter and Pirelli Scorpions for summer. ie two sets of factory 17inch rims (one set from eBay and well priced). I expect the Nokians to last a long time as they only get 3 months service per year.