Just in time!
 

After much searching and reading, I decided to get a dedicated set of snow tires. (earlier post).

I put them on last week. They are Michelin Pilot Alpins. I went from the 19 in Performance tires to these in a 17/265.

From what I had read the tires are well liked. On dry pavement they were a tad louder than my Conti's, but road and handled fine.

This morning I tried them in about 3in of snow and seemed to work great.

Living in Buffalo we get a lot of snow and I park in an alley that might get plowed 3 times a year if we are lucky.

Are other car is an Expedition. We need the 4X4's just to get around and do a lot of driving in a long snowy winter.

Looking at the other post about the friend that wrecked someone else X. I am sure glad I did.

The car does not look too dorky with the 17's and hopefully not "girlish" as I have read in some other posts.

I scored the whole set up of 1 season old Michelins and wheels from Craiglist for $300.00!

They came off an X5 as well, cause the former owner traded theirs for a new one without the sport package this time, so they were laying around.

They told me the 19's were useless in any kind of snow.

congrats on your new tires/rims packed deal.

BTW 18,19 or 20's with performance tires they are useless in snow
it deosn't metter eighter you have 4WD, X-drive or 8WD.

They aren't totally useless. I ride 20's in the winter and we get snow often here. Sure they aren't the greatest in snow. But believe it or not the AWD makes them work. Its not as good as snow tires and smaller rim size, but 20's in snow aren't totally useless. They just aren't as effective...

I also live in the Buffalo area, and drive an '06 X5 4.4. I went with the stock 18's and Pirelli Scorp Ice and Snows. They are fantastic! The ABS comes on long before the tires begin to slide, and I couldn't be happier. I'm at a loss to understand all the stuff about narrow tires in the snow, etc. Maybe if you go up into the 20's youv'e got an argument, but 18's are fine. If you've got good snow tires, and know how to drive on them, there should be no problem. My 18's are terriffic.

I use my 19's in snow and they work great. Where I live we get a fair amount of snow and the x5 never has any problems in snow.

Not because 19 or 20's don't do goood in snow, you all have 19,20's with all season tires that is diff story,but when you have 19,20's with high performence tires that is another story.

True. I have winters on my 19's though. that probably helps them even better.

it is not just the snow but the cold. we only get 3 days of snow a year, but the cold lasts a few months. the winter tires Pirelli Scorp made a huge difference!

Craigslist for tires!! $650 CDN for 4 18" rims, 4 Pirelli snows and 4 well used Michelin Energy for the summer.

I am making the switch soon from my 19's to 17's I bought wheels and I got blizzaks, they are going on Monday I guess, they will be off in April.

Ran Alpins on my van - very few problems even though it was 2-wheel drive, long wheel base, & large sail area - running 17" Scorpion Snow & Ice on my X5, which got me over Teton Pass - tall narrow snows work best as it allows full tread contact - but even I've gotten stuck when the snows exceeded my ground clearance ('79 Bronco) - had to dig the snow out from underneath so the wheels had contact again - most 4-wheeler have fun in 2-wheel drive and get themselves "unstuck" using 4-wheel drive - when that doesn't work, that's why most had winches, or had a buddy with a tug-um strap

I Live in the French Alps and we just had 20cm of snow last night, was a bit crazy on the roads this morning.

Im just about to buy an X5 sport 3.0D with 19" stock rims, I was going to put some Perilli scorpion snow tyres and see how I got on. Rather than buy an extra set of 17" rimms.

How is the X5 on the 19" rims with Snow tyres. Some of the hills are quite steep round here and I could see myself in a 4 wheel wheel spin sliding backwards.

It's not get for tires to keep mounting and dismounting them. If you're going to use snow tires, get a dedicated set of wheels for them. 19" wheels with snow tires work fine.

As long as you don't have a staggered wheel setup, you should be okay - it's just that the cable assys(vs chains) may not fit the wider tires - steep roads with snow & ice almost require you having extra traction - some of the roads in the Rockies require snows, chains, & 4-wheel drive in certain conditions