Xoutpost.com - hmmm..first winter snow and not too happy..

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Quote:

Originally Posted by m5james (Post 787027)

I made the mistake of taking the M5 out in the snow and taking it to work one day...I was all over the place. Even worse was the guy in front of me in a Corvette. The problem w/ sports cars, maybe even the X5, is that the width of the tires is actually worse to have in snow vs skinny tires. Having wide tires IS just like having snow shoes on...you stay on top, but that's not beneficial for a car that needs traction to go forward vs being able to lift your foot straight up and forward for movement.

Once the snow starts hitting here in Boise, ID, the cars stay parked in the garage and I spend more time driving my 90 S10 Blazer w/ skinny little 195 tires that drives AWESOME in the snow. I've driven the X in the snow to Reno, but it is a little sketchy, and while the electronics are there to save me, they can also be a little intrusive as well.

Wide tires w/ small sidewalls are great on dry pavement, but skinny and tall sidewalled tires are the key to being able to drive around in deep snow...look at images of rally cars in the snow as they have the skinniest damn tires w/ big sidewalls.

I made the mistake of taking my vette up skiing the week of thanksgiving. I was only supposed to be going up to 2500 feet, but ended up in a situation where I had to go further up to 5K feet when my friends at the lower elevation house ended up delayed due to car trouble. It's good to have multiple options on a place to stay, but I was sure wishing I had just driven the X5 like my wife told me to when I pulled in to this parking lot...

You should have seen the stares I was getting from a group standing outside the bar in the evening after skiing when I drove the car out of this parking lot. At that point the tires had zero grip because they were now cold, so I could barely even move the car!! When the tires were warm they weren't too bad, on this flat surface. But no way I was going to make it up the hill where my buddy's cabin is, so he came down in the SUV to fetch me ;)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/...3561a1f0_b.jpg

But ya - summer sports car sized tires are really bad in the snow!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by user1000 (Post 786245)

Hey Guys,
i recently got a 2005 X5 4.8 and i love that car. Sounds like a beast, handles like a sports car and has all the toys for me to play with.

Just got a great set of winter tires, dunlop grandtrek WT M2 on original BMW 18's but the truck is not acting the way it should.

I drove a navigator, hummer h2 and gmc envoy before. With winters, they were like a tank on the road. Now the X5 is ok, but nothing exceptional in the snow. It feels a little skiddinsh when it comes to stopping on a road with a little bit of snow.

Am i doing something wrong? bad tires? i spoke to a couple of X5 owners when filling up and most of them said theirs also dont handle that amazing on the road...

Any insight would be appreciated.

That's odd that you experience poor handling, must be the tires.

I only have 18' and have had the conti DWS for 'bout 6 months. On the way back from Montreal last October, went up Smugglers Notch and its was around 30 deg. F and snowing climbing up 4k ft. DWS gave the X extremely nice ride and handled the twisty road well.
Must be the pairing and sizing thats gives the edge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by c4racer (Post 787173)

:rofl: yeah, there are times I wish I had listened to that little voice of logic, only to pay for it after the fact. Hey, at least you had the coolest car up there!

Pirelli Scorpions on stock size 20's here and I drove through last years very deep snow with no issues. Very confident in the 4.8is in the snow. All seasons I tried 2 years previously (Michelins - same stock sizes) were not nearly as good in the snow. No surprise there but snow tires were not available in stock size 20's back then.

It's all about wheel width size and tires.

I once ran Bridgestone Blizzak WSxx on a rear wheel drive sports coupe for a winter and took the car out in the middle of a storm (I was young, stupid and curious, lol) after a foot had already fallen and had no problem (except having to pull over to clear the snow out of the air intakes on occasion...!) where some SUVs were getting stuck.

In my humble opinion, the right dedicated winter snow tires and a narrower wheel width should get you excellent traction in snow in the X5. I run Continental DWSs on my 4.8is with factory OEM rims and get pretty decent snow traction, driving with some basic common sense -- and that's just an all-season tire.

did you lock in the hubs?? just kidding. i have a set of factory 17" wheels and tires for winter. i think the 18's and 19's have too wide a footprint for snow. you can ebay a set pretty cheap from some of our southern beemers. i got mine for $500 (4 wheels and tires) shipped with brand new tires on them.