Andrew, That's a great color on your X. I may just be a little biased though...[emoji38]

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That's the wife's. Mine is black. His' and her's ying and yang.

Your wife has great taste

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It was chance but she was pretty happy it worked out that way. (Me too). I love they are opposites and it's fun to show up some place with both X5 or better one day with white the next time with black: people think that we painted the car not that it's a different car!

Yeah, same here. These all terrain tires are really blocky and actually have a "severe snow" rating, and they're really not that bad in the snow. I think they're Toyo Wild Country something or other. I'm actually impressed with them for being truly driveable all year round, unlike real all season tires. But they're truck tires. I plan to get some studless tires and a second set of wheels next year since these are getting old. I'd like to get some bigger wheels and tires for towing in the summer as well. These are only 17s, and I bet bigger wheels would do better at towing.



I have Hakka R2s on my Mazda 6, and it definitely grips better in the snow than my X, but not by that much.



You can really tell that the pre-XDrive has a rear torque bias when you take DSC off. The back end really wants to get away from you when its slick. :)

It's much more than the 2/3 bias causing the oversteer situation with pre x-drive. It's either no limited slip or just worn out dif that requires the abs / DSC module to do its job.

When testing, putting the car right at the edge of drifting, press DSC and end up sideways instantly!

Worse: hit the gas when half the tires are on ice and you will instantly be pointed a different direction! That direction will be either into oncoming traffic or the nearest curb/light pole.

I would definitely not drive any pre x-drive car without DSC in snow/ice. Absolutely life threatening.

I agree, theres no reason to turn off DSC unless you're having fun in an unplowed, empty parking lot.



Also, I dont think any pre Xdrive cars had any limited slip diffs. So there's nothing to wear out there. The torque bias should remain the same even on high mileage cars.

Trust me with the abs not working on my 2001 its like not even having awd most of the time.

Once one wheel spins on the front and one wheel spins on the rear your stuck without the abs. Both diffs are fully open on my 2001.

I will probably be installing a limited slip diff from an m5 into my 2001 since it was bought to go offroad.

I'd do a Quaiffe ATB. I chose it over an M5 diff in my 540. I've loved it for over 15 years. More durable than the M5 with it's fading clutches, too.

Brett Anderson is an old school diff guy. His shop is/was Koala Motorsports. He's been at it for as long as I've been behind the wheel though so he very well might be dead by now. :eeps:

Quaife is a great diff, but they're hyper expensive and they're not good in ice or off road situations. They dont lock up if one wheel has low or now traction, such as if it's on ice or in the air. I had one in my old MR2 turbo years ago. They're quite durable and probably the best diff for a street car though IMO since they require no maintenance and never wear out.



Usually clutch-type LSDs don't really wear out either unless they've been raced a ton. Not that I've ever owned an M5 but traditionally, they are reliable in the long term.