Can't tell if it'll damage the tires or just wear them much faster. 5000+ lb truck. 50+ weather. Depends on your speed, vehicle load, and how much turning you'll do.

I had a friend with an e30 325ix with snow tires. In the middle of Seattle summer (75F or so), he took it out to an auto-x* and promptly chunked the tires within 1 minute. So let's say 45 minutes highway driving to the venue, 1 minute of low speed but lots of turns ;), and pieces of tread were falling off the tires.

One possible alternative (but I have no idea if they are available in the right size) is the Nokian WR or WRG2. These are all season tires (so they can handle summer temps, but won't go quite as low as winters) *and* they are rated for extreme weather conditions (snowflake in the mountain symbol on the sidewall). I have these on a powerful awd sports car, and they rock during the late fall/winter/early spring.

Oh yeah, if you're looking for BMW take-off wheels, you should check out my post in the WTB forum. I found a company in SCal that sold me a pristine set of take-offs for a very good price.

* he was teaching his son to drive, and he wanted a low traction solution so they could do some sliding and learning...

Many of my friends in Breckenridge do not have 2 sets of tires, i.e., one set for summer and one set for winter. They just drive all year round with their snow tires (Blizzaks, Hakkapeliittas or whichever that do not have studs) on. Remember it is cooler up in the mountains. They will not last as long, as mentioned by others in this post due to the softnest of the rubber compound. It would not be the end of the world to drive from TX to "The Boat." I bought my Blizzak's via Tirerack.com and had them delivered to Frisco (nr. Breck) Big O Tires and they installed them for me for $79. I think there is a Big O Tires in Steamboat and you could do that option.

On the Blizzak's, what PSI are you using?

One thing I like about the Dunlop set (Grandtrek GT W3) is that the treads perform really well in ice and snow, but also has tons of grip and handles really well on warmer days and on dry roads. I really like it- nothing like what I usually hear from any other winter tires (I think its made with a special rubber compound) but they are expensive too.


Ride is comparable to my summer 20"s in terms of harshness; with the narrower footprint the handling feels definitely different, but since I pump the winters to 35-36 PSI, the crunch or harshness around bumps feels just about the same.