XSeries-forum

I know this has been done before but I need a quick answer so I can get winter tyres ordred now (I get them through work but have a dead line to order them by).

I have a 2005 4.8Is on 20" but would like a set of winters.

I will be odering Michelin tyres and there website recomends 255/55R18 allround.

Is this the best option? I will also need to get rims, would I be better off getting 19" winters as I think the rims would be easier to get, or are 18" easy enough to get a good used set of.

Rich...

Vredestein Wintrac, Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow, Dunlop SP Winter Sport, Yokohama W-Drive, Bridgestone Blizzaks are options to add to your list too if you want to look at others...

No idea what is around at present as not every tyre place will be thinking that far ahead yet....

I have staggered 19's with summer tyres (Bridgestone dueller) for summer/autumn and I have a set of 17's same size all round with wintrac extreme tyres on. Not sure If 17's fit on 4.8 or not, there is a thread somewhere with that info somewhere.

Check the winter tyre thread sticky 17" definitely do NOT fit the 4.8iS, the BMW specs are 255/55R18 tyres, non-staggered set up with star spoke 99s. Vredestein Wintrac Extreme XL are the best IMHO, but most major manufacturers winter tyres are fine.

Trust a women to know the right answer. I use wintrac extreme too and think there really good too

Will these rims be ok for winter tyres for my E53 4.8?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300708180475? ... 1423.l2649

i would say anything that would let you have a grip on the road is good. i have pirelli scorpions for winter which i havent had a chance to try it out. but if they are labeled as winter tyres than i would think it would be better than my summer toyos. as far as the wheels go i just picked up a basic 18" wheels which is similar to the one you are asking about. they seem to be easy to clean when needed. just my opinion


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3-4mm of tread is end of life for winter tyres. Not all tyres are meant for winter such as tyres labeled m+s (mud and snow) and are for really light stuff. If you can get cheap alloys then wintracs aint too bad a price

The wheels advertised look like E70 rather than E53 - can be made to fit but not a straight swap I think. Others can advise.
I have the recommended 99 style 18s with Vredestein Wintrac which are superb - use them twice a year for skiing.
17s won't fit over front brakes on 4.8.
Wheels are quite tricky to source but tyremen (see below) have a very similar alloy if you are happy to go non-OEM.

http://www.tyremen.co.uk/product/1992/2 ... me-xl.aspx

Otherwise ebay.de is about the best source. Alufelgen is German for alloy! Example below. Some of the dealers who advertise are happy to ship to UK.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/BMW-X5-E53-4-6is ... 3a6e3fd561

My recollection, from an explanation that I got from a colleague when I worked for a while in Sweden, is that the rubber compound spec is different on a winter tyre as it is meant to perform better (than a summer tyre) when the temperature falls below 7 degrees. is this correct? If so not sure why tyres claim to be mud and snow as mud can occur at any temperature so i take that to be a bit of a red herring and more down to the tread patters being suitable for mud than the compound itself.
I will be driving in deep snow , not light stuff, in the highlands of Scotland in the coming winter - does anyone have direct experience of a tyre specifically for gettign through six inches plus of snow and extremely low temperatures. I've driven in such conditions in summer tyres and its do-able with care so I'm expecting better things from a snow/cold specific tyre (without going to studded tyres or chains)

Mud and Snow is the standard Michelin tyre for the 17" wheels for the E53 which I had. Useless in snow, worse in ice even.

The Avons I had on that car (proper snow - AW8 has them now) were a different type of tyre all together. I managed to get up pure ice hills and drive through proper snow in the Alps without the need to fit my snow chains (which I had with me in case). Very, very impressed which is why I bought another set of snow wheels / tyres for my E70 as well.

Mud and snow tyres are generally regarded as all season tyres.
I've heard Pirelli snow and ice tyres are good. I never had any issues with wintracs though

I did 10 days in December in Obergurgl, the highest resort in Austria. Temperature varied from -30 to a balmy -5. We had plenty of fresh snow and every conceivable variation of ice. With Vredestein Wintracs I had no problems and never had to resort to a set of chains in the boot. Fresh snow falling on hard packed ice was probably the most challenging surface. Uphill hairpins required care but the DSC worked perfectly disengaging any spinning wheels. Similarly downhill I needed to keep the speed down and a couple of times used the descent control on steep slopes by the hotel. In some ways, the biggest risk on winter rubber is starting to think you are invincible!
As I understand it, they are different to summer tyres in two ways - greater % of rubber in the compound so softer and grippier at lower temperature. Also have small cuts in the tyre pattern (sipes?) which hold snow.Snow adheres better to snow than rubber hence grippier.
They work.

The Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme's I've got for my Z4M are marked M & S and are superb in the snow and ice. These are proper winter tyres so it seems that the M & S marking does not universally mean that winter performance is inferior.

You'll find you also have a snow flake and mountain symbol too which makes it a proper winter tyre. Without that m+s tyres are just all weather tyres and hopeless in snow. I had mitchelin mv4 energy m+s tyres (no mountain snowflake symbol) and they were hopeless