need advice on snow tires

My wife just got an '02 525 wagon. I assume she'll need snow tires
for the ~5 times that we get enough snow to make side streets slippery.
My
question is, does she need 4 snow tires, or would 2 on the rear wheels
be
sufficient?

Also, any recommendation for a brand of tires for occaisonal snow,
but mostly dry-road conditions?

Tia,

Mike

"Mike Klein" wrote
> My wife just got an '02 525 wagon. I assume she'll need snow tires
> for the ~5 times that we get enough snow to make side streets slippery.
> My
> question is, does she need 4 snow tires, or would 2 on the rear wheels
> be
> sufficient?

The car's handling will be more predictable having all 4 tires the same. As
it is, winter driving can be tricky. Do you really want the additional
'excitement' of having the front of the car behave much differently from the
back?


> Also, any recommendation for a brand of tires for occaisonal snow,
> but mostly dry-road conditions?

Nokian WR. Dunlop M3.

Cheers,

Pete

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mike Klein" wrote
>> My wife just got an '02 525 wagon. I assume she'll need snow tires
>> for the ~5 times that we get enough snow to make side streets slippery.
>> My
>> question is, does she need 4 snow tires, or would 2 on the rear wheels
>> be
>> sufficient?
>
> The car's handling will be more predictable having all 4 tires the same.
> As it is, winter driving can be tricky. Do you really want the additional
> 'excitement' of having the front of the car behave much differently from
> the back?
>

Plus your wife will need the front traction to both steer and stop!
Definitely get 4 winter tires, preferably mounted on cheaper wheels to both
save your good wheels and to make the twice a year changeover that much
easier.

>> Also, any recommendation for a brand of tires for occaisonal snow,
>> but mostly dry-road conditions?
>
> Nokian WR. Dunlop M3.
>

I just mounted the Dunlop M3 (V rated) tires on my 328i - very good handling
in both dry and wet conditions (no snow yet!), although they are a bit noisy
above 50 mph on certain road surfaces. You might check out www.tirerack.com
for a great deal of helpful info.

Tom

John Burns wrote:
>> My wife just got an '02 525 wagon. I assume she'll need snow tires
>>for the ~5 times that we get enough snow to make side streets slippery.
>>My question is, does she need 4 snow tires, or would 2 on the rear wheels
>>be sufficient?
>
>
> You need four. It's nice to be able to stop as well as start :-)
>
>
>> Also, any recommendation for a brand of tires for occaisonal snow,
>>but mostly dry-road conditions?
>
>
> Goodyear ultragrip if you don't see heavy snow all the time. They're
> also great in heavy rain and don't screw up the dry road handling too
> much. I've tried a few brands and like these the most.
>
> For really heavy duty snow use I'm told Bridgestone Blizzaks are best,
> but I'm also told they handle badly in normal conditions.
>

I have Blizzaks on a FWD car (SAAB) and they do not seem too bad in the
dry. I have Michelin Arctic Alpins on my 325i and those work well in
the slop and handle well in the dry too, but would be overkill for only
4-5 times snowfall a year. I also just put Michelin X-Ice on a
different SAAB and those seem as good as the Alpins.

--
-Fred W

Mike Klein wrote:
> My wife just got an '02 525 wagon. I assume she'll need snow tires
> for the ~5 times that we get enough snow to make side streets slippery.
> My
> question is, does she need 4 snow tires, or would 2 on the rear wheels
> be
> sufficient?
>
> Also, any recommendation for a brand of tires for occaisonal snow,
> but mostly dry-road conditions?
>
> Tia,
>
> Mike

All 4 - and it's good if they are on dedicated wheels.. I'm running 17"
stock wheels in the summer with 245/40/17's on them (Dunlops) and 15"
wheels and snows in the winter (forget the exact size, but probably
225/60/15's) - the narrower higher tire is better in the snow - less of
a wedge is created in front of it in loose snow.

If you go to someplace like www.tirerack.com - you'll get some
recommendations. My 525i with 4 snows will outperform SUV's with
"all-season" tires in most any condition.

I have had good luck in the past with Pirelli P210 "SportSnow" and
am currently running Yokohama's.

admin-- seriously... dont make claims that are total bs. sorry but
your 525 with 4 snow tires is not going to outperform any suv except
maybe an escalade with dubs and slicks.
Even if you claimed an IX you would be hard pressed to outperform much.
rwd is never going to be anywhere close to parttime 4wd, let alone full
time (like Land Rover and Cruisers). Sorry but that was the biggest
load of crap Ive heard in a while.
As to tires, most any winter tire will perform about the same, just get
them siped and if your snow is bad you may want to consider studs.
Also, adding a few bags of salt or pea gravel to the back of the car
wont hurt.
Best bet is just to assume that the bimmer is the sled that it is and
dont drive it when there is snow on the roads. Its usually only a
matter of a few hours before the side streets are cleared.
(at least here in Utah)

"Corey Shuman" > wrote
> admin-- seriously... dont make claims that are total bs. sorry but
> your 525 with 4 snow tires is not going to outperform any suv except
> maybe an escalade with dubs and slicks.

Corey, there's a lot of bs in your posting, too. Let me just enumerate.

> Even if you claimed an IX you would be hard pressed to outperform much.
> rwd is never going to be anywhere close to parttime 4wd, let alone full
> time (like Land Rover and Cruisers). Sorry but that was the biggest
> load of crap Ive heard in a while.

1st, any car with snowtires will CORNER and BRAKE better than anything
with all-seasons. Since a RWD with snows will accelerate about as well
as an awd/4wd car with all-seasons, it's quite obvious that his assertion
is correct, which means that your paragraph above is bs.

> As to tires, most any winter tire will perform about the same, just get
> them siped and if your snow is bad you may want to consider studs.
> Also, adding a few bags of salt or pea gravel to the back of the car
> wont hurt.

2nd bs paragraph. Any "good" snow tire will already have sipes. If
it doesn't, it's arguably not a snow tire. Snow tires constructed with
cold-weather compounds perform better than those with normal compounds.
Tires such as Blizzaks perform as well as studded snow tires - if
you don't believe me look at
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/winter/studt...l_Nov_2002.pdf.

> Best bet is just to assume that the bimmer is the sled that it is and
> dont drive it when there is snow on the roads. Its usually only a
> matter of a few hours before the side streets are cleared.
> (at least here in Utah)

Only non-bs paragraph.

Now you are slicing the baloney.

A good set of snow tires on a rwd car with traction control, near 50/50
balance and decent ground clearance for the amount of snow on the ground
will do very well on snow. My wife has been driving an LS400 through twelve
mid-Michigan winters on all-seasons and she has only had trouble when the
snow got above the car's ground clearance. same thing will happen with an
SUV, except the SUB will have more ground clearance. I put snow tires on the
car last winter and it became even better than a fresh set of all-seasons
(naturally).

Buy good snow tires that are no wider than they need to be and you will not
have trouble with your 5-series with traction control through moderate snow
falls.

- nopcbs

"Corey Shuman" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> admin-- seriously... dont make claims that are total bs. sorry but
> your 525 with 4 snow tires is not going to outperform any suv except
> maybe an escalade with dubs and slicks.
> Even if you claimed an IX you would be hard pressed to outperform much.
> rwd is never going to be anywhere close to parttime 4wd, let alone full
> time (like Land Rover and Cruisers). Sorry but that was the biggest
> load of crap Ive heard in a while.
> As to tires, most any winter tire will perform about the same, just get
> them siped and if your snow is bad you may want to consider studs.
> Also, adding a few bags of salt or pea gravel to the back of the car
> wont hurt.
> Best bet is just to assume that the bimmer is the sled that it is and
> dont drive it when there is snow on the roads. Its usually only a
> matter of a few hours before the side streets are cleared.
> (at least here in Utah)
>

Floyd, floyd,
Listen to yourself, we are talking about driving in snow, a rwd will
not outperform awd or 4wd, even if it has spikes on the tires!! There
is no pull, only push. think about this!! regardless of how well the
tire bites, it still is only capable of pushing the car, not grabbing
up front to turn the vehicle. Its really pretty simple.
Second.. If you want to believe the studded tire report, thats fine,
but its "BS" a you put it, anything less than studs on ice (which is
what packed snow will become) will slip all over, I dont care if it has
a Jesus Juice anti slip compound sprayed on it.

GRL-- you are high as well, see my comments above, your 50/50 balance
may be a good arguement if you were talking about 4wd, but the closest
bmw has come to 50/50 is the MCoupe which is not 4wd so the 50/50
doesnt matter in the snow.
And ground clearance shouldnt have a thing to do with it, if your Lexus
has trouble when the snow is above the ground clearance level than you
must have a pretty poor SUV.
I can blast through snow that goes over tire height in my rovers. (but
if I stop Im screwed.)

Not trying to start a flame war here.. I love my bimmers as much as the
next guy but comparing BMW handling to any decent SUV in snow is just
ludicrous...

Dont pretend the bimmer is something it isnt, thats what has spawn all
of these 2wd "SUVs" that are "speedy". An SUV isnt a sports car and
vice versa... you may get by in the snow but you wont out perform any
real (AWD or 4WD) suv. Its called reality.

"Corey Shuman" > wrote
> Floyd, floyd,
> Listen to yourself, we are talking about driving in snow, a rwd will
> not outperform awd or 4wd, even if it has spikes on the tires!!

You are wrong. Any vehicle - rwd, fwd, awd - that has snow tires (real
snow tires like Blizzaks, or studded, etc.) will out-perform any
vehicle with only all-season tires. It may not climb hills or accelerate
as well, but in every other category of vehicle performance, it will
beat the all-season-shod vehicle.

FloydR