Don't change anything. Just take it out and have fun.!!!! You will have plenty of time where your E60 will "glue" on the road. You are entitled to some fun. Enjoy it.

 

What did you do when there was snow in Seattle?

 

I don't mean to continually bash Tirerack - but when I bought my 2000 540ia with sport package, they specifically told me that because of the brakes on my car, I could ONLY go with a 17" wheel. The fact is, the brakes on the 2000 540 with or without sport package are the same!

I ended up with 16" OEM wheels that rocked in the snow - no thanks to Tirerack who said they would not work. Dealer and I were sweating as they mounted them cause "Tirerack said they would not fit".

 

I have a basic Tirerack package - 18's and Dunlop M3 - it is a great package.

 

I do not have any problems in winter conditions.

But for you the answer could be the 535xi and good winter tyers.

Of course the new E70 (X5) is also a very nice car.

 

Why would you even talk to them? I went to their web site (tirerack.com) and bought a set of 16'' wheels and Dunlop M2 tires for my 2002 540 Sport and it took me like 5 minutes. I strongly believe that when talking to a salesperson there is always a risk to run into someone who does not know what they are talking about. I've got a set of 17'' wheels and Dunlop M3 tires from them for my 2005 545 again w/out talking to anyone.

 

Since I have never bought from Tirerack: how do you ensure that wheels fit correctly with right offsets and no vibrations? I have heard from quite a few people about problems with replica wheels. Tirerack does not sell replicas, but I don't quite see how do the match wheel offsets. For instance, 530 and 530xi are different...

 

The Tire Rack does some pretty extensive testing for both performance and fit. When you go to their website and enter in your car information, it will only present you with tire/wheel packages that fit and have been tested to work well. (That doesn't mean that other sizes, etc. won't work but I think if they feel the tolerances are too close, etc., they won't recommend it.)

Speaking to a human there has always been something I've done to learn more about how a specific tire compares to another one on the road or track. The Tire Rack has it's own test track and they require the sales personnel to participate in track testing the different models of tires that they sell. (They also seem to favor BMWs and use them extensively for testing purposes.)

My advice is to do some homework on the Tire Rack website and then call and pick the brian of one of the sales reps. If you want, call back again and pick a different person's brain. Most of them are car enthusiasts and in my experiences after using them for well over 10 years, they usually give good advice.

 

When I bought tires for my wife's Lexus in 01, there were only two types that fit her RX. I called to get advice on which of the two would be best for her car. The tire they recommended was a TRUCK tire. When we put them on and realized her RX now drove like a truck I called the salesperson back who lied to me and said "you told me you wanted the stiffest sidewall" - which I NEVER said. The other tires were CAR tires and when I told him that I wanted those, well guess what? THEY WERE OUT OF STOCK.

Same sort of thing occured when I was considering the Blizzak LM-22 vs. the Dunlop M3 - I called them for advice. They told me there was no better performance snowtire than the LM-22 and that's why it was $25 more per tire than the Dunlop. The LM-22s were OK, but the M3s are better (I've had both now). After the first winter on the LM-22s, I went back and checked user feedback (this was not available on the tires when I purchased them) - the M3s were favored by a wide margin.

I realize their challenge - they can't always just recommend one tire and I'm ok with that. But their advice has been far from stellar. Either way, I do my own research now, then get their price from the web and ask Discount Tire to match it. Sometimes that backfires as recently my wife needed a new tire for her MDX and when we asked them to match Tirerack they looked shocked - we found out why when we checked pricing - Tirerack was $1 more plus shipping.