Oaktree

Has anybody run 18's in the winter? and/or with Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3.

And

when ordering from TireRack - I am assuming I am foregoing the tire pressure sensor with the winter setup? How does everyone get around this?

Would anyone go towards 17's? being in Minnesota this package would be on the car for almost 6 months.

mihusky

It is my first winter with my new 18" Dunlop Wintersports. Please do a search as you will find some useful discussion around 17 vs 18 in set-ups. Many midwesterners from Southern MI, IL, OH are using 18 in set-ups but I realize MN is a different beast so 17 in should be considered. It is simply a trade-off between dry pavement performance and winter grip. If you got 6 month of a lot of snow I'd probably go with 17 in.

Regarding Tirerack.com - I ordered my 18 in rim/tire set-up and was impressed with the quality of their operation, prices and delivery. As you guessed, you will not need to worry about tire pressure sensors on the tire themselves as the 545i using the ABS braking systems to feed back info re: tire pressure. As the tire loses pressure, the change in tire rotation sensed by ABS triggers the warning.

Good luck.

hinckley

I ran the Winter Sport M3s on OEM 18-inch rims last year. Without a doubt, the set-up provided me the best traction that I had ever had with a 5er (I've had three prior to the E60). I'm sure that the traction is attributed to a combo of the car's electronics and the tires.

Also, you do not lose the flat tire monitor. FTM is run off of the ABS electronics.

Rudy

I ran my Dunlop M3's on 17" rims last year and was quite happy.

Either way, as others have noted, you'll be okay with the FTM -- just make sure you reinitialize the system in iDrive once the new tires are mounted and inflated properly. (Repeat the initialization in the spring when you remount your summer tires.)

gdavis

I swapped out my 18" dunlop runflats for 17" Bridgestone LM-22 from Tirerack, and they did great in snow. They were highly rated by Tirerack people and better handling than the LM-50s which are even better snow tires, but not as good road feel.

I would consider the LM-50s since you get way more snow than we do. I think that the 17" wheels might help with the snow over 18" but I might be wrong about that part.

VTbound

I am running 18's with dunlop ds2's. I travel to vermont quite often in the winter and have found this combo great. ds2's = less performance and better snow traction.

pennetta

I only got stuck once in the snow last year, had to leave it overnight but got it off the road. I have the staggard 18" Dunlop runflats and don't look forward to the snow. The tires are slick when very cold as well.

tab545

Same here. I did fine in a fairly snowy winter last year in Chicago. The only real problem was in my rutted alleyway, where chunks of snow/ice were taller than my ground clearance. The scraping was disconcerting, but never did any damage.

Member545

Were these the standard Dunlops or the Winter Sports that you got stuck with?

I have the M3's on 17" rims and they worked great through last year's pretty heavy snow.