CRRobert

Rudy, You may go with a route that I was thinking. You can find 18" winter tires($250-300+ ea) for the front of the 545i sport, but not the rear. I was thinking of getting four of the front 18" 545i rims, and putting the Dunlops on it. Keeps a look very similar to stock, yet would give me snow traction.

Rudy

That sounds like a pretty good idea.

I know I could probably track down the info somewhere but maybe someone can save me the trouble:

What wheel sizes do I have (front and rear)? Obviously I have the 18" wheels that come with the sport package. I assume from CRRobert's post that the widths are different front to rear. Anyone know off hand?

Would the front-sized wheels look funny mounted on the rear?

CRRobert

US 545I with sports package Style 124

Front: 18x8 245/40r-18

Rear: 18x9 275/35r-18

Would look fine IMHO and still wider than stock 17"

Stock US 545i style 116

all around17x7.5 225/50r-17

Rudy

Gotcha. Thanks CRRobert. You saved me some time.

I think I'll be calling the Tire Rack soon to see what they recommend. They usually do a great job in testing to see what fits, etc. so once I get some suggestions from them I'll post them here.

CRRobert

Edited above, had wrong width on rear tire for sport package.

paasan

Rudy: My impression of our Continental studded tyres are fairly good. Our roads are often quite icy (salt is never/rarely used in northern Norway - and due to the Gulf stream the temperature hovers between ~ -10'C and ~ 10'C during winter), and the studded tyres are essential on smaller hills/slopes etc. where one might be forced to do starts from standstill. Furthermore they provide better traction when braking on ice and other icy surfaces. However, they don't perform extremely well in slush, nor have they performed good in loose snow or on packed snow at around 0'C (generally an extremely dangerous temperature if there's packed snow on the roads). Although, the tyres are probably not entirely responsible for the poor performance in loose snow (4-5") - the fact that our car has the sports suspension doesn't add to it's abilities in snowy conditions.

Moreover the studded tyres are necessary in our part of the world - and IMHO especially on a car such as the 5er (RWD, lot of weight). They seem to perform better than studless winter tyres. In addition the DSC does also help.. it really improves the stability and handling abilities on icy roads. And of course, the fact that there is more traction also makes the DSC more effective.


-paasan

gdavis

Paasan,

Why is it that the sports suspension is bad for snow handling?

paasan

It's my impression that our E39 535i non-sport had better handling abilities on snow than our current car equipped with sports suspension. Added stiffness combined with reduced clearing between the car and ground is probably not beneficial.

E.g. I had an instance once this winter after a snowfall, where I had to cross a parking lot which hadn't been plowed - and got stuck instantly. The car was simply lifted up on top of the snow and couldn't reach the pavement underneath the snow. This may have happened on the E39 aswell, but the fact that the car is 15 mm lower than std. doesn't give it the upper hand.

-paasan

JimTronic

I think I will be ordering Dunlop Winter Sport M3 DSST Runflats 225/50R-17 and buying a set of non-sport Style 116 545 rims from www.bmwwheels.com

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...Winter+Sport+M3

The Tire Rack site doesn't list 225/50R-17 but the rep told me they have them. I think run flat is more important in the winter than the summer.

wolverine

I'm probably going to go with the Dunlop M3's mounted on the OEM 18" wheels. I'm currently running 19" wheels with Goodyear F1's. I agree with everyone who says get a separate set of winter wheels - you can change them yourself at the first sign of snow, no worries about damaged wheels, and no rebalancing needed.

What you do for the winter depends first of all on what your winters are like. It doesn't snow a lot here in Cincinnati, but I drive up north every once in a while, so I definitely need snow tires. I've had Blizzaks for the last 10 years and they are definitely the best tires for driving in the snow and ice. HOWEVER the handling does not even remotely compare with a good summer tire. I would only get Blizzaks if you drive in a lot of snow and are willing sacrifice handling and traction in the dry and wet.

For me, I want to maintain good handling in the dry and wet, and good snow performance - not the best, just good. The guys at TireRack say the Dunlop M3's are the best compromise.