vanos

Curious, what tire pressure do you have front/rear for your winter tires? Per BMW spec or different? I just mounted a new set of Hakka 8's for winter.

Lotus99

And does it matter what wheel sizes you run? For 18's, BMW suggests 33F / 41R. That's what I run, though I've got 17's (225/50) for the winter.

JayArras

The same year round. It's just that you may get a TPMS warning once the outside ambient temperature drops and then you may need to add air because the cold tire pressure has decreased.

mantraguy

I found that on my 2007 E61, the recommended pressures of 32F / 39R caused increased wear on the middle portion of the rear tires, so I now run 32 PSI front (same as recommended) and 35 PSI in the rear, year-round. Seems good so far. I rarely have a lot of extra weight over the rear axle, so perhaps the recommended pressures assume more weight.

Lotus99

I've never understood why the 8 PSI extra in the rear for my car either. Seems too much even to allow for extra weight to be carried, especially if you're not towing something or got a ton of weight. If it was a weight thing, would've made more sense IMO if they'd given a regular PSI and a fully loaded PSI number, like a lot of others do.

And isn't every BMW designed to be pretty much 50/50 weight distribution I thought?

vkhong

On a square tire set up (non-staggered), higher tire pressure in the rear sets the vehicle up for less understeer. For winter, I run 34 psi front and rear on 17-inch Blizzak WS-70 (snow and ice). They are not performance tires, but do well in rain, slush and ice. Seems to wear evenly on my 530i and 535i, but they both have minimal tire camber due to Active Roll Stabilization.

Lotus99

Funny, how I didn't think of looking up the manual first...

This is from the PDF on the US site. Odd thing is that the pressures for my 2010 wagon with 18's, as per the sticker, should be 33F / 41R, which as per the chart below, are the pressures for the 17's.

I could run them a PSI or two lower it seems (93Y is what I have).
.
.