Quote:
Originally Posted by F85FTW
Have you tried the Pirelli winter performance tires? They handle awesome for a winter tire and im sure BMW supplies the winter wheel package with Pirelli winter performance tires for a reason. Whatever they are giving up in handling they more than gain in winter snow/ice traction. I have driven the DWS extensively and while they handle snow with ease they are not so great on ice or packed snow where the true winter tires with softer rubber and tread siping will grab the ice much better. In tire rack testing it took the DWS 49 feet to stop from 12mph on ice versus 34feet for the Pirelli tire that's a big difference basically the length of the truck for every 12mph.
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True winter tires only last 12k miles and they're very noisy. For me, the DWS is good enough in an AWD. I've traveled from KC to Vail many times with my E70 X5 with DWS, I'm confident the DWS06 is more than enough for my need in the X5M. DWS lasted more than 40k miles and is super quiet.
I know my stopping distance could be better with true winter tires. Using caution to slow down an X5 with DWS, I haven't had any issues even going down a steep hill and the Rockies.
It depends on where you live, most people in KC don't even switch out their tires in the winter. I don't want to have too much of a stopping advantage over them, because they will just plow right into me if I'm not aware of slippage during braking. So in a way, I don't want to stop faster than other idiots on the road. The DWS06 is king of all-seasons for the winter and good enough for Midwest area.
I will post a review of the DWS06 once some heavy snow hits.