Performance or All Season Tyres

[NPickles]

I have never really thought about what kind of tyres are on my car before, so long as there are 4 and they are all inflated I've been happy, but seeing quite a lot of messages on this forum about different types of tyre and the pros and cons of each type got me thinking.

What are F15 owners in the UK running as standard, performance or all season tyres?

If all season did you order your with them from BMW or swap them afterwards?

If all season, what swayed you to that decision?

[stewy604]

I can't speak for driver's in the UK, but here in Vancouver, I've always run performance summer tires and then swapped to either an all-season or dedicated winter tire for the winter season. We don't get a ton of snow here any more, but the added traction in ice and knowing that you CAN get around in the snow (mountain trip, etc...) is a good piece of mind. It all depends on the type of driving you do.

[Sean_250]

You can't get 20" All Season RFT tyres in the UK. (As both Baunton and I can confirm!)

I'm running 20" 551I performance tyres in summer and have 19" 450 with Michelin Alpin for the winter. Might be overkill for the 'wet' winters we seem to have here but as stewy604 says good to have piece of mind.

[stewy604]

^^^ Those Michelin Alpins are fantastic winter skins!

[chrisny]

Originally Posted by stewy604

I can't speak for driver's in the UK, but here in Vancouver, I've always run performance summer tires and then swapped to either an all-season or dedicated winter tire for the winter season. We don't get a ton of snow here any more, but the added traction in ice and knowing that you CAN get around in the snow (mountain trip, etc...) is a good piece of mind. It all depends on the type of driving you do.

Don't forget about temperature too. Winter tires will also stop better in the winter because they're not turned into cinder blocks the way summers and all-seasons are in cold temps.

[worsy]

On my E70 I have summer with a set of 19" for winter. The 19s look awful though and are not staggered. I normally cant wait to get them off, however for the three winters that I have had the car for....

11/12 - Winters on, wet and damp
12/13 - Didn't bother. Snow apocalypse in Jan and Mar. FML!!!
13/14 - Winters on, wet and damp

I'm sticking with just the performance tyres for the F15, will flog the E70 spec winters later in the year. So we are guaranteed snowmagedon this year.

[Balazzo556]

Friend,

My recommendation it is to go with all season tires. I own a 2012 BMW 535i with M package with summer tires and those tires last only 1.5 years. so believe find a performance size but with the all season tread. I did change the OE tires for the Michelin A/S 3 and they work outstanding and I have a horrible winter in DC this year but nothing wrong going to work and back to home and I have about 13K miles and they're like fairly new with a good tread depth on both front and rear sides...

[Sean_250]

Originally Posted by stewy604

^^^ Those Michelin Alpins are fantastic winter skins!

Thanks! That's good to know.

[MRV99]

I am a firm believer of summer/winter setups for all my cars. I like the fact that you have the best tires for both situations. I don't mind swapping sets on both cars but I do that my self.

I agree the 19's look funny compared to the 20's but I care more about my ability to drive in all snow and ice conditions. knowing that I have a much better chance with winters to avoiding other peoples careless driving and staying out of accidents than the look.

Cost wise I have found it is almost zero when running summer/winters. Most of your cost is upfront when purchasing your winter set. The upside is you only use them for 1/2 a year essentially doubling the life of the tires. Plus you can recoup a lot of your costs if/when you sell your winters.

[CatFlap]

Originally Posted by worsy

On my E70 I have summer with a set of 19" for winter. The 19s look awful though and are not staggered. I normally cant wait to get them off, however for the three winters that I have had the car for....

11/12 - Winters on, wet and damp
12/13 - Didn't bother. Snow apocalypse in Jan and Mar. FML!!!
13/14 - Winters on, wet and damp

I'm sticking with just the performance tyres for the F15, will flog the E70 spec winters later in the year. So we are guaranteed snowmagedon this year.

Good plan @worsy ! I used winters (Bridgestones) on my tuned 330d tourer for the two years I had it though by the Christmas holidays of the second season the rears were torn to bits. Nearly burned the bulb out on the traction control lamp in the dash - it would try spin the rear wheels in third gear the straight line grip was so poor

On my current F25 X3 30d I haven't bothered with winters and have had no problems whatsoever, I drive about 35000 miles per year in all weather conditions.

I don't think our winter seasons are bad enough to need them particularly if you have XDrive. My only concern are the new X5's massive rears on the 20" staggered setup - might be a problem though we'll see how it goes.

[stewy604]

Originally Posted by chrisny

Don't forget about temperature too. Winter tires will also stop better in the winter because they're not turned into cinder blocks the way summers and all-seasons are in cold temps.

Good point. I think the stat I heard was anything below 7 degrees (Celsius) winter rubber is recommended. That said, running them in temps over this range will cause premature wear.

[chrisny]

Originally Posted by stewy604

Good point. I think the stat I heard was anything below 7 degrees (Celsius) winter rubber is recommended. That said, running them in temps over this range will cause premature wear.

Yeah the timing is getting tricky with the weather so up and down these days.

[shodanusmc]

Never had a problem with All Season tires in Chicago. We get cold and snow

[Baunton]

Originally Posted by NPickles

I have never really thought about what kind of tyres are on my car before, so long as there are 4 and they are all inflated I've been happy, but seeing quite a lot of messages on this forum about different types of tyre and the pros and cons of each type got me thinking.

What are F15 owners in the UK running as standard, performance or all season tyres?

If all season did you order your with them from BMW or swap them afterwards?

If all season, what swayed you to that decision?

Hi NPickles. Its a long story, as you may know you can't get 20" All Season RF tyres. So, If still of interest had my 467M 19” wheels with Pirelli Scorpion Winter Run Flat Tyres back from my detailer this morning. Well it is July and soon be Christmas in the shops

He sealed with Nano Ceramic and put black Gator Strips to protect alloys.
This has worked a treat on my current set of 20" 468s.

The arrangement I have with my dealer is that they swap round the Performance/Summer tyres come winter FOC and I store the spare set.

All the best.