All Season Tires

I'm very likely to get me one of them new F10's soon and am wondering...when ordering the dynamic handling/sport package can one opt for all season tires rather than summer tires? One would think you can but a dealer I went to the other day was unsure.And yes,I know that that kinda defeats the purpose of the package (to a degree,at least) but when you live in New England the summers are short and the winters are looooong!

BMW is shifting over to all season tires on the F10 for the sport version of the car. Definitely ORDER your car so that get the September start of production enhancements which are quite nice.

Originally Posted by pharding

BMW is shifting over to all season tires on the F10 for the sport version of the car. Definitely ORDER your car so that get the September start of production enhancements which are quite nice.

Thanks for your reply.Yes,if I do it I will order so,given that their plants shut down in August,I'm likely to get a September run.However,I'm just not sure if I'll do ED or not given that it's really tough to get cheap airfares from the East Coast to Europe these days (not long ago you could).I'm curious as to where you got your info regarding the changeover.And do you know if this changeover is supposed to start with the September runs?

Originally Posted by listerone

I'm very likely to get me one of them new F10's soon and am wondering...when ordering the dynamic handling/sport package can one opt for all season tires rather than summer tires? One would think you can but a dealer I went to the other day was unsure.And yes,I know that that kinda defeats the purpose of the package (to a degree,at least) but when you live in New England the summers are short and the winters are looooong!

My 550i xDrive will be my fifth bimmer. The first was a '93 740i that I took delivery of the first week in December, 1992. On Dec 13th we had over a foot of snow. I was very glad I had four SNOW tires and not all seasons. I have always use four full fledged snow tires in the winter. I had tried using four all seasons on my prior car, a front wheel drive Acura, and it didn't work very well. My wife has a front wheel drive Accord which came with all seasons. She lasted about one snow storm before we put four Blizzaks on her car. The difference is amazing.

It really doesn't cost much because you only use the summer tires half the year so they last twice as long. If you put them on four winter rims you also don't have to pay a hundred bucks to have the tires mounted and balanced twice a year either. Also, with the ZDH it would be nice to have dedicated summer tires to take full advantage of the great handling in the warm weather. I have Dunlop Wintersport M3s on my 650i, which I will put on my 550i even though it also has AWD. If my current winter wheels don't fit on my new car I'll get a set of Blizzak LM-25 runflats for the 550.

If you try this, I know you will be happier in the snow.

Originally Posted by richschneid

My 550i xDrive will be my fifth bimmer. The first was a '93 740i that I took delivery of the first week in December, 1992. On Dec 13th we had over a foot of snow. I was very glad I had four SNOW tires and not all seasons. I have always use four full fledged snow tires in the winter. I had tried using four all seasons on my prior car, a front wheel drive Acura, and it didn't work very well. My wife has a front wheel drive Accord which came with all seasons. She lasted about one snow storm before we put four Blizzaks on her car. The difference is amazing.

It really doesn't cost much because you only use the summer tires half the year so they last twice as long. If you put them on four winter rims you also don't have to pay a hundred bucks to have the tires mounted and balanced twice a year either. Also, with the ZDH it would be nice to have dedicated summer tires to take full advantage of the great handling in the warm weather. I have Dunlap Wintersport M3s on my 650i, which I will put on my 550i even though it also has AWD. If my current winter wheels don't fit on my new car I'll get a set of Blizzak LM-25 runflats for the 550.

If you try this, I know you will be happier in the snow.

But don't forget the TPMS sensors on the winter rims — otherwise your car will nag you all season long and you won't ever know if you have a flat.

Originally Posted by raleedy

But don't forget the TPMS sensors on the winter rims — otherwise your car will nag you all season long and you won't ever know if you have a flat.

Good point. If you buy your tires from the Tirerack they can install these for you. On my old tires can the dealer install the TPMS, or do I need to get a new set of wheels and tires?

What are your recommendations for winter wheels for my 2011 550i Sport?

Originally Posted by pharding

What are your recommendations for winter wheels for my 2011 550i Sport?

The problem is that the runflat LM-25s do not come in 19" size. I was on the phone with the tirerack the other day and also on their website. They do not have any recommendations yet for 18" wheels on the 550i. You can get Pirelli snows in 19" size but they are not RFT's. In general it's better to get a narrower smaller diameter tire with a wider sidewall for the winter in order to go better in deep snow and protect the wheels from road hazards like potholes. He said they would have more info in Sept. So, I'm going to wait and see. If I get new wheels I'm going to get black ones to go with my dark blue car. I use chrome wheels in the summer. Chrome wheels will pit in the winter from the salt. I have ASA 18" alloy inexpensive winter wheels for my 6. I had the 19" BMW sport package summer wheels chromed. They look great. I'm probably do the same for my new 5.