Tyre Question

Picked up my 2012 128 yesterday and love it. It did come with the sport package so that means mixed performance Goodyear Eagle NCT5s. So question. We have pretty mild winters here, never much weather bad enough to get a second set of wheels with winter tyres. But we may get one or two snows a year, maybe a bit of ice on rare Occasions. Temps will get below freezing though quite a bit. Are these tires just totally dangerous in bad weather ????? Do I need to go trade them in on all seasons ???? Or can I get by if driven very carefully

You can "get by" on dry roads at low temps by being very, very cautious.

But since you will most likely NOT move at all on snow or ice, either get winter tires or a second car if you must drive under those conditions.

Congrats on the new 128i - the NCT5s are a fairly comfortable, summer touring RFT and I managed about 24,000 miles out of the OEM rears on my '08. The fronts would have gone at least another 20k, but it was cheaper to buy 4 Conti DWS tires than 2 rear NCT5s!

Tom

Originally Posted by tccox

Or can I get by if driven very carefully

No! it is dangerous. Your stopping distance is realy compromised at tempatures below 45 degrees.

With summer tires the rubber compound gets very hard below 45 degrees causing the tire to lose grip on the road.

A Copy & Paste from page 215 of the online 2012 128i manual.

"Special characteristics of winter tires
BMW recommends winter tires for winter roads
or at temperatures below +45 degrees. Although all-season M+S tires provide better
winter traction than summer tires, they generally
fail to provide the same levels of coldweather
performance as winter tires."

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...a+6nu5hY2Fnwg=

For your weather conditions I recommend Performance Winter Tires and a set of rims.

You give up just a little snow and ice traction for better wet and dry Performance with Performance Winter Tires vs Winter Tires.

The Michelin Alpin PA 3 or the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D are good choices.

My son has the Alpin PA 3 on his 2009 135i convertable & 2003 Mustang. He likes to drive the convertable on nice days in the winter. I have the Sport 3D on my Rav 4.

Tire rack is a good source for tires.

Although we got ours at Sears they cost a little more but it was convenient for us. Also they change the tires from summer and winter for free as long as you have them on seperate rims.

Ps. All Season tires are like the old saying (a jack of all trades & a master of none).

The Rav4 came with allseason tires. I put the Sport 3Ds on it the first week I had it. When I do wear out the all season tires I will replace them with summer tires.

Have same situation...except here in St.Louis we get a bit more of the cold stuff than you do. Just the same, I popped for an extra set of wheels AND tires...yup both, and glad I did. The sad thing is, you buy a great car, pay a good premium price for it, and then you are risking an awful lot on gambling with some bad freeze days, icey days or whatever. I got the complete set, because I did not like stretching and switching tires back and forth. Now I just lift and replace. Sad thing #2 is that you might do all that...and then not have the turns in weather this winter. BUT you will set for next year with great tires ready. Just a thot...

If your 128i is your only vehicle, your options are to get a second set of wheels/tires or to have your tires swapped for some all seasons - I plan to get the same Conti DWS all season tires Tom mentions (I'm at about 17K and well below the wear bars so far). I leave a little south of you so the weather is not very different. Traction in the temperatures we get is not an issue (never much of an issue based upon the tests I've seen) but traction in snow/ice is much much worse. If you can leave it sit for those few days we get with those conditions, you could get by with your summer tires. Otherwise, you need tires. You need to go maybe 5mph slower on all seasons compared to good winter tires. The traction difference with summer tires is much more drastic, you'd have to go so slow it just isn't practical or safe. I leave mine sit and take my SUV. (I drive it all winter, just not on snow or ice.)

Jim

Well, thing is we only get maybe 3-4 days of snow/ice a year. Highs are going to be in the 50-60s over the next ten days. I'm a old fart with a lot of vacation built up so think I'll just take vacation in really bad weather and leave Red in her nice heated garage. Considering how really bad Charlotte drivers are in ice/snow most likely safest thing to do anyway.

I'm really loving this 128.

I wanted to try my 128i vert on the snow last time we got some but I didn't not because I thought I couldn't get around but because of the potential somebody else would run into me. I leave it in the garage too. If I have to go someplace the SUV gets me there.

Jim

Originally Posted by tccox

Well, thing is we only get maybe 3-4 days of snow/ice a year. Highs are going to be in the 50-60s over the next ten days. I'm a old fart with a lot of vacation built up so think I'll just take vacation in really bad weather and leave Red in her nice heated garage. Considering how really bad Charlotte drivers are in ice/snow most likely safest thing to do anyway.

I'm really loving this 128.

Great post. Thanks. (It's even better when you're retired and don't have to drive if you don't want to.) I cringe as I think back on some of the days I "had to get to work." Fortunately for me and my family I managed to survive. **Fortunately my agency now has a "work at hiome" arrangement so I would not have to risk my life and my car for a day's pay. Bless you, GAO.

Originally Posted by JimD1

If your 128i is your only vehicle, your options are to get a second set of wheels/tires or to have your tires swapped for some all seasons - I plan to get the same Conti DWS all season tires Tom mentions (I'm at about 17K and well below the wear bars so far). I leave a little south of you so the weather is not very different. Traction in the temperatures we get is not an issue (never much of an issue based upon the tests I've seen) but traction in snow/ice is much much worse. If you can leave it sit for those few days we get with those conditions, you could get by with your summer tires. Otherwise, you need tires. You need to go maybe 5mph slower on all seasons compared to good winter tires. The traction difference with summer tires is much more drastic, you'd have to go so slow it just isn't practical or safe. I leave mine sit and take my SUV. (I drive it all winter, just not on snow or ice.)

Jim

I just got these tires for my 128 and I couldn't be more pleased. I certainly recommend them

I'm in southern PA, close to Baltimore, MD and our winters vary. We can get a mix of snow and ice all winter, or not get much of anything at all. So we keep all seasons on our cars and share an X3.