BMW Radial Spoke 252 on GT

Found the near-perfect 335 x-Drive GT with M Sport on dealer lot, but it has 20" Double Spoke 303 wheels with performance tires. Dealer can not get the 19" V-Spoke 302 wheels standard with M Sport package, so they offered me the Radial Spoke 252 with Goodyear LS2 RF's from a 740i. The tire/wheel specs are a little different, and dealer said something about tire stretching???

Will I have any problems with these wheels on x-Drive GT? Thanks for your input.

Originally Posted by Mrchasv

Found the near-perfect 335 x-Drive GT with M Sport on dealer lot, but it has 20" Double Spoke 303 wheels with performance tires. Dealer can not get the 19" V-Spoke 302 wheels standard with M Sport package, so they offered me the Radial Spoke 252 with Goodyear LS2 RF's from a 740i. The tire/wheel specs are a little different, and dealer said something about tire stretching???

Will I have any problems with these wheels on x-Drive GT? Thanks for your input.

Hi Mrchasv. I can't answer your question, but I was wondering you saw jad's tire commentary in this thread ?

Maybe you can do your own set of calculations on the proposed alternatives?

Pardon me if this is an ignorant question, but is there an all-season RF tire for the 20's?

Thanks for your comment... No, there are no all-season RF's for 20" rims.

Originally Posted by Mrchasv

Thanks for your comment... No, there are no all-season RF's for 20" rims.

If I were you, I would want the Tire & Wheel Insurance thrown in or at least substantially discounted, along with winter tires/rims. Maybe that's a tall order, but the dealer may have a tough sell with 20" performance tires in Cleveland, OH. Maybe he'll try hard to make a deal. Keep us posted!

Funny you mention it. The dealer asked me what I had against snow tires, and I responded nothing if you give them to me. That ended the conversation. Looks like I will go ahead with the 19" Radial Spoke 252 wheels with all season RF's. Wish I could have gotten the 19" wheels that come with the M Sport package, but the 252 Radial Spoke wheels are a $1,300.00 upgrade on the 7-series roughly equivalent to the 20" wheels on the car at $1,000.00.

Originally Posted by Mrchasv

Funny you mention it. The dealer asked me what I had against snow tires, and I responded nothing if you give them to me. That ended the conversation. Looks like I will go ahead with the 19" Radial Spoke 252 wheels with all season RF's. Wish I could have gotten the 19" wheels that come with the M Sport package, but the 252 Radial Spoke wheels are a $1,300.00 upgrade on the 7-series roughly equivalent to the 20" wheels on the car at $1,000.00.

I can't comment on the 252's, but it's probably a good idea to forego the snow tires. You know how it happens - come mid-October you're busy and know you should put on the snow tires, but they are just so loud that you want to stretch your use of the performance tires. Then a weather report comes through that the storm tomorrow, that was suppose to be rain, is now going to be snow. And you call and call and call to get an appointment to switch tires and they can't do it until after the weekend. You drive home in the snow the next day hoping you don't spin out and all of your plans for the evening, and possibly the weekend too, are shot. So in the end, were they worth the inconvenience?

So when are you going to share some pictures?? Can't wait to see the new wheels!

The proper term now (and for a number of years) is 'winter tire'. An all-season or summer tire loses some of its traction ability at the temperature drops, an all-season much less than a summer tire (which can become downright dangerous in cold, even forgetting about snow or ice). Your stopping distance increases considerably when it gets cold on those tires. So, if you want max performance, run summer tires when it is warm, and switch to winter ones when it isn't - don't wait for that first snowfall or black ice situation as it will have almost certainly become cold enough to warrant their use earlier. Most of Europe realizes this, and parts of Canada have mandated it as well. There's a reason for them, and if you live or drive where their design features will benefit you, if you want max performance, you'll have a second set of tires/wheels sitting in your garage!

While some winter tires are noticeably noisier than a summer tire, that isn't always the case; and, some of the performance winter tires have only minor performance penalties. Now, if you get really serious and go with studs, yes, they're nasty, but really work if the road is really bad - luckily, I never see that, or have a reason to go out when they may make the difference, but there are places. Personally, I ended up with some Michelin PA2 (the PA3 isn't available, yet, in RFT). I've had good luck with them. Nokian makes a decent one as well available in RFT.

Originally Posted by jadnashuanh

The proper term now (and for a number of years) is 'winter tire'. An all-season or summer tire loses some of its traction ability at the temperature drops, an all-season much less than a summer tire (which can become downright dangerous in cold, even forgetting about snow or ice). Your stopping distance increases considerably when it gets cold on those tires. So, if you want max performance, run summer tires when it is warm, and switch to winter ones when it isn't - don't wait for that first snowfall or black ice situation as it will have almost certainly become cold enough to warrant their use earlier. Most of Europe realizes this, and parts of Canada have mandated it as well. There's a reason for them, and if you live or drive where their design features will benefit you, if you want max performance, you'll have a second set of tires/wheels sitting in your garage!

While some winter tires are noticeably noisier than a summer tire, that isn't always the case; and, some of the performance winter tires have only minor performance penalties. Now, if you get really serious and go with studs, yes, they're nasty, but really work if the road is really bad - luckily, I never see that, or have a reason to go out when they may make the difference, but there are places. Personally, I ended up with some Michelin PA2 (the PA3 isn't available, yet, in RFT). I've had good luck with them. Nokian makes a decent one as well available in RFT.

Another great explanation from jad! Thanks. Jad, what do you think of 252's on the GT? Ever heard of problems with "tire stretching"?

Thanks for your interest Starry. Just saw your GT with the 302 wheels... It's a beauty. I will get post some photos of my GT with the 252's real soon. I like them in the sun, but not so much at night. Might want to purchase a set of 302's if I can find them.