Snow tire suggestions for 2012 35d

Hello Fellow Bimmerfesters,

I am about to have snow tires installed on my recently-purchased 2012 X5 35d and I am in need of your feedback. I'm looking at either the Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 or the Michelin Latitude Alpin. Have any of you ran either of these tires on your X? If so, how did they perform?

I am in field sales and put around 50,000 per year on my X. I cover 5 states in the Northern Midwest so FEET of snow, awful ice and otherwise miserable driving are in my cards, in the very-near future! Any feedback is greatly appreciated- especially how either these or other favorite snow tires perform for you.

Thanks in advance,

John

I have Blizzaks on all cars that go in the snow and they are great

I recall the Nokian Hakkapeliitta being highly rated...but given the brutal winters here in CA, I swear by my All Seasons..

My Pirelli scorpion ice and snow have never let me down going back to my e53.

Second for the Pirelli. It seems to fit the gap between all out snow performance and marginal clear road performance of the Blizzaks and the more clear road focused, but worse snow performance of the Michelins.

FWIW I just popped on the scorpions from last year and they are LOUD in my long experience with snow tires. Of course fronts are at 4-5 mm. They have a few thousand miles left at best so not exactly impressive wear. When I trash them in January they will have provided about 12,000 miles.

I have the 5.0 with AD so will admit I am wild in the corners and off ramps thus contributes significantly to my wear report.

Note I have a 4Runner running Goodyear wranglers with Kevlar belt. Quiet at 4-5 mm, good wear, and like Velcro. Aggressive tread would look cool on x5, especially with black walls. Alas, no fit options. Probably take the fun out of AD anyway.

Such are the wages.

Originally Posted by scar

FWIW I just popped on the scorpions from last year and they are LOUD in my long experience with snow tires. Of course fronts are at 4-5 mm. They have a few thousand miles left at best so not exactly impressive wear. When I trash them in January they will have provided about 12,000 miles.

I have the 5.0 with AD so will admit I am wild in the corners and off ramps thus contributes significantly to my wear report.

Note I have a 4Runner running Goodyear wranglers with Kevlar belt. Quiet at 4-5 mm, good wear, and like Velcro. Aggressive tread would look cool on x5, especially with black walls. Alas, no fit options. Probably take the fun out of AD anyway.

Such are the wages.

Make sure your alignment is OK, because the Pirellis will cup if either tire pressures or alignment are off.

How is the M5 treating you? I was in the Pinetree chapter a few years ago, and I am pretty sure I remember you getting it. I had the Carbon Black E39 M5. I sold mine with 103k mi on the odometer and it was still working pretty well.

Hi Chris. Yes you remember correctly. Still enjoying the M5 but don't use it much. Just hit 50k and going into winter storage now. Nice to hear from you.

I see you got a 50 X5 too. I am amazed I like it so much. With the AD I can go thru the northbound Yarmouth exit ramp nearly as fast as the m5. Doesn't drift as well tho.

Originally Posted by John Galt

Hello Fellow Bimmerfesters,

I am about to have snow tires installed on my recently-purchased 2012 X5 35d and I am in need of your feedback. I'm looking at either the Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 or the Michelin Latitude Alpin. Have any of you ran either of these tires on your X? If so, how did they perform?

I am in field sales and put around 50,000 per year on my X. I cover 5 states in the Northern Midwest so FEET of snow, awful ice and otherwise miserable driving are in my cards, in the very-near future! Any feedback is greatly appreciated- especially how either these or other favorite snow tires perform for you.

Thanks in advance,

John

Here in Nova Scotia, we get lots of snow, slush, black ice, freezing rain. I had the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow on my 2003 X5 3.0 (traded to a 2009 4.8 in May/12). My experience with them was very good. 1/3 wear after 20,000kms. 2009 X5 came with Dunlop Grandtrek WT M3's ... anyone have any comments about these tires (haven't installed them yet)?

Originally Posted by scar

Hi Chris. Yes you remember correctly. Still enjoying the M5 but don't use it much. Just hit 50k and going into winter storage now. Nice to hear from you.

I see you got a 50 X5 too. I am amazed I like it so much. With the AD I can go thru the northbound Yarmouth exit ramp nearly as fast as the m5. Doesn't drift as well tho.

Yup, needed the ground clearance for the snow drifts. Apparently trees are a foreign concept around here. I miss the northeast, there isn't a good corner within 50 miles of this place, so the only time I can even think of drifting is a snow covered parking lot. It is a good vehicle for what I need right now, but I really miss the E39. If they still made them, I would buy another.

Originally Posted by ccieurzo

Yup, needed the ground clearance for the snow drifts. Apparently trees are a foreign concept around here. I miss the northeast, there isn't a good corner within 50 miles of this place, so the only time I can even think of drifting is a snow covered parking lot. It is a good vehicle for what I need right now, but I really miss the E39. If they still made them, I would buy another.

Thread Hijack


Chris,
I see you had both an E60 and E39 M5, if you had the option to get one of them again which would you chose? The lease on my M5 is up in February and I'm on the fence about keeping it. I might look for an '03 E39 just for fun.

Originally Posted by scar

FWIW I just popped on the scorpions from last year and they are LOUD in my long experience with snow tires. Of course fronts are at 4-5 mm. They have a few thousand miles left at best so not exactly impressive wear. When I trash them in January they will have provided about 12,000 miles.

I have the 5.0 with AD so will admit I am wild in the corners and off ramps thus contributes significantly to my wear report.

Note I have a 4Runner running Goodyear wranglers with Kevlar belt. Quiet at 4-5 mm, good wear, and like Velcro. Aggressive tread would look cool on x5, especially with black walls. Alas, no fit options. Probably take the fun out of AD anyway.

Such are the wages.

I am surprised to hear this because I have the exact opposite experience . I had close too 18k on the one set and was at 7/32 tread depth. My current scorpions have 5k and they are at 9/32 and I also have AD which get putto good use.

IMO for making estimstes of tire life, the labeled treadwear indicator is superior to anecdotal experiences, precisely because we can ne'er know who had a good alignment and who didn't...

Originally Posted by ard

IMO for making estimstes of tire life, the labeled treadwear indicator is superior to anecdotal experiences, precisely because we can ne'er know who had a good alignment and who didn't...

Yea ARD. Tell that to people who are getting 9k-12k miles on a set of tires which are 300 tread ware on their 550's when driven like and old lady. Tread ware helps but is not the complete picture. Better yet the people getting 45k-50k on a set which people swear that they should have never gotten more than 35k max.

Originally Posted by BeamerandBimmer

Thread Hijack


Chris,
I see you had both an E60 and E39 M5, if you had the option to get one of them again which would you chose? The lease on my M5 is up in February and I'm on the fence about keeping it. I might look for an '03 E39 just for fun.

Honestly, I liked the E39 better. The E60 was faster, and had better gadgets, but it was too high strung and thirsty for me to really enjoy it. The E39 was a better daily driver for me. Repairs on either vehicle will be expensive.

Originally Posted by ard

I recall the Nokian Hakkapeliitta being highly rated...but given the brutal winters here in CA, I swear by my All Seasons..

Yup, Nokians are super popular up here in the Northeast. The local tire shop actually recommended me some WRG2s once my RFTs are shot. Apparently they're snow tires, but most people run them year round. Not sure how the softer compound does in the summer though

I just swapped off the Pirelli's for the Blizzaks that came off our old ML. I will say first that they are both very good tires and would run either. The Blizzaks are noticeably quieter and seem to be a bit "grippier" especially on ice and snow. The Pirelli's are a little bit more firm but handle better on dry pavement.

I'd say the Blizzaks are excellent for snow/ice and very good on winter dry pavement, where the Pirelli's are excellent on winter dry pavement and very good on snow/ice.

If road noise is the deciding factor then it would be the Blizzak's imo.

Thanks all- I ended up with the Blizzaks installed today. I'll reply back here with my observations. I put around 3500-5000 miles on per month so I should be a good test mule!

- John

235/60/18 in either brand would transform your X5 into the ultimate winter driving machine.

You get them in RFT?

@Kar Don: Non RFT. I have a space saver spare so didn't need RFT.

Originally Posted by Flogger11

Here in Nova Scotia, we get lots of snow, slush, black ice, freezing rain. I had the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow on my 2003 X5 3.0 (traded to a 2009 4.8 in May/12). My experience with them was very good. 1/3 wear after 20,000kms. 2009 X5 came with Dunlop Grandtrek WT M3's ... anyone have any comments about these tires (haven't installed them yet)?

My mistake: just checked my records, and my Pirelli Scorpions had 30,784 kms on them with 1/3 wear when I traded my 2003 X5. Of course, driving snow tires at 7*C or less (as they're designed) will give good wear. They'll get my vote ...