Those are summer tires and should not be used in the cold and definitely not snow.

 

Imagine a quiet residential street with two inches of fresh snow. A kid goes by on a bicycle. You walk out with your morning coffee and look at the track made by the bike. You can picture the track the bike made, right? It's a deep vee, slightly swerving, with a hint of pavement at the bottom. Now imagine a steamroller. Imagine its path. It makes its own skating rink as it rolls along - flat snow crushed into smooth ice. That's the basic geometry problem. It's why DOT snowplows have relatively skinny, high pressure commercial tires. It's why BMW SAV snow setups are square and relatively narrow.

 

BTW, second problem: the sexy 315 rim is a milled alloy rim with a clear(ish) urethane coat, I believe. That makes a flat face, with a pronounced (almost square) edge to the spoke.

This is typical of the fashion today, and across many OE manufacturers. It looks great on the showroom floor. Several manufacturers even offer a smoked urethane on the same rims, giving the whole vehicle an impressive "Vader" stance.

But they all have a fundamental problem with the edge where the machined face meets the rest of the spoke. There's an edge right there that seems to get microscopically sandblasted (especially with snow), so road brine will start to cause corrosion there and on the flat rim area nearest the bead. If you take a look a the BMW OE "winter wheel" setups, you'll find that most of them are cast (or spun) from the same very molds as their sexier siblings, but they have a simple black paint. That's not by accident.

In short, there are a lot of reasons why using "all season" setups in the winter is the inferior approach.

 

Also, you have another problem: BMW changed bolt patterns on the X5 recently. When I bought my '16 X5 F15, I found a set of 5 year old E70 snow wheels (rims and tires) on Craigslist, and I had them installed for about $200 per tire, net. The basic geometry was the same, and I checked carefully for clearance, etc. BTW, that's why I know about the brine problem. Those only lasted me another 3 years (which was fine by me). Then they looked like crap.

But G05 hubs are incompatible with the predecessors' E70/F15 bolt pattern, therefore there's basically nobody on CL selling "old" snow wheels yet. You'll probably want new ones, or look for "new vehicle take-offs" in places like Los Angeles, where people want really low-profile rubber, like a rubber band around a soup can.

Sorry.

 

Thanks for the replies. Guess I have to decide if I should buy another set of wheels and tires or keep my 16' Highlander for snowy situations.

 

On my 2017 F15 X5, I swapped summer tires for winter tires (and vice versa) twice a year but kept the same 20" staggered setup all year round, using the original wheels for winter and summer. I'm not going to get into a debate on winter tire performance and width right now, but the 20" 275/315 winter setup did just fine in extreme cold, heavy snow, and major ice. I drove for three full Colorado Winters with this setup, including regular trips to our condo in Breckenridge, and never had any issues.

For my 2021 G05, I opted to go with a separate winter/summer setup. I have the original 741M 21" wheels with summer tires on right now, and then I purchased a set of gently used 738 style 20" wheels in a 275 square setup and had a set of winter tires mounted.

The dedicated set of winter and summer wheels and tires allows me to do the switch myself whenever I want to do it. I much prefer this as opposed to the swapping of tires on common wheels, which required an appointment at the tire shop (often with several week's notice) and spending an extra $100 plus per year swapping rubber back and forth. I also didn't like the unavoidable scuffs that the tire swapping inevitably caused to the wheels.

 

Anyone know how the summers do in rain? I think I made a mistake in getting the 21s. I thought only the 22s were staggered summer-only tires and anything below was square.

I mean, the most snow I'll ever see is a parking lot of a ski resort (if it's been snowing hard the night before, I'm not driving up until well after they've cleared the roads). But it does rain occasionally in CA. I've never had summer-only tires before.

 

Summer tires are fine in the rain. It is really only the temperature that is going to cause issues. I've run summers on several BMWs and a Porsche in the warm part of the year and never experienced any issues with rain.

If you are never driving in freezing rain or snow conditions worse than a ski parking lot (and you drive in that lot carefully), you should be fine on summers.

 

I'm in Southern California too and I didn't get the 21s over that issue. I might drive to Denver once in the winter or to Flagstaff (northern Az). The summer tires not only do poorly on snow but the rubber also gets hard when it's cold and even in dry conditions, the performance is degraded. However, I think that summer tires will do fine in rain.

From Consumer Reports:
If you own a car with summer tires, refrain from using it at all in cold temperatures as the tires may crack. Leave it parked. Beyond cracking concerns, summer tires have diminished grip below 40º F on dry and wet roads and virtually little to no grip on snow and ice.

 

Yeah, I'm just gonna be crawling in any ski resort parking lot anyways. The 40 degrees could be an issue though. It gets colder than that where I live in the Bay Area. It does put a damper on winter road trips though, which I was hoping to do. Especially to national parks. Saturday is supposed to be a low of 36 and it's not even winter yet. The 21" rims were the primary option the wife wanted though, so it's not quite as simple as "sell em and get 20s".

 

Keep in mind that summer tires do not suddenly turn into frictionless slabs of rubber the minute the thermometer dips below 40. If you only occasionally drive in temps below 40 (or even 30) and in dry conditions, I personally would not be all that concerned about using summers. (Also keeping in mind that low temperatures normally occur at like 3-6am, not a time when you are most likely out on the roads.)

With that said, if you are considering trips to national parks in the winter in conditions that could be cold and wet, I don't know that I would be comfortable rolling on winters for those trips.

I have not swapped my wheels/tires yet for the season, and we have low temps below 40 almost every night right now and under 30 on many nights. With our third occasion of significant snow fall coming up this weekend though, and December right around the corner, I will probably go and put the winter rubber on within the next few days.

But I am going to miss the look of these 741M wheels - they are 10x better looking than my 20" 738 wheels...

 

Thanks, that's reassuring. I'm a total noob at tires really so all the info is much appreciated. I may look into switching to 20s and all-seasons when these wear out. I think the added cost of the replacement tires will help justify a whole new wheel tire package. DW is just vehemently opposed (thinks they're awful looking) to the 740M wheels. They look good to me.

Didn't mean to hijack Predator's thread, cuz I was interested in hearing how they'd do in a minor snow storm, but it sounds like the consensus is a giant NO.

 

There is a chance some of the tire makers will offer an all-season that fits the 21" 741M wheels. I wasn't able to find them now, but since they have both winters and summers, one or more may introduce an all-season at some point. And then you're set.

I don't dislike the 740M wheel, but I have found that they are much more common than the 21" 741M. I have seen several X5s with the 740M wheels driving in my area, but not a single on yet with the 741. (Knock on wood). I'm actually regretting not going with the 740M for my winter setup. It looks like BMW has these with winter tires for $3900, which isn't that much more than I spent on the 738s and winter tires separately.

The 741M wheels with winter tires are $8720 on BMWUSA. So if you do choose to get rid of your 741M wheels, you can probably get a good price for them...

 

To me, the issue is safety. A summer tire will have almost no grip if you have any snow or ice on the road, and because the tread gets stiffer as it gets colder, your cornering and stopping distances will be degraded. Now, the average situation does not put stresses on the tires, but all it could take is one emergency stop or a curve that was tighter than you figured and you went into a bit too fast, neither your brakes nor the tires may save you then. If you were to have an accident (and lived through it) with summer tires where all-seasons or winter tires would be called for, it could open you up for liability claims. You'd feel pretty bad if you hurt or killed someone because you couldn't stop or swerve related to your tires.

 

Is the issue something different to anyone else? If it weren't for the poor performance/safety of the summer tire in cold/slick conditions, why would you not just go with them all year??

You sure as heck don't run summer tires for their longevity, that's for sure...

 

Man, I hope someone comes out with a 21" all season. Hopefully they will as these giant rims are becoming more and more common. I remember when 16 and 17" was considered "big". LOL

 

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Looks like Pirelli has Scorpion Verde A/S that might work. A bit pricey, but let's face it, anyone settling for A/S is mostly concerned about convenience over outright performance.

Looks like Continental has a ProContact TX that may work as well. Treadwear is on the lowside though.

Tire search

www.continentaltire.com

 

yes, but no run flat options.

 

With no run flat options yet, how many have a spare tires and does the x5 have an option to store one?

 

TireRack and Costco have nothing. I had to do a Google search for other online retailers to look for options, and I went to the major tire manufacturers' websites themselves..

Yeah, I'm just driving a 45e too (or will be when it arrives). Not a m50i or 5 M. I might take a freeway onramp curve a little harder, but not all that much harder.

I'm not overly concerned with not having run flats. I've got the BMW roadside service and AAA. I got a flat on the X3, but that's cuz I'm in new construction and there are nails everywhere. The last time I got a flat out in the wild, it was on this car I drove like 5 miles a year (yeah, not a typo). It basically was kept around for sentimental value and the tires rotted from the extreme heat and cold it was in. Is it potholes that people get flats from in the wild? If I lived where it snowed, I'd be more concerned cuz I don't wanna be stranded on the side of the road in a snowstorm where someone can slide and hit me. But I'm in an area of CA with mild temps and wide shoulders.

 

Yeah, I'm just driving a 45e too (or will be when it arrives). Not a m50i or 5 M. I might take a freeway onramp curve a little harder, but not all that much harder.

The 45e has pretty good power and acceleration. In fact, I have blown away every single M50 and X5M that I have drag-raced from stop lights in the last few weeks. It was almost like they didn't know they were in a race, or weren't aware that you could launch long before the light turned green.

I'm not overly concerned with not having run flats. I've got the BMW roadside service and AAA. I got a flat on the X3, but that's cuz I'm in new construction and there are nails everywhere. The last time I got a flat out in the wild, it was on this car I drove like 5 miles a year (yeah, not a typo). It basically was kept around for sentimental value and the tires rotted from the extreme heat and cold it was in. Is it potholes that people get flats from in the wild? If I lived where it snowed, I'd be more concerned cuz I don't wanna be stranded on the side of the road in a snowstorm where someone can slide and hit me. But I'm in an area of CA with mild temps and wide shoulders.

Funny you mention this, because now that I think back, I don't believe I have EVER had to change a tire on any of my previous 5 BMWs (going back to 2002). And that includes my 2007 335 that came with run-flats but I changed out to regular tires. I don't think I ever had a run flat that even lost pressure and had to be fixed right away.

So I don't know if it is potholes or what, but flats just don't seem to be as common these days.

I wonder if BMW makes a very small spare tire kit that could be stuck in a bag and just used for absolute emergencies. My Porsche has this small spare that gets inflated when it is needed, and doesn't take up much space otherwise. Something like that would be nice to toss in the cargo area when taking a longer trip, but leaving in the garage the rest of the time. If my wife got a flat somewhere around town, I could just bring it out to get the car back home.

 

Yes, there are kits you can purchase that basically consist of that Fix-A-Flat spray can stuff you squirt in and it temporarily seals a small hole. That's my plan. There's that small undertrunk section where I plan on putting it and my other emergency stuff (like jumper cables, first aid kit, blanket, etc). I don't plan on leaving the charging cable in the car so that'll be more room.

 

i have gotten screws in my tire. I had one time where it was great to have the run flat and just drive home from work without having to deal with a flat. A different time I hit something on the road at night as i was exiting the freeway. By the time i got home 2 miles later, the tire was obviously low. When i got out a flashlight to look at it, i found a screwdriver with the blade end embedded in the upper side of the wheel-well with the handle sticking out.

 

I just installed Wintrac Pro's on my 21 X5 which fit the same staggered 315/35/21 on the rear. Interestingly, I got trapped in mammoth lakes with early Nov snow (without the tires I mentioned above) and fitted chains on the front, because there were not options for the back. Unfortunately for me the chains broke and severed the front left brake cable which trapped me there for a few days while I got parts shipped. Definitely not something I want to repeat!

Here they are: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Vredestein&tireModel=Wintrac+Pro

 

Thanks! That's the info I have been looking for.

 

I live in the Atlanta area, and I've run Summer performance tires year-round for the past 6 years and never had a problem. We don't get snow often, but I keep the X5 off the road when dealing with freezing rain or snow. Other than that, I've used the performance tires in cold temperatures and have no concerns about continuing to do so.

 

Thanks for sharing. Makes me feel a lot better. I've never had summer tires before so I was a bit anxious about how they'd do in the winter. It only gets to 30s here (no snow) so not all that cold, but I have 0 experience with summer tires. Everything I've owned before had a/s tires that I'm aware of (even the 325Ci I had). I know I've only ever purchased A/S tires after the factory ones wore out.

 

Take a look at this all.

There are lots of videos on the web comparing summer and winter tires, but this is the first where the tester is able to control all of the variables for the most part. TLDR, the Summer tires perform better than I expected at low temperatures when it's dry, however as soon as you introduce moisture into the mix the performance changes drastically.

I agree with others above that it's a shame you can't get factory all season run flats installed instead of the summers.