summer tires & snow, bad - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

EdP · 20th January 2005, 17:31

Had a service appt yesterday morning which I should have rescheduled due to weather, but how bad could it be (I asked myself) if they're only predicting a dusting to 1" of snow, starting in the afternoon? Answer: very, very bad. Turned out to be more like 3" by the time I headed home, and it's been so cold lately that every flake stuck on road surfaces. I literally could not drive slow enough. At 15 mph, I had trouble going in a straight line on a flat road. Everyone else is flying by me. I have Michelin PS2s. Twice, I totally lost control going down very gentle grades near my house; fortunately, the car recovered before I hit anything. I should have know better. Next time, the car stays home.

x703jko · 20th January 2005, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdP

Had a service appt yesterday morning which I should have rescheduled due to weather, but how bad could it be (I asked myself) if they're only predicting a dusting to 1" of snow, starting in the afternoon? Answer: very, very bad. Turned out to be more like 3" by the time I headed home, and it's been so cold lately that every flake stuck on road surfaces. I literally could not drive slow enough. At 15 mph, I had trouble going in a straight line on a flat road. Everyone else is flying by me. I have Michelin PS2s. Twice, I totally lost control going down very gentle grades near my house; fortunately, the car recovered before I hit anything. I should have know better. Next time, the car stays home.

PS2s as well as the standard Pilot Sports suck in cold weather.

If you want to enjoy your beast in the winter, you'll have to use somekind of winter (snow) tire (on 17" wheels if possible). At the very least, switch to an "All Season" tire like the Pilot Sport All Season. That's what I do and I find that I can at least manage in snow up to 3". Anything thicker and I jump in my SUV instead.

Jeff

Ashok Arora · 20th January 2005, 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by x703jko

PS2s as well as the standard Pilot Sports suck in cold weather.

I can attest to that:

I crashed my M5 in a snowstorm at 60 mph

Petey Pop · 20th January 2005, 18:08

Any snow and my beast hibernates in the garage.

EdP · 20th January 2005, 18:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashok Arora

I can attest to that

I was sorry to read about that a while back.

I usually drive our Chevy Suburban in any kind of bad weather. I never would have believed that the PS2s could be soooo bad in snow.

marinakorp · 20th January 2005, 18:31

while a winter beater is nice

a good set of snow tires do wonders for these cars

on my 540iT, I had similar experiences in the snow... put on a set of snow tires, and I can go places that some of the AWD can not go (assuming that they have summer tires on as well, with the all seasons, the AWD are OK)

4000 lbs and snow tires, no traction control,... the car is a force to be reconed with in the snow

usually i put them on after thanksgiving and place the summers on after march / april (east coast midatlantic)

it is all about the rubber on the road

boostmiser · 20th January 2005, 18:37

Yup, we got the big 1" last night but because of the cold ground, it was apparently worse than a foot of snow.

I left work and the snow was tapering off. I95 was fine. Went into the city to pick up my winter mats I ordered a fwe days ago. Got them just in time. But the roads in the city were not that great. Almost slid through a red light. Barely made it out of the dealership. Got back on to 95 which was just wet. Two more roads to my house - not bad so far. Pull into my neighborhood and the roads were bad. Turned into my driveway and ...uhhhh...couldn't make it into my garage. Backed up into the nighbors driveway to get a running start. Still 5ft. from the garage. Car spun. Car slid. Car went sideways. Tried this several times. No luck. I finally conceeded and shoveled the driveway and put some icemelt down.

I never got around to buying winter tires because it's so late in the season and this was the first snow, I figured I could tough it out. We'll see.

On a lighter note, this is the first snow my M5 has ever seen...as it was originally a Florida car. So far, she's been receptive to the climate change.

grp · 20th January 2005, 18:49

All 3 of my (and my wifes') cars (and the 4th next week, the M5 - can't wait

) have snow tyres on rims. It doesn't snow too much directly in Geneva but it snows often enough to be wary and of course, Geneva is surrounded by Mountains which I used for skiing at the weekends

Even on my 944 Turbo, it'll travel perfectly well in snow with the snow tyres (assuming sensible throttle obviously). Of course, if the snow gets too deep, either I imitate a snow plough or I drive backwards

Apart from saving my bacon on a number of occasions, there is another issue we contend with. If you have an accident on snow covered roads in Geneva and you don't have snow tyres, the insurance company can refuse to pay citing negligence

I don't have first (or even second hand) knowledge of this being true but it's common knowledge among the Genevois ...

Regards,

Gary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boostmiser

Yup, we got the big 1" last night but because of the cold ground, it was apparently worse than a foot of snow.
I left work and the snow was tapering off. I95 was fine. Went into the city to pick up my winter mats I ordered a fwe days ago. Got them just in time. But the roads in the city were not that great. Almost slid through a red light. Barely made it out of the dealership. Got back on to 95 which was just wet. Two more roads to my house - not bad so far. Pull into my neighborhood and the roads were bad. Turned into my driveway and ...uhhhh...couldn't make it into my garage. Backed up into the nighbors driveway to get a running start. Still 5ft. from the garage. Car spun. Car slid. Car went sideways. Tried this several times. No luck. I finally conceeded and shoveled the driveway and put some icemelt down.
I never got around to buying winter tires because it's so late in the season and this was the first snow, I figured I could tough it out. We'll see.

Fart · 20th January 2005, 19:05

Snow is no problem at all. I will post some snow action videos soon, my headrest camera mount is on its way.

17" Style 66M 17x8 and 235/45-17" Dunlops with 1/2 thread left on them just rock.

CSBM5 · 20th January 2005, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdP

I never would have believed that the PS2s could be soooo bad in snow.

Yep, all ultra-high performance summer tires are essentially worthless in snow/ice/very cold conditions. The tread compound on super high performance tires has to have a high glass transition temperature to provide the great levels of grip on dry roads and be able to withstand high local tread temperatures. Once the tread temperature approaches the glass transition temperature, the tread loses almost all of its hysteresis -- it becomes hard as a rock. Never trust such a tire in snow/ice conditions.