With 17in. snow tires, how well does the M5 do in HILLY terrain?
Charleston, West Virginia has many steep hills with hairpin turns except for the downtown area. My uncle is thinking of an A8 or S8 as his next daily driver which will be able to easily ascend and descend the treacherous hills covered in snow during the winter. Keep in mind, he has never used nor realized the benefits of snow tires over regular all-season tires.
I would like him to get an M5 but am doubtful if the M5 will be as good as a quattro in the hilly terrain in spite of having 17in snow tires. I know the M5 with snow tires and DSC is very good on level ground in snow and ice but hills is a different matter.
I have performed a search and have read about nine pages worth of old threads regarding snow. But only Nico mentions that he has no problem in the Swiss Alps. Tim W lives in Denver, CO which will be similar to West Virginia and he has no problems either. Johann lives in Sweden but I'm not sure if it's flat or hilly there. Others have NOT mentioned what kind of elevations are involved when driving their M5's in snow.
Would some people shed some light on the subject, please?
Sorry been offline over the weekend, visited some friends in Oslo in our lovely neighbour country Norway.
I have a set of Pirelli Snowsport 240 234/45-18 as winter tires and the car works absolutely fine in snowy conditions wheter hilly or flat. I live in central Stockholm and Stockholm is not very hilly (not completely flat either) but some parts of Sweden are and I have had no problem at all.
I also took the car for a trip to St Anton, the best ski resort in Austria, we where there for two weeks and had no problems att all even when going thorugh mountain passes we didn't need snow chains. This was in late December and early January and at snowed a lot, we got powder skiing virtually every day!
An AWD will be better in terms of preventing getting stuck and when going really fast it may keep your car from slipping in corners. However you still have the same braking capacity as a RWD car so the AWD may make you go faster than your braking capacity.
I don't know how much snow you get there but unless you have very much snow I would recommend the M5.
Many, many thanks, Johann!!! I'm so happy to hear from your extensive experience in snow. I can now embark on my mission to brainwash my uncle into getting the M5. Snow traction was his best defense argument against getting the car and instead buying an Audi or an SUV, but now I've got him right where I want him.hehehe.
BTW, do you think it's better to go with 18in. wheels and the tire size that you have or would we be able to get better traction with 17in. wheels. I'm assuming you are using the stock, OEM wheels with the snow tires, right? Or do you use different wheels with the snow tires?
Originally posted by johann
I have a set of Pirelli Snowsport 240 234/45-18 as winter tires and the car works absolutely fine in snowy conditions wheter hilly or flat.
Are these mounted on the stock rims, or on a different set?
The manual recommends 8J X 17 wheels with 235/45 R17 94 H snow tires. If you are using 235/45 R18 tires, do they fit the OEM rear wheels which are 9.5J X 18 ?
Originally posted by MAVERICK Many, many thanks, Johann!!! I'm so happy to hear from your extensive experience in snow. I can now embark on my mission to brainwash my uncle into getting the M5. Snow traction was his best defense argument against getting the car and instead buying an Audi or an SUV, but now I've got him right where I want him.hehehe.
BTW, do you think it's better to go with 18in. wheels and the tire size that you have or would we be able to get better traction with 17in. wheels. I'm assuming you are using the stock, OEM wheels with the snow tires, right? Or do you use different wheels with the snow tires?
Your are welcome!
Start the brainwash!
I use BBS RC 18-8,5 as rims for my winter wheels, didn't like the look of the "M Winter wheels" and there where very limited options on 17" rims that fitted. I really don't think that 17" would provide better traction, the important thing is to keep the as narrow as possible for snow and slush and still have decent traction on dry roads. I think 235mm wide is a good compromise.
If your really want good ice and snow traction you should go for a winter tire with studs but dry road traction and comfort will suffer, a lot.
Just to clearify, I have two different sets of RC rims, one with winter tires and with summer tires currently S03 PP but soon Pilot Sports again!
Note that, AWD and 4WD does not help you very much when gping downhill excepts when going to fast in a corner. Then it MAY be better than DSC.
Originally posted by MAVERICK The manual recommends 8J X 17 wheels with 235/45 R17 94 H snow tires. If you are using 235/45 R18 tires, do they fit the OEM rear wheels which are 9.5J X 18 ?
What's your advise, Johann?
The 9.5Jx18 is probably to wide for a 235mm wide tire.
I recommend that you find a rim that fits and you find esthetic, let it be 17" or 18", 19 will probably give a very rough ride. And then find a tire that suits your need, 235/45-17, 235/45-19 or 235/40-18, not wider perhaps more narrow (can you say narrower?). Also remember that there are different types of winter tires with different specialities, some are very good on ice and snow and useless on dry roads and some are just good on ice and snow and good on dry roads, etc.
If you have a long winter you will probably see periosd with snow, followed by dry roads and then some snow again. So a tire that fits both these conditions would be good but if you have one long snowy period followed by spring and summer you may wnat something else.
I can recommend the Pirellis I have, they work fine in snow, decent on ice (not as good as stud tires) and good on dry roads.
They are V-rated (up to 240km/h) and I drove above 220km/h for an extended periond on my Alp Trip with no problems. I've had them up all the way to 280km/h but just for some minutes, also no problems. And no, there was no snow or ice on the road, I am not insane!
With 17in. snow tires, how well does the M5 do in HILLY terrain?
my uncle into getting the M5. Snow traction was his best defense argument against getting the car and instead buying an Audi or an SUV, but now I've got him right where I want him.hehehe.
Linear Mode
