[hobokenm5]

Im going on a ED to pick up my B7 with xdrive. Im guessing not many people have experienced winter driving with this car, but has anyone purchased winter tiers?
Even with the Xdrive do you think they are necessary for a typical NE winter?
Where has anyone found the best prices and what have they bought?

 

[m5 killer]

no idea what your winters are like but snow tyres make a huge difference

 

[Copasetic222]

I live in snow country and can tell you it's as much about the temperature than the snow. My experience is that below 40 degrees summer performance tires act like a hockey puck on a skating rink. I've had numerous all wheel drive cars and SUV's and unless it's really deep snow (where you might get the car hung up because it doesn't sit high enough regardless of tires) you can get by with a good all season, will do better with dedicated winter tires, but won't be happy (or safe) with summer performance tires.

 

[Shrooman]

Do they make A/S tires for the Alpina Rims or do you need to put a whole different wheel/ tire setup on the Alpina say with 19's? I love my Pilot Sport A/S on my 19 inch rims for my Volvo V70R, but unfortunately they do not make them in the Alpina rim size.

 

[Copasetic222]

Do they make A/S tires for the Alpina Rims or do you need to put a whole different wheel/ tire setup on the Alpina say with 19's? I love my Pilot Sport A/S on my 19 inch rims for my Volvo V70R, but unfortunately they do not make them in the Alpina rim size.

Do a search for winter tires for that vehicle at tirerack.com to see what they offer.

 

[Shrooman]

They in fact do not offer that tire, nor any other all season tire in the Alpina Rim size that I could locate. So that's that I suppose.

 

[FTB]

The winter wheels recommended by Alpina are their 19" Dynamics, not the standard wheels. You can ask Alpina about this, but I am 100% sure their 21" wheels are not their recommended winter setup.
That part aside, I have seen all sorts of SUVs with four wheel drive that can't go through snow with summer tires (and this includes X5, RR, ML and every one you can think of). Don't be the next idiot to get stuck in snow or ice just because they think that having a four wheel drive car is enough. Don't want to be rude (side effect of not smoking if so), but get winter tires whenever you're dealing with a temperature lower than 7 or 8 degrees CELSIUS. Under 7 or 8 degrees C summer tires don't work anymore as far as traction goes.
For all the non-believers, just look at what BMW demonstrated with their new X3 in this video.
I want to point out that you can go and drive your car under the above conditions (low temperature, snow, ice) in summer tires, but in Europe if you don't have winter tires during the winter and you have an accident you will probably get your car totaled and not get any money from the insurance company, depending on the road you take. It's better to be safe than sorry. Just think about what a high speed breaking from 200 KM/h does to the braking distance with summer tires during the winter and you get the idea (think double the distance).

Make sure you post pictures of that B7, or else we'll steal your car :tonquesmilie:.

 

[swb3]

I just picked up my B7 with xdrive and purchased the Alpina 19's with Dunlop winter tires. I only have 650 miles on it but they handle great and look great as well, all those miles are in ice snow covered roads.

In terms on running the summers I would offer this, my daughter drives my wives previous 535xi which has both summer sport rims and tires and winter rims and tires. I was one week away from changing the car over to the winters and we had a snow and ice storm. My daughter was traveling about 10 mph as the car slid like a hockey puck (as another post stated) across the snow and ice into the back of a jeep. Now the car is in the shop with $8,000 damage. I am really kicking myself.

 

[AllGo'n'Show]

Definitely can, we have done 2 xDrive's so far with 20" winters Too bad I don't have a picture.

 

[Copasetic222]

Do they make A/S tires for the Alpina Rims or do you need to put a whole different wheel/ tire setup on the Alpina say with 19's? I love my Pilot Sport A/S on my 19 inch rims for my Volvo V70R, but unfortunately they do not make them in the Alpina rim size.

How are your Pilot Sport A/S's in the snow? I'm looking at a 750i M Sport xDrive with 20" wheels and tirerack has recommend the Pilot SPort A/S Plus in 20" to me. Seems they are out of dedicated snows in 20" for the season.

 

[Gustav]

Snow tyres is the only way to go and I do that with spikes for mrs 330XITouring. Just trid a 25 angle uphill and 20 cm of snow at -18 degrees Celsius with no problems. 4WD is the way to go in the winter.

 

[MEnthusiast]

Alpina recommended to me their Dynamic 09 wheel ("D09") I beleive it is.

BMW NAs snow tires that came with these wheels are dunlop wintersport M3 RFT. Yes- they are run flats! IMHO there is no real loss of ride quality because while the sidewall is stiffer than a regular tire, you are going 2" down on the size of the wheel.

I bought a 5th Alpina D09 wheel and put a Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on it and I have it in my trunk as a spare- this way if I have a problem when I am on the summer tires I can change it easily. I also had to buy a jack for the vehicle.

 

[07B7]

MEnthusiast, Any chance you have those wheels for sale? i could use a set on my 07B7 if not hopefully you took a picture of them mounted. I would love to see how they look.

Thanks

 

[MEnthusiast]

I actually gave my old snow wheels/tires to a tech at my local dealership. I didn't want the brain damage of selling them. Sorry.

Correction to my above post: the tires are dunlop winter sport 3D. They are run flat. The ride quality is pretty good. In my experience in terms of driving on dry and wet the tires are a 9/10 but in terms of driving in the snow they do not offer the same digging through the snow ability my last set of michelin pilot alpin tires offered. And they are certainly not blizzacks. Id rate them a 7.5/10 for the snow.

As for the A/S- it is truly a compromise- if you live in an area like washington DC that might get one or two days of snow a year then Id just stay with a summer tire and leave the car at home when you see snow sticking. Where I live we usually have many days below 40F and several snow days.

Im also driving the B7 RWD and from what I hear from friends with the xDrive the AWD implementation is so good and refined I might go that way the next time. I have several hills to get up and while the car offers a traction mode where it allows the rear tires to slip but it retains the ability to apply stability control, the system shuts the power off after about 30 seconds so you don't damage any components. The problem is- I got stuck on a hill where I needed to basically melt the snow beneath the tires to get to the tractative surface. I had to turn the system on and off several times and rock the car back and forth- its a heavy car already and its not lacking for power.