Snow tires / chains

[RakoNYC]

2016 X5d here and living now in rural Connecticut (just south of Massachusetts border) - any experience with snow tires or snow chains would be helpful. I live in a ski area now but there's not been a ridiculous amount in recent years and will be traveling on roads that are a mix of interstates back to NYC, state roads and some country roads too - so plowing may be inconsistent.

AFAIK if I go with tires I need to consider rims, pressure sensors and having install and storing the all seasons. Chains on the other hand are slightly more use-based but it looks like they can scratch rims if not properly attached.

What are everyone's experiences? Any advice?

[chong0]

tire rack and get a snow wheel package with TPMS. well worth the cost if you plan on doing a lot of driving in the winter

[RED_Y_]

Winter set for the win! Chains are good only if you plan to go to the snow country once or twice a year as a back up plan.
This was discussed here many times:
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1734567
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1740066
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1584633
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1568357
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1569784
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1560800
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1552120

[mikado463]

winter tires on all four corners, I've had great luck with Hankook and Bridgestone

[Qsilver7]

Dedicated winter tires are not just for snow. So if you live in a 4 season part of the country where you have days/weeks/months where ambient temps are below 45°F...then a dedicated set of winter tires would be more optimum than a set of chains.

Again, winter tires provide better acceleration, stopping, and turning in more than snow. Winter is cold/dry, cold/wet, cold/icy, cold/snowy, cold/slushy, etc. When temps drop below 45°F the rubber compound in all season and summer tires harden and they loose their abilities in stopping and turning...whereas winter tires rubber compound stays soft and the tread design helps in the areas all seasons and summer tires start failing (braking & turning capabilities).

I just got a set of Yokohama BluEarth winter tires mounted to a set of e53 (style 87) wheels so that the f15 will be ready for whatever the winter brings. They won’t get mounted onto the f15 until later (usually between Thanksgiving and Xmas). The pic below shows one of the rear Yoko BluEarths sitting next to the f15 to get an idea of what they will look like. A set of 15mm spacers that will reduce the hub from 74.1mm to 72.56mm along with a set of 42mm lug bolts are on their way to accommodate mounting the e53 wheels to the f15.

Using the e53 Style 87 wheels along with the 15mm spacers and extended lug bolts was cheaper than buying a new set of wheels...along with not having a set of wheelS sitting in my shed unused.

[JStout]

Originally Posted by RED_Y_

Winter set for the win! Chains are good only if you plan to go to the snow country once or twice a year as a back up plan.
This was discussed here many times:
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1734567
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1740066
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1584633
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1568357
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1569784
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1560800
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1552120

I'm new to the forum as I purchased a 2018 X5 xDrive40e today. Thank you for all of these links. They are very helpful.

At the time of test drive, it had factory installed 275/40 R20, 315/35 R20.
At the time of purchase, I inquired about winter wheels and tires and they had a special on a set of Scorpion Winter 255/55 R18 that had been ordered but not taken by customer (2k for set). I thought it was a decent deal and picked up vehicle today with winter set on it. Drive back from dealership to home is 210 miles and I was very disappointed with the ride/handling with these tires. Seemed to be quite a bit different from the test drive with the factory tires.

I thought maybe I had been taken by the dealer but, reading through these threads, it looks like this is a reasonable winter wheel/tire set up. I wish they were R19's but not sure that would make much of a difference in the ride/handling.

Is this pretty typical when running winter wheels on the X5?
Looking forward to switching them out in the spring already.

[RED_Y_]

BMW offered 19" winter sets as well, generally speaking it comes to the tire price, 18" are cheapest. Lots of people on this forum run square 19" set up for winter but the actual quality of the ride also depends if you run RFTs or not.I recently switched from stock 19" rims with RFTs to 20" non-RFT and feels more comfortable and much quieter.

[jiggz]

IMO... the best setup is 2 setups. Especially if you live in a snowy/cold/northern climate - then all seasons are not the best, and you're better off with separate winter and summer setups.

I live in Seattle - we don't have have harsh winters, but I still run 2 different setups... for safety reasons.... and I just like having different sets of wheels

My favorite winter setup are OEM 20's - they still look good (19's look too small IMO) and there's plenty of tire options. Favorite summer setup is OEM 21's - not many tire choices, but it's summer so you don't need choices - Michelin (and maybe Pirelli) are perfect.

Just my .02.