[CPTHALL]

Where did you get the wheels?

[wongmb]

We had our first share of snow in TO. The LM-25 performs at par with the other premium high performance winter tires. For ultimate grip, you can get Michelin XIce etc but you gave up a lot in dry pathment performance.
The LM-25 beats prob every single non high performance all-season tire in the dry. For example its lightyear better than say the popular Michelm MXV4

[DDTAN]

I was talking about less than an inch of snow. But it was wet slushy stuff.

And yes, turning off the traction control definitely helps if you are not moving at all because, it allows you to at least rock the car and get going with some momentum. If you are able to move with traction control on, it's a safer feeling, but very strange, because it feels like the car has lost all it's power.

[ABR]

I don't know folks... I had a good drive around in the first good snowfall in Toronto area. All-season tires woks just fine. Stability is better then with FWD (at least that is my feeling). Surely, snow tires will give even better traction, but I'm not convinced yet to shell extra $$ at this point.

[beamer]

Originally Posted by wongmb

We had our first share of snow in TO. The LM-25 performs at par with the other premium high performance winter tires. For ultimate grip, you can get Michelin XIce etc but you gave up a lot in dry pathment performance.
The LM-25 beats prob every single non high performance all-season tire in the dry. For example its lightyear better than say the popular Michelm MXV4

Thanks. I think that I'll give the LM-25s a try.

[lenvage]

I live in the snow belt and did not opt for an xi because i didn't feel like waiting. Snow tires are a must though if you live in the snow belt. I had no problems whatsoever driving during the first major snowfall of the season with my winter tires on my sports package 330i. I'm glad i didn't get the xi because now i can enjoy the car more in the summer time. I also saved some money too.

[1er120i]

Just wondering, how would winter tires handle with "black ice" on the roads?

[DerekS]

Hi ABR,
If you are finding your snow performance with all seasons just OK, you would find driving with dedicated snow tires to be a huge improvement. I would strongly recommend 17" Dunlop M3 if you go with snows. In the meantime, pick up a 25kg pack of "play sand" at the nearest lumber yard and place inside a garbage bag before installing it in your trunk. You'll find that the extra weight in the rear will substantially improve your snow performance. With snow tires on my previous E46, I had no problem going up a 15% grade. We have yet to get any snow in Vancouver, so I can't comment on the E90 snow handling, but Tirerack rate the Dunlop M3 RFT snows as the best.

[e90driver]

We've been getting a lot of snow in Michigan the past few days and here is my opinion:
(I have a 325 with the 16” all seasons)

1. The car accelerates as well as I expected in the snow/ice.
2. The car handles better than I expected once up to speed on snow/ice.

If you have the money, get snow tires and swap them out. But if you don’t want to deal with and pay for snow tires, you’ll be fine with the all seasons. The car is much lower to the ground than my previous 4x4, so I guess I’ll have to stay out of the deep stuff (12+ “) but traction control is nice though, no fishtailing or plowing into curbs.

[violinguy]

By the way, the reason you can probably get away with this better than others is that you've got 16"s, which are narrower, and have fatter sidewalls than the tires on the 17" and 18" packages. I've driven a variety of RWD and AWD cars in the snow, and here are my rule of thumb tire guidelines:

Wider tire = worse in snow
Slimmer sidewall = worse in snow
Firmer sidewall (higher speed rating) = worse in snow
Higher tire pressure for any given tire = worse in snow

For general purpose non-arctic snow conditions (i.e. between 15 and 30 degrees F), in my previous e36 I found there to be not a huge difference between 16" H-rated all season tires and 17" Z-rated snow tires. On my audi, I run 225/45 summer tires in summer, and 205/50 winter tires (Dunolop WinterSport M3) in winter. For me, a 50 series tire is better than just a 17" 225/45 snow because it provides a slightly softer ride AND a narrower tire for better traction and control (see "Wider tire" above). On the BMW, my winter preparation included reducing tire pressure (makes wheels slightly more vulnerable to potholes, but increases snow grip) and installing two large salt bags in the trunk. The bags helped add weight to the rear for added traction, and also could be used to salt my way out of a badly snowed-in parking spot (see below).

I am very seriously considering buying a 330i (non xi) and I'll run snow tires in the winter for what I imagine will be acceptable (if not especially frisky) handling. I'm keeping the TT as my snow car. In my experience, there is NO comparison between snow grip in an AWD car and an RWD car when both are equipped with snow tires (additionally, a RWD car with snow tires will always handle better than an AWD car with all-season tires). My current TT, with AWD and four Dunlop WinterSport M3 tires, can drive up and down extremely steep unplowed hills with little problem (I spent some time in VT and MA each winter), and during the years when I parked it on the street in NYC year round, I could always pull out of snow drifts (the four-foot-high kind made unapologetically by city snow plows) without even digging the car out. With the E36 I had to dig a bit and sprinkle salt or sawdust around the tires to get moving, turn off traction control, and sidestep a litle (you know what I'm talking about if you've ever done it -- a RWD car will sometimes move sideways in snow when it has no traction).

The Audi is already wearing its snow tires, and although I miss my summer grip, Im already looking forward to the first snowfall of the year.