Well, that's different...

With the forecast of a rain-snow mix this morning, and my DD 128i wearing BFG Sport Comp-2s, I bit the bullet and put the snows on. The handling difference induced by switching from 215/235 17" sticky summer tires to brand new 205 16" Conti WinterContactSIs is, to say the least, pronounced. I'm accustomed to the change from summer to winter tires, but this seems a noticeably greater difference than going from the same BFGs to Altimax Arctics on my old 525i. Hopefully the new snows settle in (the Altimaxes took about two months, IIRC) to something a bit less marshmallow-like, otherwise I fear the next five months of commuting are going to be fraught with some high pucker factor moments.

In reply to 02Pilot :

What is this "snow tire" you speak of?

Ovid_and_Flem said:

In reply to 02Pilot :

What is this "snow tire" you speak of?

It's symptomatic of a condition with which we in northern climes have periodically to contend. Frozen water, in various forms, succumbs to gravity, and, accumulating on the ground, lowers friction on road surfaces, forcing us to mount tires that are inferior in basically every condition except the aforementioned. Be glad you have no knowledge of such objectionable things (well, you had no knowledge until I forcibly enlightened you...).

02Pilot said:

Ovid_and_Flem said:

In reply to 02Pilot :

What is this "snow tire" you speak of?

It's symptomatic of a condition with which we in northern climes have periodically to contend. Frozen water, in various forms, succumbs to gravity, and, accumulating on the ground, lowers friction on road surfaces, forcing us to mount tires that are inferior in basically every condition except the aforementioned. Be glad you have no knowledge of such objectionable things (well, you had no knowledge until I forcibly enlightened you...).

That is a classic response - thank you (except for the part about snow being objectionable - some of us actually like it)!

Snow: That which teaches us in the north how  to handle oversteer or never use the throttle.

Snow is merely Mother Nature's "drift assist" and it doesn't eat tires.

My thermostat warned me of snow this morning. Luckily I washed the MS3 this weekend so I can put it away for the winter and the Vibe passed it's inspection last week after swapping and rebuilding the calipers and replacing all the struts.

When I was working 3rd shift as an A&P in California I used to run BFG's on the MS3 year round because it almost never snowed there. One night we got a quarter inch of snow and oh man was that an exciting 35 mile commute out of the desert.

In reply to The0retical :

I drove 5 miles on Sport Comp 2s in snow/ice in my M3Ti. I can't imagine commuting 35 miles on them. I had to have my then GF get out and push a few times at stop signs.

I’ve got big knobbly tires. They work great on everything. Of course, they’re mounted to an 89 Suburban, so race-track handling is not expected in any case. She takes corners with a great deal of pomp and stateliness.

400hp/400ftlbs plus AWD in a 7000 lb vehical makes snow fun.  

I remember snow tires! It was easier and more efficient to buy another car. 

Snow is fun. Driving the other ~145 days of the parts of the year when it might snow but doesn't is not.

I hate snow.

I had 245/50/16 bfg g force t/as on a hopped up 2wd s10 once. Got out of work to find an inch of snow on the ground.  Figured "I'm a Yankee.  I got this E36 M3."

200 yards. Tops. 

Im also probably the only guy in 40 miles that has snow chains for every daily. Now. 

buzzboy said:

In reply to The0retical :

I drove 5 miles on Sport Comp 2s in snow/ice in my M3Ti. I can't imagine commuting 35 miles on them. I had to have my then GF get out and push a few times at stop signs.

I used to run starspecs on my BMW 318ti all year.. including several inches of snow. The limited slip helped a lot

Drove ~60 miles on the snows today. One particularly unpleasant discovery is that there is enough flex in the tread and sidewall that, at normal highway speeds, the stability control gets sufficiently freaked out to cut off the cruise control with annoying frequency (I live in a hilly area with twisty, bumpy highways). I had a similar experience with snows on my E39, but that was only in a couple specific spots on the road; on the E82 it was dropping out all over the place. The paradox is that if I deactivate the DSC, the cruise won't function. Charming.

Got stuck for the first time EVAR. Snow tires would have been good, in this wet, heavy snow.  But I had ice tires (and six sandbags, and both tanks full).....

Three attempts up the street, including two attempts with a shovel, and even having the kiddies push.  Bugger it - I have a snow thrower (which, in digging out the truck, broke the drive lever, then the throttle bracket, then the V-belt). I wish the donuts were mine. Picture from my driveway:

In reply to 02Pilot :

have you tried upping the tire pressure's?

Bunch of guys making excuses for snow driving are just jealous that here in the desert we can autocross 12 months a year. 

Except Phoenix.   It was too hot to autocross, they skipped June/July/August.

Well,  they could have done between 1 am and 8 am.  So technically even Phoenix could autocross 12 months a year...

Four harsh New England winters in an ‘88 2wd 5spd Ranger with street tires and somehow made it everywhere I needed to go and was never late for work.

(I still drink from a garden hose so I’m pretty adventurous as a rule)

dean1484 said:

In reply to 02Pilot :

have you tried upping the tire pressure's?

Not yet. Currently at the baseline factory-recommended 32/35. I'll try bumping them up when I have some time to experiment.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Definitely try the higher pressure.  The smaller tires likely need a bit more to carry the same weight comfortably (especially if the load rating is lower).  

Just went out and bumped all the tires up 2psi. I'll see how they are this afternoon. Stay tuned.

It is odd, I have been using Blizzaks for years and have not experienced this sloppy handling.  Of course going from touring all seasons there may not be a huge difference.   The Blizzaks have never triggered  the stability control .

I think it may be a combination of hyper-sensitive stability control and stiffened suspension (I had and have Bilsteins in both cars, and the E82 is on Eibach springs as well).

02Pilot said:

Just went out and bumped all the tires up 2psi. I'll see how they are this afternoon. Stay tuned.

I would have gone to the max sidewall rating, and then worked down until the comfort returns, or the cruise starts acting up.