So I test drove a 5 series today and very nice it was too!

The tyres are different front and rear.

Front:245 /45r18 100y
Rear:275/40r18 99y

If I was to get winter tyres with new alloys do I :

A) have to get the same sizes?

Or b) could I get 245/45r18 all round
Or c) get some r17s all round

On my last 5 I had exactly that; 18” for summer (wider at the back), 17” for winter (same all round). Supplied by BMW when the car was new. No need to pay that Dealer tax, there are a few BMW spares specialists out there or breakers. Just make sure the offset is correct.

On my current 5 (F11) I just have a second set of tyres that a mobile fitter comes to swap twice a year for £72.

Definitely need winters on a BMW.

The wheel sizes might be slightly different front to rear, so you’d have to consider that if if just buying winter tyres.

If your buying a set of 4 steel wheels and winter tyres, then not so much.

Excellent news sturmeyarcher.

The 275s are a lot more expensive in winter tyres.

As for steels, I think the car deserves the bling

Look it up here to confirm.

https://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/skw.pl?cart_id=PjmjGkG8yX08eMN1.110.227430307&custom=&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi&csuchen=1&ch_x=1&s_p=Steel_wheels

I had different sizes front to rear on my F31 for the summer, but the same size front and rear in winters. No issues and that was an X drive version.

https://www.wheel-size.com/size/bmw/5-series/2016/
find your model on there (change year if need be) and it will tell you the sizes you can use

then have a look at mytyres or this place

https://www.mrwinterwheels.co.uk/bmw-winter-wheels/

I have found that some online sites won’t offer the option to drop a rim size, and some of them didn’t even offer the option of the size that we have on our car,

You should be able to downsize slightly but be aware that different models have different brake callipers. Eg my m135i couldn’t take 17s whereas IIRC every other 1 series can.

Definitely need winters on a BMW.

You either need winters on all cars or none. Just because it’s a Beemer doesn’t mean you forget how to drive when it snows.

As above, check brake callipers. If it has M Sport braking system with the nice blue callipers you’ll likely not be able to downsize. 275 section on the rear is gonna be very spendy if you just get some tyres.. especially as they’ll be run flats? Only advice re. the actual tyres is (IMO) the difference between mid range and premium rubber. I’ve had both on different 3 series and the difference is night and day. The cheaper ones were dreadful in the wet (regardless of temp). They got me about in the snow but we’re generally shite everywhere else

Have had winters on 3 BMW’s. Have a set of alloys in the shed from my old 59 plate 5 series still!

All have gone from stepped front and back wheels to same size all round and usually I’ve dropped at least 1 Rim size.

Had an issue ordering winters last year in that the very clever calculator on Mytyres didn’t allow for the big sports brakes on mine and the bloody wheels wouldn’t fit and had to go back. I just took to driving the Horsebox when it snowed.

Mainly used Hankook, Nokian and this year it’s Continental’s on the X5

I would run all weather tyres on a 5. As a square set up in 18′. Second hand original 18′ wheels must be easy to source and cheap I guess.

I’d consider if you want to size up the summer tyres?
Assuming you can store a set of wheels you could put all weather on the current ones and size up the summer.
Unless you’re in the Highlands (and what driving you usually do) an all weather tyre might be better overall than a dedicated winter tyre and swap back top summer tyres when the average temperature is high enough.
(Just a different angle)

This thread has tied me up in overthinking knots.  A set of standard sized average winter tyres for my f31 – £650.  A set of dedicated alloy wheels with decent winters – £650, steels £518.   Decent matching all seasons – £n/a due to crap wheel size.  Doing nothing and avoiding the snow in the urban outskirts of the metropolis – £free.   Chances of me having one six hour nervous and stressed rwd journey in snow worrying about binning it after visiting an office in darkest countryside – well it happens once per year…

I’ve had BMW’s for 7 years now and never once got stressed about it.

Ok I don’t live with the artic circle or north of Scotland but in Yorkshire and now Shropshire I have never once thought I needed winter tyres. I have used snow socks on odd occasions though and they cost £50

It doesn’t snow enough to warrant new tyres IMO. Also enjoy the snow when it does. Yes your BMW will slide but it’s good fun and teaches you so much more about car control

I use the with 245/45/18 all round. This is the BMW recommended size. These go on in place of the 20″ summer set and fit with the MSport blue brakes. I don’t think the 17s fit with these brakes.

You’ll also need to consider your options with the TPMS. I decided on a new set of sensors so it’s just a case of swapping wheels.

Funnily enough funcydunc im in my 11th – albeit not consecutive – year and agree.  My e46 330i on Brisgestones wnr through several bouts of snow.

Maybe a set if snow socks in the boot just in case in in order.

Out of interest, are winter tyres poor performers in summer, or e.g. just wear quickly?

Jeesus, can’t believe we’re still doing this after all this time.

Winter tyres are not just for snow. They are recommended for lower temperatures,  below 7C or so.

as @scotroutes says, they generally offer better performance in lower temps than “normal” or even “all-season” tyres. we had winter tyres on the volvo, we put the summers back on last week prior to trading it in and the difference in handling was noticeable, and I’m by no means a driving god so if I can spot the difference…

@Kryton57 wrote:

This thread has tied me up in overthinking knots.  A set of standard sized average winter tyres for my f31 – £650.  A set of dedicated alloy wheels with decent winters – £650, steels £518.  

I’ve just bought a set of 16″ alloy wheels (Borbet XR) with Goodyear Ultragrip 9+ tyres(205/60R16 92H) with TPMS valves all round for my newly-acquired F31. Total cost 752.97 inclnext day shipping from https://www.mrwinterwheels.co.uk/bmw-winter-wheels/

I went for the goodyears as they get a better rating for “wet” performance and in the UK, while it’s often cold, it’s more likely to be wet than snowy

nbt – I was looking at the same ones.   How do I know whether I need TPMS?

As I’ve decided to buy my car and end the PCP therefore keeping it for a few years the investment becomes worth it.

Nice to have the winters back on the A6 – not quite the go anywhere feeling that I had with the BMW, but will do the job.

Kryton57 wrote:

nbt – I was looking at the same ones.   How do I know whether I need TPMS?.

I’m farly new to this (only picked the car up on Saturday) but from the reasearch I’ve done (reading online and talkig to friends) it’s not essential to have TMPS valves fitted, but a TMPS warning light is an automatic MOT fail. No sensor means the TMPS warning light will be on, so it will fail an MOT. There are ways around this of course. I’ve NOT gone for runflat tyres on the winter wheels for a few reasons – we do have recovery if needed, we will use the car to two a caravan and you’re not supposed to tow on runflats, if you do get a puncture on a runflat you’re supposed to sawp both tyres on that axle not just the punctured one, and runflat gives a harsger ride than non-runflat. Will see how they go then decide if I need runflat for the summer wheels when it’s time to change those tyres

I don’t have runflats and I can tell you vs my prior 120d on runflats its night and day in terms of comfort and noise – a deliberate choice.

And the question about TPMS:

https://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1087639

Ah ha!

I have never once thought I needed winter tyres. I have used snow socks on odd occasions though and they cost £50

I used to have a cheap set for driving to the alps, after it snowed here a couple of years ago I’ll always have a set. The Octavia was unstoppable and I now have a set for the Polo & my 3 Series. I can’t just take the day off easily.

You can find good deals, new old stock alloys & tyres for the Polo cost £500 from Audi, so only £100 more than a set of tyres. The BMW ones were secondhand and £400, which is cheaper than a set. Initial outlay is high but overall doesn’t cost anymore really as you distribute the wear across each set.

FunkyDunc

Member
I’ve had BMW’s for 7 years now and never once got stressed about it.

I’ve now had BMWs (always 3l+ petrol, usually automatics) for 17 years and whilst 2003-2009 was fine on good tread summer tyres (including a couple of decent snowy trips into the Dales, Moors and the Scottish Hihglands). The heavy snow in 2010 (Cumbria) completely flummoxed my Z4MC with its 19*285 rear tyres. It went EVERYWHERE with its ass at 45deg to the intended line of travel and once got stuck on a completely flat car park. It just sat there spinning its wheels. 2011/2014 I lived at the bottom of a valley, so fitted winters, when it snowed in 2012 and 2013, the approach road down the valley was littered with cars in every ditch and hedgerow. The winters definitely gave me more traction on the wet snow and I was able to get down without a worry.

Do I think it’s a necessity – no, especially if you’ve got the option to get home before and not leave during the snow, but if you might get caught out and have space to store your spare wheels, why not? Its not like ot really costs you any more – when you’re not using your summers, your using your winters. Tyre usage is the same but spread across multiple tyre sets.

The Octavia was unstoppable

To be honest that’s not something I look for when I fit a set of tyres.

To be honest that’s not something I look for when I fit a set of tyres.

👍😄

Oops, tried to embed a YouTube vid and it all went wrong!

This one, Summer/Winter/All Season braking in the wet and dry.

TLDW.Summer wins at all temperatures in the dry, from about 10 degrees downwards in the wet All Season beats Summer and Winter are only marginally behind.

Winter wheels should be delivered today. However ot occurs to me that as the car has no spare, neither has it got a jack, and I don’t have a jack. I can borrow a hydraulic jack from a pal, but 5 minutes research online shows only a single jacking point which requires a special adapter. Soudns weird! How dio you BMW owners change wheels? I can borrow (or buy) a scissor jack, but a 2 ton hydraulic jack is only £20 on ebay so I could even get one of them.

On the volvo it was a scissor jack just inboard of each wheel to lift up that one wheel, swap it then move onto the next wheel – not sure about this idea of lifting the whole car on single point! would need fouraxle stamd surely?

Is that one jacking point for the whole car? Sounds pretty much impossible, the CoG would change enough to make it unbalanced with a boot full of stuff and full fuel tank vs. both empty.

A centre jacking point on either side I can imagine.

Winter tyres are not just for snow. They are recommended for lower temperatures, below 7C or so.

True, but winter tyres are also designed to have some ability in snow and ice. For most of the UK where we don’t get snow and ice, apart from on the odd day, we usually have to deal with standing water at low temperatures and in those conditions all season tyres perform better than full winters as they’re not compromised by the ability to be able to deal with snow and ice. So for most of the UK you’re better off having summer tyres for summer and all season tyres for winter. There is a good YouTube video on this at the moment where they tested tyres in a huge lab where conditions could be controlled. Interestingly summer tyres won out in dry conditions at all temperatures they tested at.

You can have winter tyres, and you can have snow tyres, they are not always the same. Snow tyres will have the m+S and snowflake label, just to be very clear on that.

Summers in most are OK, i’m really late changing mine over on the F11 (5touring, 18″ msport), but the Goodyear asymetricles seem to do a damn good job – they did to a point in the brief snow flurry last winter. That said i’m going to go and try and fit my old E60 winter wheels 17″ standard – these have an almost new set of Nokian’s on which are awesome – took me through the alps one year in very heavy snow at ease. Though as others have pointed out, no idea if the brake calipers will fit!!

Nokian, have got a relatively new tyre out called “Weatherproof”. Its effectively a Winter tyre that the’ve tried to get to work in Summer as opposed to the other way round. It gets VERY good reviews, but is not a replacement for dedicated snow’s if you live in those areas.

A lot of snow tyres if run through summer will shed, give poor conering performance and not as good at stopping in the wet due to deformation of the tread pattern vs their summer counterparts. I had a set of Pirelli sottozero’s, which are aweful in the winter, and fall aprt in the summer!!

[strong]tthew[/strong] wrote:

Is that one jacking point for the whole car? Sounds pretty much impossible, the CoG would change enough to make it unbalanced with a boot full of stuff and full fuel tank vs. both empty.
A centre jacking point on either side I can imagine.

Had a look under the car last night, it’s not as bad as I thought. There are actually two jacking points on each side as “normal”, just inboard of each wheel, plus a central jacking point at the centre of the front axle (or where it would be, at least). Just need to chop down a piece of wood to match the weird hole that BMW use for a jacking point

Re Jacking points: the car should have 6 jacking points. Front Centre, Rear Centre and 4 side points located inboard of the wheels and sills. They will look like an embedded black rectangle. You can buy a specific black rubber pad that fits these mounts, but I just use a hockey puck and a trolley jack and lift each corner as required. My drive isn’t flat enough to allow use of the centre points and axle stands.

You often need a long, low trolley jack to access the centre jack points.

Snow tyres will have the m+S and snowflake label, just to be very clear on that.

So my Michelin Cross Climate SUVs, which have the three peaks mountain snowflake  and M+S marked on them are snow tyres then?

perchypanther

Member
Snow tyres will have the m+S and snowflake label, just to be very clear on that.

So my Michelin Cross Climate SUVs, which have the three peaks mountain snowflake and M+S marked on them are snow tyres then?

that’s weird – the whole point of the M+S, plus snowflake and peaks label is that they are a snow rated tyre – maybe the cross climates are actually just that, but called a “cross climate” for the sake of marketing..

that said, just becasue the markings are there, it doesn’t really give an indication of how good they are in those climates (though i’m sure they are) – i’ve looked at some test of some budget brands with all that on and they were atrocious performers (cheap chinese ones).

i feel i need to correct myself

M+S can be shown on all climates

the Snow flake in 3 peaks in the snow rated tyre. I’m obviously not as upto scratch as i thought..

So a crossclimate which will have as a min M+S, will sometimes meet snow requirements with the SF and 3 peaks (3PMSF).

you’ve then got studded tyres – pointless unless you’re scandic or russian.

Just need to chop down a piece of wood to match the weird hole that BMW use for a jacking point

Or buy the proper thing off amazon for a few £££ Gifort Jack Pad, Rubber Jack pad Perfect Frame Rail Protector – Black 2 Packs (Jack Pad For BMW) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DVS2C9F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1fu6DbR1Y2HHN

There’s cheaper available if you don’t want it with prime delivery.

Don’t expect it to fit properly after your car has been to the garage a couple of times though as they’ll just use their unprotected metal jack plate under them and bend them out of shape 🤬