Winter Tires

[Fraser]

I am a new 540 owner. As I live in Canada winter tires are a requirement. I was thinking of a set of winter rims. I wondered if there was any general guidelines people followed with respect to the size of the rims for winter tires and the dimensions of the actual tires. A friend went to 16" rims with slightly narrower tires but had some complaints re handling. I know that the winter tires will not provide the same performance but was curious on what people normally do. I was giving some thought to using the existing 17" rims for winter and getting 18" for summer.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Trev]

Speaking NON-authoritatively here, I think the following is the generally accepted wisdom about winter/summer tires. Others will correct me if I'm wrong, I hope..

-Winter tires should be narrower, as the goal is to cut through the snow rather than ride on top of it.

-Steel wheels are probably best in heavy winter conditions, as they tend to hit potholes, get covered with salt and sand and whatnot, and take a beating.

So... what I think most people do is go to larger custom wheels for the summer, with wider tires.. and either use the factory wheels or get steel wheels for their winter tires.

Hope that helps some...

Bob

 

[jrtoons]

Go to http://www.tirerack.com

Put in the year and model and get a recommendation and price.

My 2003 540 is getting Pirelli Winter 210 SnowSport Blackwalls 235/45HR17 on Borbet Type E Silver 17X8 wheels for $1,257.65 mounted/balanced/delivered and ready for installation in November (I live in New Jersey USA.)

I have M Parallel Spoke style alloy wheels, 18 x 8.0 front, 18 x 9.0 rear, 235/40R-18 front, 265/35R-18 rear performance tires on it for summer.

 

[Wadula]

different points of views for me this time.

on the one hand winter tires are supposed to be on steel rims and 16" with me,. they do not have to look good. i don't care in winter.

on the other hand your winter is rather long so the look becomes a matter again.

still, 16" steel with some 215 or so winter tires is good to go.