97xray

Yesterday I found myself stuck against a curb for hours (2:13 total), spinning obviously wasn't going to help me get out of the snow. Pulling the BMW out of the snow required two trucks (two "wreckers"?)... go figure.
That was great fun!
So now that I'm pony-ing up the big bucks for new snow tires / all seasons, I want people's opinions. I know a number of you guys have BMWs at home. Mine is a year 2000 323i.
The rear wheel drive really doesn't help in the snow, so any experiential information would be great!
I'd like to buy the new tires this weekend, so in addition to anecdotal comments, if anyone could hook me up with a consumer reports analysis or something like it (by scanning or password to the website) that would be awesome!
Thanks in advance!

Tom R.

I had michelin alpin pilots on my fwd legend coupe and was very happy with the dry performance, and the ice performance on trips to killington. the tire is more of an ice tire than a snow tire, which is what we need in the metro ny area. the snow performance was pretty good too.

i sold the legend when the tires had 15k on them, and we put the tires on my brothers 84 944 after his 17" sumitomos limited him to a top speed of 5mph. he has been driving his 944 all over the place (he lives by JFK, and his office is in riverhead 75 miles). yesterday he drove his 944 into and out of manhattan with the michelins.

tire rack had a comparison test a few years back.

one other thing, a lot of the snow tires are rated to either 65 or 80 mph. the michelins are H rated to 100 mph which means setting the cruise at 75, and then passing a semi is "safe" when the road is clear.

97xray

Thanks,
Anyone hear of Bridgeston Blizzaks?

Tom R.

bad thing about the blizzaks is the speed rating, and the way they are made. the blizzaks start off as a snow tire with threads or hairs in the tread. as the tread wears,the threads wear, and the tire becomes a regular tire. at least thats how i remember the article i read in road & track a few years back.

the difference is the bridgestones are snow/ice tires, while the michelins are ice/snow tires. the result is the bridgestones arent as good in the dry or ice as the michelins, but are better in the snow than the michelins.

i chose the ice tire because i thought it would be better to have the better traction on ice patches than in snow drifs. the michelins were great in killingtons parking lots just after a big dumping. you have traction control too, which should give you a little extra edge in the snow but the blizzaks low speed rating will make the car suck on the highway.

Mark Parker

Jake; Personally, in my geographic location, I'm not going to spring for dedicated winter tires for the ol' lady's 318ti. It has Bridgestone Potenza RE930s on it. The thing that fixed her for driving in the snow was two 60# bags of "Tubesand", just sand in a double thickness of plastic. That, and the traction control, kept her out of trouble after the first snow.