XSeries-forum

Hi guys as anyone expierenced snow ice etc in the U.K. while on the standard fit Pirelli P Zeros. I do not do many miles and really don’t want the expense if the car will run ok in U.K. winters. PS we live in Staffordshire

Summer tyres are usually fine in winter, they're getting milder too. A lot depends on what vehicle you have, big 315 section rears are like snowboards in the white stuff, which is thankfully uncommon in recent years, so generally i would suggest you'll be OK in anything other than severe snowfall.

That said i have winters for peace of mind and perceived safety increase. But If funds are tight, safe driving in inclement conditions is unlikely to present a problem

I agree. I’ve had a winter set since 2010 and have only really needed them just once in all that time. Our recent winters just haven’t been that bad. As above, it’s the big w15 and above section tyres that skate. Winter tyres are very good and make the car more predictable in snow, with a slight improvement in ice.

That being said, in this country it depends upon how much further north (so more likely to get bad weather due to higher elevations) you are.

I did see recently that there is a national shortage of both gritter drivers and road salt (which stops corrosion), so this season might be more testing than of late.

Fitted my winter wheels on Monday, probably won't need them, but as I bought them when I bought the x5, it would be tempting fate not to, so I always fit them for the winter months.
We are in the Derbyshire Peak District and have been for over 20 years, interestingly, the only times we have had bad snow, is when we haven't had a 4 wheel drive in the household, and spent many hours digging out company rear wheel drive BMW or Mercedes estate cars with standard rubber on!

RWD BMW and snow are a phrase to be avoided by the faint of heart!! We're under a snow warning this weekend and I suspect the E46 will be grounded for bad behaviour

I thought a rear wheel drive BMW 3 series estate was the worst car ever in the snow, until I had a Mercedes C class estate!! That was almost impossible to get uphill unless you could get a lot of momentum going
(Apparently both are much better on winter tyres.)

We are in sunny southern Spain till next week so hopefully we will miss the bad weather this weekend. We had a GLC till last April and never had a problem even in the heavy snow we had in 2020, but that car had Pirelli Scorpion all seasons fitted.

X5Sport wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:06 pm RWD BMW and snow are a phrase to be avoided by the faint of heart!! We're under a snow warning this weekend and I suspect the E46 will be grounded for bad behaviour

I had winters on my old 330d and it made the car very capable indeed , what I found though is with 2wd a hill start is usually where you find the limits of 2wd , our drive out is very steep and has a bend half way up and a speed bump on the bend , if you had no speed built up before that bend you were beat
The annoying peaky nature of our FWD focus petrol engine and winter/all season tyres made it no better getting up the drive either and it was very easily stranded.

Does the x3 come with all season type tyres like it used to ? if so you won't need anything more

Leslie wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:23 pm

X5Sport wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:06 pm RWD BMW and snow are a phrase to be avoided by the faint of heart!! We're under a snow warning this weekend and I suspect the E46 will be grounded for bad behaviour

I had winters on my old 330d and it made the car very capable indeed , what I found though is with 2wd a hill start is usually where you find the limits of 2wd , our drive out is very steep and has a bend half way up and a speed bump on the bend , if you had no speed built up before that bend you were beat
The annoying peaky nature of our FWD focus petrol engine and winter/all season tyres made it no better getting up the drive either and it was very easily stranded.

Does the x3 come with all season type tyres like it used to ? if so you won't need anything more

My X3 came with Pirelli P Zeros so no

Given your limited mileage it isn't worth changing for maybe a few days a year ,sure one of the next few years is likely to be bad but who knows which one 4wd will help and main roads will be gritted plus you can only get as far as the Que of stuck drivers in front of you who won't have winters or 4wd if the going gets really tough
I know the last time it was bad over here in NI , lorries got stuck on every entrance /exit to the city on the hills and virtually closed it down and people had to just abandon their cars but that was a good 10 years ago now

Not gonna use my other car, I know that

Older cars ran on natural rubber and had far more sips in the tread than modern high performance rubber much like modern winter tyres so would be better suited lol but it's far to nice to use with salt about Looks like it hasn't seen any puddles for a while lol minty mint

It’s just to trigger happy at the rear when that straight 6 kicks in, in short it’s a bit of a handful when it’s wet

Hilly10 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:16 pm It’s just to trigger happy at the rear when that straight 6 kicks in, in short it’s a bit of a handful when it’s wet

no driver aids maybe not even a seatbelt

Leslie wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:07 pmOlder cars ran on natural rubber and had far more sips in the tread than modern high performance rubber much like modern winter tyres ............

IIRC the Dunlop SP Sport tyres I had fitted to my Avenger estate in '76-ish were actually "M+S".