[hhkb]

I have a G80 incoming and would like to purchase winter tires. It looks like the Michelin Alpin 5 are highly recommended for the car.

Where do you all purchase winter tires for your G80?

I live in Portland, OR and my car is a base G80 M3 with the 18"/19" wheels.

Thank you for the help!

[bri1042]

It depends on if you really need to wander when we get our rare snow dumps. The Alpin 5 are a good choice, but the Conti DWS06 and PS4 AS tires are a very solid choice for the cold rain that we spend most of our time dealing with. I'm running PS4 ASs on my stock wheels (I have 4S's on another wheel set) and they are utterly brilliant in the rain.

They're easy enough to source that you can just use Discount Tire.

[hhkb]

Originally Posted by bri1042

It depends on if you really need to wander when we get our rare snow dumps. The Alpin 5 are a good choice, but the Conti DWS06 and PS4 AS tires are a very solid choice for the cold rain that we spend most of our time dealing with. I'm running PS4 ASs on my stock wheels (I have 4S's on another wheel set) and they are utterly brilliant in the rain.

They're easy enough to source that you can just use Discount Tire.

Thank you for the response.

Can the stock tires handle below freezing temps? I’m a bit concerned because when I had my ND2 Miata I was driving 25mph and the car spun when taking a low speed corner.

I also plan on taking the car on long road trips and it needs to be prepared for inclement weather.

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by hhkb

Thank you for the response.

Can the stock tires handle below freezing temps? I’m a bit concerned because when I had my ND2 Miata I was driving 25mph and the car spun when taking a low speed corner.

I also plan on taking the car on long road trips and it needs to be prepared for inclement weather.

No. The stock summer tires are not meant for even our mild winter temperatures. This isn't specific to the M3/M4, its the nature of performance summer tires. There are folk that will debate what the threshold is, but I've been driving our wet Portland roads with Summer-tire equipped cars for a long time and even rain handling degrades significantly as you approach 40 degrees. Babying the car when it's 38 degrees and raining with the summer tires on is boring and not worth the risk.

You can have your tires swapped at Discount tire or the dealership twice a year or you can grab a second set of wheels and do the swap that way yourself or through other means. It is possible to get 4 wheels with tires in the car with the seats down, but the effort of loading and unloading the wheels into the car is about 70% of the effort it takes to just do the wheel swap in the garage myself.

Which tires to run absolutely comes down to how much you're going to have to deal with snow (and mountains). Pirelli Sotozeros may be a better choice if you're going to go up into the mountains with snow than the Alpin 5s, though I'm basing that comment on other folks' experiences as my primary concern is the constant chilly wet roads in the metro area.

[CC M3C X]

I have had great luck with the Conti DWS06+. I took delivery in December of last year and drive thru the winter here in North Idaho. They were fantastic! This reminds me, I need to have them switched back to the summers.

[m3wannab]

Originally Posted by bri1042

It depends on if you really need to wander when we get our rare snow dumps. The Alpin 5 are a good choice, but the Conti DWS06 and PS4 AS tires are a very solid choice for the cold rain that we spend most of our time dealing with. I'm running PS4 ASs on my stock wheels (I have 4S's on another wheel set) and they are utterly brilliant in the rain.

They're easy enough to source that you can just use Discount Tire.

I’m curious on the PS4 AS, would you take your car to Mt Hood in the winter or would that be pushing it? Or Snoqualmie summit if you live close to Seattle 😊

I’m picking up my 24 M3CX at PCD and intend to bring it back to Seattle/Portland but I’m assuming I have to change my tires for winter. I was looking at getting the PS4 AS but also debating if I should get proper winter tires in case I want to go skiing etc.

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by m3wannab

I’m curious on the PS4 AS, would you take your car to Mt Hood in the winter or would that be pushing it? Or Snoqualmie summit if you live close to Seattle 😊

I’m picking up my 24 M3CX at PCD and intend to bring it back to Seattle/Portland but I’m assuming I have to change my tires for winter. I was looking at getting the PS4 AS but also debating if I should get proper winter tires in case I want to go skiing etc.

I would not take my car to Mt. Hood in the winter on the PS4 AS tires. I grew up in a heavy snow area (though it was a FLAT snow area...SW Michigan). One of the best lessons we learned way back then in all that snow was when to say "uh, no" and not risk it.

If you intend on driving in show up any sort of big hill, give the car proper snow tires. The ONLY reason I'm using the ASs is because I work from home and can just leave my car in the garage and take my SOs 530e X-Drive to the store or other such during actual snow days.

The PS4 ASs were utterly magical in the rain for the last two "Winters". We only had about two weeks total of snow during those winters...thus the PS4 ASs work for my use-case. Which does not include Mt. Hood.

Note - I had Alpin 4's on my M2C during a winter when I was still commuting to work. I was not impressed with their snow performance past about a quarter inch of snow. If I needed to drive in snow, I don't know that I would go with Alpin 5's based on my experience with the 4's. I'd probably try something else.

[MT6]

How about getting winter tires or All Seasons for your 18/19” wheels, buy a set of new 19/20 Wheels that you like for summer tires

Switching tires 2 times every year was not fun in my E46 330i with sports package

[///M TOWN]

Pilot Sport “All Season 4” is Michelin’s best off-season tire and they’re fine if you have xDrive

If you’re on rear wheel drive only, you’re gonna need a dedicated snow tire