Winter Tires

[Panzer Captain]

I am looking to get some winter tires for my E34 Wagon - what are you guys using?

I did find some winter tires local to me for a very reasonable price - they're Dunlop Winter Sport M2's, with a single four-month season of driving on them. The owner sold the car and has had the tires stacked in his garage for about 2 years now.

Have any of you used these particular tires?

What kind of life / total mileage do you get out of a set of winter tires, driven ~4 months per year? My commute to work is only about 10 minutes one way, all non-highway driving, so these should probably be fine for this usage, I would think?

[BMWCCA1]

Last year I fitted used Pirelli Winter tires on E34 M5 wheels. I drove them over 12,000 miles during the winter as I was making frequent trips from VA to NY and Boston; long story. The tires actually wore well considering I only encountered snow once and drove mostly around 80mph on dry highways. I'm looking forward to using them again this year and at this rate I expect to get several more winters out of them.

[Panzer Captain]

Thanks for the reply!

How used were the tires when you bought them?

[Tiger]

I use Nokain Hakka studless snow tires. These tires wears very nicely and long lasting. We drive more normal or below normal year round. The one that is normal driving of 1000 miles a month... we use them from December to April... after 7 years is now at 1/3 of the original thread... and I would only go one more season before replacing or replace them this year.

The other two with below normal driving... still is practically new. One is also 7 years old and has about 75% of normal tread. One is only 3 years old... and that is brand new. At the rate my tires are going, I'd have to replace them because of age rather than wear.

We used to have Blizzaks but those wore out in no time and is no good after 1/2 of thread... at which it becomes all season tires. We once had Pirelli P190 Winter and that lasted pretty good too... traction is definitely no where near the Hakka though.

With Nokain Hakka, we go out regardless of weather. We can boldly thread and be confident that we won't get stuck. Actually we never been stuck with Nokian Hakka and always confident of traction.

[repenttokyo]

personally, I would go new with winter tires, just my opinion. I used to buy used tires quite often, but the level of grip just isn't there in comparison to new.

[BMWCCA1]

Yeah but Panzer Captain's profile says he live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's not gonna be faced with unplowed snow of unusual depth. I know Bizzaks and Haks are the best but the Pirellis Winters worked great, handled well on dry roads, and wear very well. I have no idea how old or how many miles were on them when I got them. They came mounted on the M5 wheels. Looks like they're maybe half-way worn, but my E34 is a '95 with AST and they worked just fine the one time I saw snow. I'm going looking for snow this year. Hopefully Panzer's 540i-6 was built from a Touring with AST even though he's in the south. I never ordered any E34s without it for 1994 and 1995 and I was in Virginia.

Now I see from another post that he's in NY. Oh well. They have plows on Long Island.

[Panzer Captain]

Actually, yeah, I'm on Long Island. We'll get some snow and slush --- no big snow drifts or blizzards, but definitely some COLD temperatures and frozen precip.

Yeah, my Touring was a 530iT with cold weather package but now it has an LSD.

[Tiger]

I am in North NJ... so I know what the weather is like here. Any snow tire is better than none... so if you can get them for good deal, go ahead. Otherwise buy new snow tires.

[fin]

Buy the Dunlops.

I'm running them and love them. Deep treads and run well on clear roads too.

Fin