[WarReady]

Anyone run the summer tires in light snow? Figure with the xdrive it won't be horrible I know u would prob slide a little but how bad is it?

[crypto]

I would not do it. I'm not sure if some summer tire tread patterns are better than others.. but I would expect potential issues with traction at the least. It's very unsafe as you may not have much control over what your car does in various situations and may not even be able to get up some hills.

[carbo56]

I would not run summer tires in the winter. It is not only about traction on a snow-covered surface, but also on dry roads in low temperature (<40F). The composition of winter tires is softer, keeping them flexible in lower temperatures. Summer tires become harder as it gets colder and they loose their grip significantly. Try to brake hard on summers on a dry, 30F road - not good. You can also damage summer tires if you run them in very cold conditions, e.g. it can cause cracks.

And X-drive won't help much if your tires do not have the proper tread pattern designed to push snow out of the way or the proper flexibility given the temperature.

There are numerous YouTube videos demonstrating how a rear wheel drive vehicle with winter tires will perform better on both snow and in cold weather vs. an all-wheel vehicle with summer or all-season tires.

[artem123]

I bet no one would wear flipflops in the snow)

[S4CH]

Originally Posted by WarReady

Anyone run the summer tires in light snow? Figure with the xdrive it won't be horrible I know u would prob slide a little but how bad is it?

I have an M550 with the 20inch rims on summer tires. I got caught in an unexpected October snow storm a couple of years ago and drove home 16 miles in 3 to 6 inches of snow. Using the dynamic traction mode I drove slowly and and braked extremely slowly but I managed to make it home driving 20 to 30 miles and hour at most. Surprisingly even made it up some inclines where two wheel drive cars and vans had gotten stuck.

I wouldn't advise it, but it is drivable if you have to.

[WarReady]

Originally Posted by S4CH

I have an M550 with the 20inch rims on summer tires. I got caught in an unexpected October snow storm a couple of years ago and drove home 16 miles in 3 to 6 inches of snow. Using the dynamic traction mode I drove slowly and and braked extremely slowly but I managed to make it home driving 20 to 30 miles and hour at most. Surprisingly even made it up some inclines where two wheel drive cars and vans had gotten stuck.

I wouldn't advise it, but it is drivable if you have to.

Thanks for the info I appreciate it! I'm trying to decide on the 19's with all seasons or the 20's with sport tires. Wish u could get the 20's in an all season and the speed limiter not reduced to only 130. I know I can buy winter rims and tires but my lease is going to be my daily and I don't want to have to swap tires rims etc

[Superjackson]

As long as you are still driving on pavement and not on just snow, it is fine if you have to do it once or twice. If the road is all snow, then you will have 0 traction at all lol.

[S4CH]

Originally Posted by WarReady

Thanks for the info I appreciate it! I'm trying to decide on the 19's with all seasons or the 20's with sport tires. Wish u could get the 20's in an all season and the speed limiter not reduced to only 130. I know I can buy winter rims and tires but my lease is going to be my daily and I don't want to have to swap tires rims etc

I agree. I had the same debate and the 20 inch rims are so much better looking than the 19s on the 2018. So, I figured I could work from home or use our other car (Audi A4) if I really had to go out when it snowed.

That being said on the 2021 both the 19s and 20s look good.

[TreyWaters]

Originally Posted by WarReady

Thanks for the info I appreciate it! I'm trying to decide on the 19's with all seasons or the 20's with sport tires. Wish u could get the 20's in an all season and the speed limiter not reduced to only 130. I know I can buy winter rims and tires but my lease is going to be my daily and I don't want to have to swap tires rims etc

Then why not get the 20s, then swap the tires immediately for A/S? You can then just store the summer tires to put back on at lease end.

[WarReady]

Originally Posted by TreyWaters

Then why not get the 20s, then swap the tires immediately for A/S? You can then just store the summer tires to put back on at lease end.

I think the wheel and tire insurance only covers/replaces the factory tires

[carbo56]

Originally Posted by WarReady

I think the wheel and tire insurance only covers/replaces the factory tires

The BMW wheel/tire insurance covers whatever wheels and tires are on the car, not necessarily the original equipment. As long as they are BMW specs. For example, I had the insurance for my 2018 M550 which came with 19" summer tires. I purchased a set of BMW wheels and winter tires, and they replaced three of the winter tires and also straightened out all four of the winter rims, no problem.

[WarReady]

Originally Posted by carbo56

The BMW wheel/tire insurance covers whatever wheels and tires are on the car, not necessarily the original equipment. As long as they are BMW specs. For example, I had the insurance for my 2018 M550 which came with 19" summer tires. I purchased a set of BMW wheels and winter tires, and they replaced three of the winter tires and also straightened out all four of the winter rims, no problem.

Thanks for the info that's good to know!!

[vkowalski1970]

Originally Posted by WarReady

Thanks for the info that's good to know!!

I put Continental DWS06 on my 20 inch rims, they look great. Drives fine and had very light snow last week and I didnt even realize it was snow on the ground...highly recommend

[splitlife]

Can you experts recommend some snows?

My previous car, living in Vermont, never needed snows, VW Alltrack wagon. This new 530e x bigger and heavier, much harder to stop on a snowy hill.

[NVRfollo]

Originally Posted by splitlife

Can you experts recommend some snows?

My previous car, living in Vermont, never needed snows, VW Alltrack wagon. This new 530e x bigger and heavier, much harder to stop on a snowy hill.

Do you want performance or regular. Blizzaks are good for everyday driving. If you want high performance, I have Michelin Alpin PA4’s.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by WarReady

Anyone run the summer tires in light snow? Figure with the xdrive it won't be horrible I know u would prob slide a little but how bad is it?

nobody sells winter tires where we are, and the govt run ads all the time telling us winter tires are dangerous (yup! you've heard that right!).

fresh or fluffy snow, no issue. layer of ice underneath (or very compacted snow) - suicide.

so the answer is yes, all the time, in my subaru (full time AWD) and FWD based AWD. not had snow to test out the M340 - RWD biased part time AWD but i'm not sure i want to do that. i've seen a youtube clip showing it works fine on non winter tires. but i've also done a read out of the X Drive transfer case showing it's RWD 99% of the time once you cruise. not an issue with FWD cars but sounds like a bad idea for RWD.

[85Shark]

It's not really a snow issue, it's a temperature problem. Summer tires are not designed to be driven in temperatures in the 40's(F). They're very pliable in the summer temps but temperatures in the low or mid-forties result in the tires losing a lot of grip. Not recommended.

[SonD]

275 summer tyres on snow and ice is really not clever IMO.
Great in higher temperature ranges, as that is precisely what they are designed for.
Winter tyres, as above, are designed to work at the lower temperature ranges with the compound of rubber, plus, a lot of design into the 'sips' on the tyres to help grip in snow.
Even with X Drive, zero grip will get you, well, where zero grip takes you - into the scenery, or nowhere.
I am not sure ( I posed this elsewhere on here) but in iDrive, altering the settings from winter tyres to summer seems to alter the power mapping on mine.
I really seems to pick up faster now I have summer rubber back on.
cant be bothered to swap it back to see if it does, it's more of an interesting point.

[Joe-BMW33]

Summer tires should not be run if the outside temp is below 40 degrees, even if it is the driest sunniest day in the world. They harden under cold temps and will lose significant grip.

There is a reason they are called "Summer" and that's when they should be on a car.

[BMW012]

Been riding on these for the past 7000 miles. Bridgestone Turanza Grand Touring Summer.

Its a OEM tire that came with my 2021 M550i, just passed 10k on the car this morning. Thinking its time for a new car

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...unflat%20Tires

Not sure if its because its a Summer "Grand Touring" tire, but I drove it all through winter at temps around 10 15 or maybe sometimes even at 0 and had no issues at all. Luckily, I didn't get a chance to drive it in snow, but other times it never made a difference. Not even sure why anyone would get a summer only grand touring tire, but I think i lucked out, because if it came with summer sport tires, i think I would have had to swap them out during winter.

[Warp Ten]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

Summer tires should not be run if the outside temp is below 40 degrees, even if it is the driest sunniest day in the world. They harden under cold temps and will lose significant grip.

There is a reason they are called "Summer" and that's when they should be on a car.

Joe is right of course. Summer only for summer only. Best approach for me has been high performance all season tires, like Michelin A/S 4 + ZPs (I like run flats). I use the Michelin A/S + ZP tires on my 650 HP Z06 with no problems in rain or even a little snow, but you naturally need to exercise some caution and use (in my Corvette) the Weather Mode setting for the suspension. When my Goodyear all seasons finally go, it will be the Michelin A/S for the 540xi.

Having said that, many years ago I had a (great fun) 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 with a 420 HP HEMI and summer only 20" tires. Used it all year round for three years without changing tires. With its 4WD it could start up in any situation but coming to a stop or into curves in the snow required a great deal of care and planning ahead. And it was one of the earliest cars with remote start so I had the only warm car in the winter parking lot at quitting time. Loved it then, somehow survived, but all seasons on all our cars nowadays. --Bob

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by Warp Ten

Joe is right of course. Summer only for summer only. Best approach for me has been high performance all season tires, like Michelin A/S 4 + ZPs (I like run flats). I use the Michelin A/S + ZP tires on my 650 HP Z06 with no problems in rain or even a little snow, but you naturally need to exercise some caution and use (in my Corvette) the Weather Mode setting for the suspension. When my Goodyear all seasons finally go, it will be the Michelin A/S for the 540xi.

Having said that, many years ago I had a (great fun) 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 with a 420 HP HEMI and summer only 20" tires. Used it all year round for three years without changing tires. With its 4WD it could start up in any situation but coming to a stop or into curves in the snow required a great deal of care and planning ahead. And it was one of the earliest cars with remote start so I had the only warm car in the winter parking lot at quitting time. Loved it then, somehow survived, but all seasons on all our cars nowadays. —Bob

You used to sell cars, right?

What annoys the hell out of me is that so many of these cars, especially BMW like the X7, come equipped with larger wheels that only come with performance tire options. But the average buyer doesn’t know all this. So your average suburban family in Memphis buys an X7 as the main family hauler. The X7 has cool 22” wheels and everyone is pleased. But they have no idea about the tires. So even though there isnt much snow to speak of down here, they’re running around with the family for 3 months in temps routinely below 40 degrees, with no clue they’re at increased risk.

In northern and colder states, people are used to switching tires, etc. Down here, you just buy the car and drive on the tires all year. Maybe performance car customers are conditioned to the nuances but the average southern SUV buyer isn’t. They’ve been buying minivans and Tahoes and Explorers, etc. without ever giving a thought to tires because they’re used to a utility vehicle being sold with AS tires.

You could say that people should know they’re buying a different product in a BMW X7 than a Yukon SLT, maybe. But they’re all living in the same price universe now. It’s all just an SUV to the average buyer.

Okay, that’s my rant. But I think dealers should make more effort to educate the buyer.

I specifically found an X7 with 21” wheels for this reason. Most don’t do the research that I and others on these forums will do before purchasing.