[djcowlin]

It's the time of year when I start thinking about winter wheel and tyre sets, especially as I'm now based in a remote area of the Scottish Borders. The BMW online shop has a very poor selection - am I missing something?

[Charlie (Wessex)]

I'm down south so the weather is more clement. I've gone the AllSeason route and just change tyres over.

Back of *** packet sums .... £90 to swap over, balance etc, done twice a year. £180

Set of spare alloys & rubber for winter.... say £2500

£180 per year into £2500 goes 13.8 "years".

[PauloBairn]

If you are willing to deviate from BMW original parts, I bought myself a set of winter tyres and alloys from "Mr Winter Wheels" for circa £1300 all in and felt it was great value - I reckon I could also recover some of my outlay selling them on when eventually changing the car.
Charlie, maybe I am missing something and don't wish to offend here but you haven't included the initial outlay of your all season tyres within the fagpacket math. There might not be much in it once you factor £7-800 into that equation and that's before you consider the possible risk of bead damage on tyres mounting and removing twice a year.

[Charlie (Wessex)]

PAulo, yes, you are probably right on that.

[barian]

Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex)

I'm down south so the weather is more clement. I've gone the AllSeason route and just change tyres over.

Back of *** packet sums .... £90 to swap over, balance etc, done twice a year. £180

Set of spare alloys & rubber for winter.... say £2500

£180 per year into £2500 goes 13.8 "years".

If I understand you correctly, you are swapping tyres on the same rims between summer and all seasons in winter. All seasons are supposed to be just that, so I don't understand why you would not leave them on all year round (saving you £180 a year) or, if you were swapping, why you would not alternate between summers and full winter tyres.

[Charlie (Wessex)]

Because the Michelin PS4S are so much better than the CrossClimate, except in winter when it is cold. On the south coast I don't ned full winters, and if I go to the Alps I can take my chains with the CrossClimate which are 3PMSF rated.

I have CrossClimate all year round on the wife's Scooby Outback, but with 175bhp, it hardly justifies having a UHP tyre. Somewhat different to having 374bhp.

[B6WAF]

Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex)

Back of *** packet sums .... £90 to swap over, balance etc, done twice a year. £180

Set of spare alloys & rubber for winter.... say £2500

£180 per year into £2500 goes 13.8 "years".

Fair point, don't forget your spare wheels retain some decent value, and during winter you are not wearing down your summer tyres. Depending on how long you keep the car the winter set might help you avoid buying a set of summer rubber.

With my low mileage it works very well. I tend to keep a car just over 3 years and in recent years I've only been doing 6k miles per year (that will increase now I've retired). Where I live at the end of a cul-de-sac 700ft above sea level in Yorkshire I need some grip to get off the estate if it snows.

So I buy a set of winter wheels and tyres for say £2,500. I will be keeping them for at least 6 years and only putting 2k miles onto the winters each year. So at the end of 6 years there's still a good few mm left on the rubber and I sell the wheels and tyres for £1,000. That's cost me £250 per year for fantastic traction and quite a lot of fun - winter tyres plus xDrive are unbelievable.

So I just sold my previous three year old G20 M340i with original summer tyres and still a respectable amount of tread on them. Of course it helps that I bought same car again (well a G21 this time) so my winters will still fit the new one. Bring on the snow ...

[chutoy]

Apologies if this is considered hijacking the OP thread, but when you change tyres, does this have to be coded as make and model appears in the app

[lnlyssg]

Some tyres have a QR code which can be scanned and the details entered into iDrive. From what I could tell when researching this a month or two ago it’s mainly main dealers that have the access to do this - https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2009633

[sensible]

Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex)

I'm down south so the weather is more clement. I've gone the AllSeason route and just change tyres over.

Back of *** packet sums .... £90 to swap over, balance etc, done twice a year. £180

Set of spare alloys & rubber for winter.... say £2500

£180 per year into £2500 goes 13.8 "years".

Your maths is a bit off, as you have not included the cost of your All Season tyres in the comparison. If you take the cost of 4 all season tyres (say £800) off the cost of winter wheels and tyres (£2500), then divide by £180, you will have something more accurate like 9.4 years. Unless you got your All Seasons for free.

[Charlie (Wessex)]

Ah but you haven't included the fact that I'm happy to pay (a bit!!) for someone to change and balance my tyres.

[sensible]

Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex)

Ah but you haven't included the fact that I'm happy to pay (a bit!!) for someone to change and balance my tyres.

Yes, that's the £180 per year you mention.

A twice a year tyre change, with new balancing weights each time. A sure way to wreck your wheels in quick time. Hope they are not diamond cut with its paper thin lacquer.

[djcowlin]

Thanks for your replies. In the meantime the only winter wheels and tyres that my local dealership is prepared to sell me is a set of 18" 796Ms with Pirelli Sottozeros in a staggered set-up. Not a bad combo, but they want £2790 for it, which seems a bit steep.

The best bet now looks to be to wait until my current tyres need replacing and put a set of all-season tyres on. And in the meantime to hope for a mild winter.

[sensible]

Originally Posted by djcowlin

Thanks for your replies. In the meantime the only winter wheels and tyres that my local dealership is prepared to sell me is a set of 18" 796Ms with Pirelli Sottozeros in a staggered set-up. Not a bad combo, but they want £2790 for it, which seems a bit steep.

The best bet now looks to be to wait until my current tyres need replacing and put a set of all-season tyres on. And in the meantime to hope for a mild winter.

Have a look on the classified ads. Just saw these there.... you could make a reasonable offer.

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2045201

...or look for a cheap set of wheels then get some winter tyres put on.

[djcowlin]

Thanks - that's a good shout.