re: tire rec

["Todd Kenyon" <todd.kenyon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

My .02:

All season tires are useless unless you live well below the snow belt. I
have been in total free-slide situations with various all-seasons on
various vehicles (BMWs, an SUV, etc) tires, and I know how to drive in
the snow pretty well. Highpeformance tires are suicide if the weather is
below 36 degrees, no precipitation needed. My dad who is an excellent
driver, and has lived in the North east all his life, essentially
totalled a '98 540i 6spd. He was driving on a highway on a sunny day,
coming around a bend at 70mph, and was suddenly facing the wrong way.
Hit black ice as he came up over a rise/around the bend. Ended up
backwards up an embankment, ripped the front end of the car off, he and
passenger walked away. If he had snows on, this may well not have
happened. hell, most Z rateds are dicey in heavy rain. You really need
two sets of tires/wheels. Once it starts getting into the 30s regularly,
you are really asking for it if you drive on Zs. IMHO, the ideal daily
driver combination for most people who like to drive in a spirited
fashion but don't need to track, are a mid-priced Zrated summer tire
that has good wet performance (my pick is the Bridgestone re730) and
then a good H-rated snow tire, like Michelin Alpin or Pirelli P210.
these tires are not terrible in the dry, and will work well in most
snowy conditions. If you get a lot of snow, you may need something with
poorer dry performance like a blizzak. rule of thumb is go one
width-size narrower on the snows. It's pretty cheap insurance, you can
find cheap used alloys, or use steels if money is an object. I drove
over some mountains in WV last winter on 3-4" of fresh unplowed snow, up
and down, around bends, in my 88 M5 with Alpins. And they weren't even
narrow, were 225s, and no extra weight in trunk.

Todd Kenyon

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