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Sedans BMW 3-Series BMW 3-Series Tires and Wheels
241 messages, Last post on Nov 06, 2009 at 10:21 AM
You are in the BMW 3-Series Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 29, 2009 11:48 am) 
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 29, 2009 11:48 am) Agreed! |
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Replying to: idoc2 (Jan 29, 2009 2:24 pm) Those two particular cars? No. That said, back when I worked for MB-USA, I was afforded the opportunity to drive an All-Season shod AWD and Winter tire equipped RWD version of the E-Class in a controlled environment (i.e on a track) in wintery conditions. Apart from the theoretical logic of the RWD performing better in turns and in braking due to it weighing less, having better Front-to-Rear weight balance, and having tires with more grip both laterally and linearly; the drives on the track handsomely underscore the true apples to apples difference. As I said before, the AWD car with all season tires did in fact accelerate better (and by extension climb steep hills better), however, in the braking department, the winter tire shod RWD car stopped in a significantly shorter distance from any given speed (like forty feet shorter from 50 mph). That leaves turning; this is an area that showed mixed results with the RWD car handily besting the AWD car in all but the off-camber turn test (where the AWD was the victor by a narrow margin). In addition, there was test between two versions of the E-Class and two versions of the Audi A6 that was published by Car & Driver a few years ago that quantifies what I've written with hard facts. If you're interested you might want to take a peek in their archives for the article. Best regards, Shipo
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 29, 2009 4:55 am) |
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 29, 2009 7:21 pm)
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Replying to: idoc2 (Jan 30, 2009 7:45 am) Regarding hill climbing, hmmm, well, I live in southern New Hampshire and have a driveway with a 9% grade to deal with along with many local roads that are even steeper. My winter tire equipped RWD 530i never once had a problem climbing anything less than a 20% grade (the driveways across the street from us are steep, real steep, so steep in fact that my neighbor's winter tire shod Audi A6 Quattro is often seen kind of sideways half way up), and even then only in the worst conditions. Best regards, Shipo
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 29, 2009 4:55 am) 1. The first car I owned was a ’69 Camaro Z-28 muscle car (RWD). I would put snow tires (on the rear only) every winter season. With snows on the rear, the car would do very well in snow of 3-6 inches. I remember driving the roads around the local reservoir one evening around Christmas when it was snowing to beat the band. Never had an issue with hills or losing the back end on a turn. So long as you were mindful of the throttle, the car was really fairly well behaved. 2. I also owned an 82 Mazda 626, RWD. In Feb of 1983, my wife and I went away for our anniversary. We drove down to the Homestead Inn in Hot Springs Va on a Friday. That was the day of the blizzard of ’83. The Front Royal area of Virginia, in which we stopped for breakfast, received around 21” of snow. Again, we did not have any real problems, though we were only moving along at 30 or 40 mph most of the way. The 18 wheelers on I-81 were helpful in that they were kind-of packing down and plowing the road for us, so we really didn’t have to drive though 21” of snow, but it was still a lot. The Mazda was equipped with whatever came from the factory – some kind of all season tire. I think having the luggage in the trunk weighed the rear end sown and helped with traction. 3. Our 2002 Subaru Outback (AWD) came equipped with Bridgestone RE-90s(?), which I replaced with Goodyear Triple Treads at the 65,000 mile mark. This was the car we regularly took up to our place in the mountains. Again, never had any issues at all in with up to 8” of snow on the road (yeah – I would look for unplowed roads to try). ‘Course, neither of these tires could be considered performance tires – just good or very good all-season radials. 4. The car I drive regularly now is an ’87 BMW ‘325 – RWD obviously, with Yokohama Avis H4’s all round. This car really s***s pretty bad with even a little bit of snow on the ground. I added some weight in the trunk to try and help things, but it’s still pretty dicey. I think it’s the tires. |
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Replying to: shipo (Jan 30, 2009 8:08 am) I'm always amazed at how two people can have strikingly different experiences and priorities given essentially similar circumstances. 
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Replying to: idoc2 (Jan 30, 2009 10:05 am) FWIW, back when I had the 530i, one very snowy day I was tooling conservatively down our hilly and winding main(ish) road when a driver was unable to brake while descending his steep driveway and slid right out in front of me. Due to the height of the snow banks on either side of his driveway I didn't see him coming until he hit the street. I barely stopped in time with the snows, and am absolutely convinced that had I had all-season tires on the car, I would have T-Boned him right in the driver's side door. Best regards, Shipo |
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Replying to: idoc2 (Jan 30, 2009 10:05 am) |
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