Quote:
Originally Posted by EmmDrei
It has nothing to do with "anymore", it's simple physics.
The wider a tire, the less weight per cm² will be transfered to the surface of the road. And in deep snow, that is a clear disadvantage. The less weight is loaded on the tire, the more the tire will stay on the surface of the snow. The gills/fins (I don't know, what the correct phrase in English is) in the tire cannot "bite" into the snow. The more they are pressed into the snow, the more they will. That's the simple reason, why the cars in the World Rallye Championship are still running very narrow wheels, when they drive on snow and ice.
I had the Michelin Alpine on the M3 and found the tire so awful, that I didn't drive the car during the winter. On Pirelli Sottozeros a different story.
Something to bear in mind: If you buy a winter-tire that can legally run 240km/h, that same tire will need harder rubber than it's brother that is only legalized for 210km/h. Harder rubber means less grip on snow. As a rule of thumb: the faster you can legally run a winter tire, the worse it will be on snow and ice. I'll probably run 210 Sottozeros (as tires that are 245 wide) on the optional M3 winter wheels (cause I have a set of those anyway).
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Thanks a lot!
About the size I was confued by serveral winter "4 wheel drive" tests.
eg. Gallardo Spyder/911/Audi TTS. while breaking the two sportscars were much better than the Audi who had the smallest tires.
Lambo: Pirelli Sottozero front 235/35 R 19 V, rear 295/30 R 19 V
Audi: Dunlop SP Wintersport 3D, 245/40 R 18 V
Porsche: Nokian WR front 235/35 R 19 V, rear 295/30 R 19 V
Of cause the ABS-systems are diffrent but I didn't know the real reason.
Are you driving your M3 duing the winter now with different tires?
Thanks a lot!
German Test:
http://www.autobild.de/artikel/galla...t-1575611.html