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[N55_BBM]

Will be putting winter tires on my stock 264 18" rims. Going with a square setup. Can't decide between the following:

Blizzak LM60 225/40/18 - $658 after rebate
Blizzak LM60 225/45/18 - $710 after rebate
Dunlop Winter Sport 3D 225/40/18 - $727 after rebate

(prices from tire rack)

While I know it theoretically makes sense to have a higher sidewall, I don't know if the 225/45 will look kind of weird on the car or if it will rub... input?

I'd rather go with the cheaper option (Blizzak) unless the Dunlop is significantly better.. can anyone help out?

Thanks!

[Dackelone]

Will you be driving with these tires in above freezing temps?

The Blizzak's feel kind of rubbery in warmer temps. In really cold temps they are great though. The Dunlap's are more of a high speed tire. They have good grip but a really nice feel to them at highway speeds. I prefer them. They don't feel rubbery like the Blizzaks.

I really do not understand why ppl get 18" snows. You really want the skinniest and tallest tires for your car, For a 135i that means a 17" wheel. 7j x 17" with 205/50R17's. That is whta I have and I am very happy with them!

[Elsabor67]

I made the mistake last year to run 18's in the winter.....I was all over the place. I would really recommend the 17" setup Dack mentioned. It will save you alot of sliding.

[N55_BBM]

I'm getting 18s because I'm using the stock wheels for winter and I want to get VMRs for the summer. My budget won't allow me to get both 17s for the winter AND new wheels for the winter, and I like the summer rims I want better than the 17s I found.

I'm going to be driving below freezing temps, but also in temperatures up to 40 degrees in the beginning and end of winter. I also do 90% highway driving.

[j1gzca]

I got the Dunlops (225/45-17 all around) solely based on user reviews I've read over at the Tire Rack website.

The tread pattern looks aggressive and has a lot of sipes but I've no prior experience with it so I guess we'll see how it does this winter.

[N55_BBM]

One more reminder..

I live in Central PA, and although we do get snow here, it's really not THAT bad. We get about 3-4 snowstorms (more than 5-6" of snow) every winter, and the streets are usually clean enough in 1-2 days. Other than that, we can sporadic snow but not more than 1 or 2" at a time. The streets are usually wet and slushy rather than having snow accumulated on them. I would NOT be driving my car around with more than 1-2" of snow on the ground regardless, especially since I don't plan on ruining my front bumper and sideskirts.

So given all of this, what would be the right choice?!

[Gary@TireRack]

The Blizzaks and Dunlops are both excellent winter tires. They both have the same speed ratings and they have very similar handling characteristics (my experience in side by side testing.)
There is no reason to run the taller 225/45/18 size and it may rub upon turning. If all things were equal I'd say it's a toss up. Since you can save the money, I'd go with the Blizzak.

[SinCalgary]

I ordered the Dunlops last night from Tirerack as I had them previously on a Civic Si(Hopefully they will be as good on the 135) and they had excellent grip and felt almost like summers on dry road. In a blizzard where thousands of people in my city got stuck last year I drove about 250 Km's that day with no issues at all.

I do get a lot of snow up here but it is very mixed conditions where one day can be -20F with with 3-4 inches of snow and the next day will be 60F and with all the snow melting very wet or slushy.

I've personally heard the Blizzaks are great the first season or two and are then comparable to all seasons beyond that but I've never run them so can't say for sure. I would recommend the Dunlops for the bit of extra money.

[KingOfJericho]

17" Dunlops here. I have experience with both and prefer the Dunlops.

[N55_BBM]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

17" Dunlops here. I have experience with both and prefer the Dunlops.

you've had experience with those specific models?

also, I take that the Dunlops are more comfortable and quiet?


Gill -- did you drive cars on these two tires? Which one has better comfort/noise level, and is it a significant difference?

[Gary@TireRack]

Yes, and they are virtually identical. There's no significant difference.

[desmat]

I currently drive the Dunlops in 17" as winter setup and they handle very well on dry pavement, even when cold outside. They are also very silent compared to other snow tires. When there is snow on the ground, I'm not sure they are the absolute best tought. They're doing the job but that's about it.

[RyanE92]

Originally Posted by brunobm

One more reminder..

I live in Central PA, and although we do get snow here, it's really not THAT bad. We get about 3-4 snowstorms (more than 5-6" of snow) every winter, and the streets are usually clean enough in 1-2 days. Other than that, we can sporadic snow but not more than 1 or 2" at a time. The streets are usually wet and slushy rather than having snow accumulated on them. I would NOT be driving my car around with more than 1-2" of snow on the ground regardless, especially since I don't plan on ruining my front bumper and sideskirts.

So given all of this, what would be the right choice?!

I've not driven the Blizzaks, but I've driven on the Dunlops for four winters here in St. Louis - three years on a 325i and one on a 335i. We have very similar conditions during the winter based on your description. I have been extremely happy with the Dunlops. I put them on on in November and keep them on until late March. Our temps will vary from 50's to just below zero (farenheit) during that time span. I've not encountered any problems in that range. You will run out of clearance before you run out of traction.

Again, I've got no experience with the Blizzaks but I'll be buying a set of Dunlops for my 135i even if they are a bit more expensive.

[N55_BBM]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

FWIW - My experience with the Blizzaks are different than Tire Racks as noted above.

I'm all ears.. mind sharing?

I appreciate all of your opinions, but I am keeping in mind that I'm comparing these two specific models, and unless people have experienced BOTH of them, saying one is excellent does not imply the other isn't. So the more input I can get from people concerning BOTH tires the better it'll be

Finally, I'm interested in the Blizzak LM-60], which is a winter performance tire, NOT a tire meant for hardcore snow. So comparing that to an experience driving with a Blizzak made for hardcore snow would not be comparing apples to apples...

[Dackelone]

No offense, but it sounds to me that your mind IS already made up.

One other thing to keep in mind is the speed rating. Most snow tires(M&S rated) will have a speed rating of T or H. Even though you can buy winter (M&S) tires up to a W rating... these W tires will have a harder rubber compund and ride not as weill as a lower speed rated tire. Over here its more important but its hard to exceed 210 kph in the winter months over here!

I still think you should look into a dedicated 17 wheel tire setup and NOT 18's. But its your car. I would also 2nd or 3rd the Dunlap M3's winter tires. Too many people I have talked too say the Blizzaks are too skirmy in non-snow weather. even mild weather too.

[N55_BBM]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

No offense, but it sounds to me that your mind IS already made up.

One other thing to keep in mind is the speed rating. Most snow tires(M&S rated) will have a speed rating of T or H. Even though you can buy winter (M&S) tires up to a W rating... these W tires will have a harder rubber compund and ride not as weill as a lower speed rated tire. Over here its more important but its hard to exceed 210 kph in the winter months over here!

I still think you should look into a dedicated 17 wheel tire setup and NOT 18's. But its your car. I would also 2nd or 3rd the Dunlap M3's winter tires. Too many people I have talked too say the Blizzaks are too skirmy in non-snow weather. even mild weather too.

The only thing that I have made my mind up on is that I'm getting either the Blizzak LM-60 or the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D.

I know that in an ideal world 17" are the way to go, but as I said I am getting new rims for the summer, and don't want to get rid of my stock wheels. The resale value I'd get for them are not even close to the $ value that I would personally put on them, so I'd rather keep them. With that in mind, I can either buy 17" winter wheels or the 18" VMRs I want for the spring, and I'd rather go with the latter. Again, I recognize that 18" are worse in snow but given the amount of snow I get I am willing to make the sacrifice and am sure it wouldn't be too bad.

Now getting to the Blizzak vs. Dunlop issue, I do value and appreciate every opinion that I'm getting here. I've only heard great things about the Dunlops and have no doubt that they'd be an excellent choice. However, I haven't heard many people sharing their experience with that particular Blizzak that I'm looking at. Saying "Blizzaks are hard on non-snowy weather" is not accurate for me, because there are many Blizzaks out there targeted for various weather conditions, so the Blizzak WS60 obviously feels very different than the LM-60, for instance.

Gill's opinion that the LM-60 and the Winter Sport 3D is very valuable in that he has driven cars with both of them on and has not noticed a difference. Not to say that he works with tires... So yes, his opinion has a higher weight I'd say, but multiple people will have multiple experiences with the same product and that's what I'm trying to get from this post.

Oh yes, and as for the speed rating, the Blizzak is 92H and the Dunlop is 92V. So based on what you said, the Blizzak should ride smoother, correct?


Anyway, sorry for the long post. I'm not going to place my order until this next weekend so any further input will be highly appreciated . Right now I am leaning towards the Blizzak since it will give me the same characteristics for a lower price by what I heard. But I am willing to switch to the Dunlops depending on what people who have had experience driving Blizzak winter performance tires say.

[bimmer74]

I had the Dunlops on my previous car and they were excellent in the dry with great handling which to me felt comparable to a high performance all season tire. They were decent in snow but not great. I have Blizzak WS-60's on my 128i now and they sure are squirmy in the dry but work very well in the snow. Snow traction is more important in my particular situation. I don't have experience with the Blizzak LM-60's so I can't provide feedback there.

[thez99]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....MAXA&tab=Sizes

Cheaper, still very good snow AND ice performers, and dont turn to shit anytime you go above 40 degrees. Also, that save in money gives you $300 or so to get a set of used 17" wheels for the car. Thats my tried and true tested winter ritual, 17's for winter, 18's for summer. 17's are used beater wheels, I just got a set of stock bmw wheels off ebay for $375 shipped, same size and all, beat up some on the outside but the price was killer and now I have a set of wheels I can use that work fine and I dont hafta care about gettin em fucked up during the winter, and then I spend good money on good new snow tires. That is all, never had one incident with the 4 cars Ive done this with in deep snow and ice in PA and VT.

[N55_BBM]

Originally Posted by thez99

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....MAXA&tab=Sizes

Cheaper, still very good snow AND ice performers, and dont turn to shit anytime you go above 40 degrees. Also, that save in money gives you $300 or so to get a set of used 17" wheels for the car. Thats my tried and true tested winter ritual, 17's for winter, 18's for summer. 17's are used beater wheels, I just got a set of stock bmw wheels off ebay for $375 shipped, same size and all, beat up some on the outside but the price was killer and now I have a set of wheels I can use that work fine and I dont hafta care about gettin em fucked up during the winter, and then I spend good money on good new snow tires. That is all, never had one incident with the 4 cars Ive done this with in deep snow and ice in PA and VT.

what did you do to your stock wheels? if you sold them, how much did you get on them? the problem is that I would HATE to sell mine. I like them A LOT, but I really want my VMRs so the solution i found was to keep them for the winter.

EDIT: also, how does this tire behave in wet/slushy conditions, and in dry and cold conditions? I can't see how a studless tire made for hardcore snow would behave well in other conditions.. We don't need that kind of snow driving here in central PA man.. at least the last 4 years here i've actually gotten around on my Mazda 6 with shitty all-seasons pretty much every day of the year, except for the day or two following a major snowstorm, which were only 3-4 per year...

[thez99]

Well i sold my stock 261s and tires that had bout 3k miles on em for $1450 local. Then i got my vmr's and tires.

Shit thing is Ive already curbed 2 of the 4 710's
The 2 up front i curbed on some random shit roads when I was driving thru jersey last week to see someone that lived kind out in the middle of nowhere

It doesnt look good, I mean mine are powdercoated satin bronze, beautiful color for my deep sea blue 1er, but cuz the conti's i got are a shallower tread width tire due to its design, the wheel doesnt have much protection against curbing unfortunately, and Im actually going to try and sell the 2 front wheels for less, i figure someone would want them to sand and/or repaint or repowdercoat, im sellin em for like half of what I orig paid which is still killer seeing as they only have like 1000 miles on em and theyre perfect other than the curbage. Than im going to sell the conti's or try atleast, to someone on here hopefully and get a set of the PS2's that I am hoping will line up better with my 710's as far as the tread width goes which will cover the rims a bit better and likely perform better in the turns, etc.

I dont regret getting the conti's for my summer setup, i just wish id have known the tread width was like it is, cuz otherwise i wouldve just gone with 235's up front and 265's in the rear and they wouldve been pretty much perfect, but since im planning on swapping them out i figure id just go with the PS2's in the end, not much more expensive and the dry performance is pretty much the best and pretty close to the comfort that the contis had, pretty sure theyll look a bit better with the 8.5-9.5 vmr's too.

[thez99]

Originally Posted by brunobm

what did you do to your stock wheels? if you sold them, how much did you get on them? the problem is that I would HATE to sell mine. I like them A LOT, but I really want my VMRs so the solution i found was to keep them for the winter.

EDIT: also, how does this tire behave in wet/slushy conditions, and in dry and cold conditions? I can't see how a studless tire made for hardcore snow would behave well in other conditions.. We don't need that kind of snow driving here in central PA man.. at least the last 4 years here i've actually gotten around on my Mazda 6 with shitty all-seasons pretty much every day of the year, except for the day or two following a major snowstorm, which were only 3-4 per year...

All i can say is those General tires have great rep thru TR and they look like an all around great tire for alot less money than the blizzaks, which granted are great tires, but alot more expensive..for what? And the generals are not made just for hardcore snow, theyre great for all winter conditions, look at their surveys, great for wet and slushy as well as great for ice and shallow AND thick snow, and the dry performance isnt bad either. Bilzzaks ur paying more for the name than anything really.

[KingOfJericho]

As you've said, it doesn't snow very much in PA so why not get a more performance oriented tire? The Dunlops are just that and still do extremely well in the white stuff. I don't know how many more people you need to hear a positive review from before you're satisfied. Most of us went with the Dunlops which is usually a good sign but neither of those choices will leave you stranded. Our cars are performance cars so go with the performance tire. The difference is less than $70 between the cheaper Blizzaks and the Dunlops which is an average dinner out. You drive a ~$40k car and you're hemming and hawing this much over $70? You're not choosing baby names here... just pull the damn trigger already!

Also, the 45s will not rub. By my calculation the difference is 1.125cm in diameter which is nothing.