How Does the 135 do in the Rain/Snow?

[Chunkaway]

Just wondering how does the 135 do in the snow/rain? I'm coming from a 2003 330xi.

Thanks!

[TiM235i]

Mine does just fine in the rain, but don't take it out in the snow without snow tires. I tried mine very briefly last winter in some snow and ice and couldn't manage a 10 degree incline in front of my house...

If you are coming from an xi, you will have to adjust. But with snow tires, I think the 135 would be decent, but not great by any stretch. Not as good as the xi.

[KingOfJericho]

With a good set of snow tires this car is a beast in the white stuff. I was consistently the first person at work last winter and we had several feet of snow. I would pass SUVs the whole way in. It's actually one of the better cars I've ever driven in the winter.

[emtrey]

w/ snow tires...no problem at all. They are up fom bsmt. and are going on my car very soon.

[KingOfJericho]

Unfortunately I have to slap mine on tomorrow morning... Usually I'm safe until December!

[ken1137]

My previous car was a 328 xi and I also owned a 325 xi. No issues in rain at all with the 135. My recommendation for you is studded tires since you are in Oregon. I know how things can get if it snows or ices over...not fun in the NW.

[chowbox]

My wife has a 328xi. Thing is a beast in the snow. My 550 was awesome with the Dunlop wintersport 3d tires I mounted on it. I found the same tires for my e46m3 and it was ok. Not nearly as snow worthy as the 550. I have to blame that on two things. The 255/40/19 Dunlops were fairly wide. And I think the dsc system was far superior on the 5 vs the m3. I picked up hakkapelita r this year for my 135 and should be just peachy. Living in Minnesota we get pounded and we regularly travel to north Dakota to visit her family. Never had any issues as of yet. And last year we had record snow falls. A few 20+" in one shot falls with. -20 degrees. It keeps the riffraff out.

[shah269]

Just got my car 3 days ago....running on new OEM tires.
I live in NJ so snow for us is either a hit....we get about 6in-10in which is cleaned up in a day.....to nothing. So winter tires would not work here due to our erratic weather.
I'm coming from a 1.8T VW Jetta Running on Continental DRS tires which did actually quite well in the snow.

[bbbradley]

4 good snow tires (-1 sizing if possible to get a narrower footprint) will turn almost any car into a very good winter vehicle. I owned a e36 that was nearly useless on the summer tires the one day I got stuck on them prior to my snows arriving, but with 4 Blizzaks on the car it was fantastic.

[mBlesso]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Unfortunately I have to slap mine on tomorrow morning... Usually I'm safe until December!

The snow is coming hard here in CT. Thinking I should have ordered those snow tires last week.

[Maconer98]

Like everyone keeps saying...slap on some good winter shoes and you're good! Easy on the throttle though

[HARD 135i]

I can tell you its very crap on loose gravel/sand. Spun mine around not too long ago by just going around a twisty about 40kph.

[BrokenVert]

see my sig

[smithtravel]

With Blizak's, no problem:

[bbbradley]

Originally Posted by HARD 135i

I can tell you its very crap on loose gravel/sand. Spun mine around not too long ago by just going around a twisty about 40kph.

Two words: driver error.

[N55_BBM]

It's all about the tires. I live in Central PA and made it to work every single day last year. I do better than your average SUV with all season tires. People really underestimate the power of a good tire. And that's because I'm running Dunlop Wintersport 3D's which aren't really hardcore snow tires per se.

And even then I found that my limitation wasn't grip, it was actually clearing the front bumper.. lol

[Chunkaway]

Yeah, the 330xi is great in the rain and snow- never have to worry about the weather. I use to have a 328i that was not great, although I just had all-season tires on it. My 2006 Mini Cooper S was not great in the rain due to the odd clutch/supercharger combo. The tires would spin with very little effort or the car would lag off the line, thus putting myself at risk from getting hit by the car behind me. Definitely don't want a repeat of that.

[TWamp]

Not to beat a dead horse, but it's all about the tires. The only issue with the car is ground clearance - I had one close call last winter where the street leading out of my neighborhood hadn't been plowed yet and there was close to 8 inches of powder. Turned DCT on, put it in second, and managed to plow through. That was with Dunlop Wintersport 3D snow tires.

If you live in an area where frequent rain is a concern, ditch the runflats for a summer tire with good wet performance (Tire Rack reviews are helpful). I switch to winter tires when the daytime high temps drop into the 40s.

[X-M3driver]

I will say that with Blizaks the car is awesome in the snow. I've used then in the e36 M3, the 540, the e46 M3 and now the 135. Have never let me down

[shemeld_135]

tires really make the difference for this.. adding snow tires for winter/snow and summer tires for summer are great investments for the car!

[TX78666]

It does great in the rain. I did a day at the track in the pouring rain and had no problems. It was easier to find the limits of adhesion in the wet than in the dry, obviously, but the car stuck fine, well above street legal speeds. Even beyond the limits, the car was very well behaved.

Mashing on the brakes at 120 mph, to bring it down to 60-ish didn't phase the car in the least. Acceleration was easy and cornering at fairly high (extra-legal) speeds was pretty easy.

[wjp007]

I live in Chicago and my 135i did surprisingly well with the stock rubber (car was only 6 months old) last winter. But I went out and bought winter tires for this year just to be safe.