16" Winter Tires...a few Q's

[bmwpowere36m3]

Hey guys, had a few questions about running snow tires. I'm posting in the 3-series forum because it relates to OE 3-series tire sizing.

For my winter setup I have gone with 16" Contour wheel replicas (that barely fit:eyecrazy) and Blizzak WS-50's 205/55/16. I went with the narrowest tire I could for the size of the wheel 16x7.5" wide, because that's the best (smaller is better in this case).

Now for the M3, BMW recommends a 225/45/17 M+S tire (winter tire)...however I didn't want to run my summer wheels (Kosei's) in the winter with low-profile tires (again not the "best" setup, wide tire and low-profile). Instead I wanted a separate set of wheels/tires just for the car...freakin NE :shifty

Anyway...I guess my question is what does BMW recommend for tire size (M+S) on the 3-Series (325, 328, etc...), it's listed on the driver's-side door jamb. Also along with the size, what is the recommended pressure? Thanks guys.

[jmo69]

205/60-15 is the stock tire size and 225/50-16 is the optional tire size. I run the 16s with blizzaks on the rear and haven't had any problems lately, but I've only had to deal with snow, the ice storms have stayed south of here.

[ciz28]

Agreed with jmo69. My sport package E36 came with 225/50R16's stock, so I ran that size for snow tires and 235/40R17's for summer tires, all at 35psi. I'm sure some will be more anal than I was, but as long as you're somewhere around 32-35psi, you're probably okay.

[bmwpowere36m3]

thanks guys

[bmwpowere36m3]

Actually after checking the door jamb to verify, the tire pressure's listed for M+S tires is the same as the "normal" one's (30F/35R). However I ended up doing 35psi F&R and the car handled amazing yesterday in the snowstorm.

[jasonf860]

Nice to see a fellow CT resident!