Greetings - Snow tire suggestions?

[slemmer]

Greetings,

I have a 2000 740i with the 18" option and wonder what is the best snow tire brand to get. Any feedback would be grateful.

Thanks!

[slemmer]

Greetings,

I just retired my '99 323i and moved up to a '00 740i w/18" option. What a difference in vehicles (and power). Hope to participate more in the near future. Right now, I have to find snow tires for this puppy. Any thoughts?

[MDabney]

Welcome to our playhouse... don't think you'll have much luck finding snows for your 18" shoes but this guy named "Bimmerhead" will reply soon. He'll relate his experiences with 18" shoes and snows in the Commonwealth of PA. Good luck.

{By the way, I seperated this from the other thread for you.}

[Bimmerhead]

slemmer,

Welcome to the E38 7 series. I hope you come to love the E38 as we have.

Mike is right I have some experience with the 740 in the snow and I can recommend two tires which should be available from The Tire Rack.
The Tire Rack.com

They are the Bridgestone Blizzak and the Dunlop M2 Sport. I did experience some scraping of Baby's undercarrage on the driveway apron with the Blizzaks due to the lower sidewall height they had (Baby was sporting the Dinan Stage 1 suspension then) so I went to the Dunlop M2 Sports and they were fine in the snow.

I recommend the Dunlop M2 Sport for snow use.
When you consider tires for the E38 remember the OEM tire height is 27.25" or so. Anything lower effectively lowers the car and reduces the distance per tire rotation (Rotations Per Mile). Anything larger will cause fender/sidewall rubbing issues.

Again, Welcome to our sandbox and drive carefully. Remember it isn't the 740 in the snow to worry over, it is the other fool out there with you to be concerned about when you drive your 7.

Regards,

Simeon


PS: try & post some pics of your car for us.

[MDabney]

I hope you don't mind if I move this over to "Wheels and Tires" for Jim@TireRacks comments on this.

[slemmer]

I agree the Dunlops M2 or Blizzaks are the 'Gold Standard' to go. I will research them further. From my initial diggings when I had the 323i, the Dunlops has the better specs and customer feedback from the Tirerack website. I understand 18" snows may be hard to find and will look at something a little higher in profile.

As I read through the owners manual for snow tires (winter tires (M+S)) they listed the following:

- 215/65 R 16 98Q mounted on 7.5J x 16" wheels
- 235/60 R 16 100Q mounted on 7.5J x 16" or 8J x 16" wheels
- 245/55 R 16 100Q mounted on 8J x 16" wheels.

I take it all three would have similar total diameters with the difference being the amount of effective sidewall area and tire width. Which of the above would be most beneficial?

I post some pics along with the options this week.

[SilverStreak]

If you can go 16", Blizzak WS-50's, if you can only go as small as 17", Blizzaks LM-22's...