18's in the winter in the Northeast???

[phillybimmer]

Hey guys, since the weather is finally starting to become nice out here, I thought it was time for my first real upgrade to my car. I've been going back and forth on this for a while and I'm dead set on buying new wheels for my car. I am going to go with the M5 18" x 8" HYPER SILVER Wheels made to OEM specifications by TheWheelExchange (http://www.thewheelexchange.com).

I really don't feel like shoveling out $670 per rim from the BMW dealership, so I'm going this route because I've heard great things about them. I was wondering if anyone could give me a heads up on their thoughts or any issues if they ever dealt with TheWheelExchange?

Also, I'm thinking about buying the package with the PIRELLI NERO M&S Tires.

Has anyone here had any experience with these? They are rated number one out of 18 for Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires on Tire Rack and I've see that all BMW owners using these tires gave them a rating of mostly above 7.5 - 8. I'm just worried because I live in the Northeast and I'm not sure how 18's will handle during the winter months. I drove my car through a couple light storms this past year with the stock 16" rims and stock Conti tires with no problem.

Any thoughts, insight, or recommendations would be appreaciated. Thanks....

 

[Average Jae]

i'm not big on running nice 18 inch rims (replica or not) in the winter, w/ potholes and such lurking, not to mention salt on the roads (if they use salt) which will kill the rims. but to each his own. and you already have 16s, which seems prefect for winter driving.

if you had no problem running conti's, are they extreme contacts? i have those on my talon, and they seem pretty nice for a A/S tires in snow.

i've heard of others on this board that used thewheelexchange, and liked them. i was going to use them, but ended up going w/ aaawheels or something.. (they were a bit cheaper when i got my style 68, (m2) replica rims)

 

[phillybimmer]

They aren't extreme conti's, I beleive just the Conti Touring that came standard on the car. Are the Conti Extreme's better than the P-Zero's? The conti extremes got an 8 for snow driving while the P-Zero's got a 7.5 in TireRack.

So do you think it'd be a good idea to just switch the rims out when the winter months come? use the 16's for the snow and the 18's during the summer?

I heard about aaa rims, I think they became lakeshorewheelandtire.com. How are their rims? Do they look just like OEM ones?

 

[Kirby]

I have 17" P Zero Nero M+S on the 325. They are great tires, yes, even in snow. I highly recommend them. Can't offer any experience regarding the 18" concerns, but I think handling will be the same. You'll just have a slightly rougher ride (all year) as compared to 17", and run a bigger risk of a pothole damaging a rim. Did you see that pothole on the news a few days ago that almost ate a truck in Philly??

 

[phillybimmer]

I missed the pothole almost eating the Truck? Where did the happen? In the city? I actually live outside of Philly and the potholes are just ridiculous. I try to avoid them as much possible, but there is only so much you can do.

By rougher ride, do you mean the car will not absorb bumps and such as well as it does with my current 16's? I didn't realize that this was the case.

How long have you had the P Zero's? What's the treadlife been like for you? What were these an upgrade from? Do you really notice the difference between other tires you have?

 

[Kirby]

The Philly pothole thing was on channel 6. It was really funny because it was a City road crew truck that stopped in the street. The pothole had washed out underneath the street for a 4 or 5 foot circle, and the weight of the truck made it collapse.

Take a look at the sidewall of a 16" tire vs. an 18" tire. The 18" tire sidewall is not nearly as "tall", and indirectly this requires that the sidewall is stiffer and provides less cushioning, so you get a stiffer ride when going from 16" to 18". The tradeoff benefit is improved handling and responsiveness, also due to the fact that the sidewall doesn't flex as much. I went from 15" to 17" on the 325, increased ride stiffness was a noticeable but not terrible.

I put the 17" P Zeroes on last October, so they don't have but 3 - 4K miles on them. The treadwear is not visibly noticeable yet. They were an upgrade from 15" Contisports. A HUGE difference!!!

I use the car for Autocross, and ran 3 events on the P Zeros. They took about 1.5 - 2 seconds off my run times, which is huge. Of course the handling improvements due to larger wheels was a factor as well. But traction under racing extremes is easily 30% - 40% better compared to the Contis in corners. The Contis would have been squealing and I would have spun out, the P Zeroes just hung in there, with the fronts understeering (which also has a lot to do with suspension setup) if I went too hot into a corner.

By the way, my 330 has Goodyear Eagle GSA, they are better than the Contis, but no match for the Pirellis.