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[mitch88]

I live in British Columbia and it only snows here maybe 3 or 4 days out of the year. Is the rubber on the sport package tire going to be ok or not?
thanks

[eriks]

You might be in trouble of the tires aren't all-seasons. Even with the temps drop, summer tires start to lose their grip and can be dangerous. I'd plan on getting a set of all-seasons for the winter months.

Luckily, we don't have that problem in South Florida.

[Gen_E92]

I live in Vancouver...I can tell you that even with all-seasons on my 330xi, it felt pretty slippery in snow. Plus there are times when you go up mountains like Whistler. So AS is the least I would recommend.
BTW...for my upcoming E92 I'm planning on getting separate winter tire/rim...cuz I go snowboard occasionally and winter tires will really make a huge difference!

[RGRAY]

Originally Posted by mitch88

I live in British Columbia and it only snows here maybe 3 or 4 days out of the year. Is the rubber on the sport package tire going to be ok or not?
thanks

No, performance tires do not do well in temperatures below 40 degrees.

[stressdoc]

Ideally you should get a set of winter performance tires w/rims. Do you have to? Probably not if you are an experienced snow driver, or if you can leave the car in the garage on snow/ice days. I would suck it up and invest in a set of snows.

[ToddL]

I'd say go with the snows. I got caught in a snowstorm last week in my 325i with the summer tires still on. We got 2" of wet, sloppy stuff and the stability control was on a lot .. definitely not fun. I put on my snows over the weekend.

[sbw]

Below seven degrees Celsius, the summer tires lose traction. But not by much until below freezing. And even then they are okay unless you hit ice or snow.

My advice: Stick to the summers and call in sick if the white stuff starts falling!

I live in Niagara, Ontario (the fruit belt) and we don't get much snow. I'm sticking to the summer tires. I own my own company so I don't have to go to work when there's white stuff. Just have to postpone appointments.

Car And Driver's December issue compares summer, all-season and winter tires and, in a nutshell, they found a significant difference between the three only in the presence of snow and ice. Wet roads didn't even make much of a difference.

[arbitrage]

This is probably poor advice but I'll post my recent experience driving in snow with the e92 sports pkg summer Bridgestone tires....basically when the temp was -5 or above these tires did fine with just very light/plowed snow on the roads. I was able to drive the car through snowy parking lot and not get stuck also. One day I drove the car and the temp dropped to ~ -14C and this day my commute consisted of many intstances of traction control signs on the dash, a little tail wagging when accelerating but nothing too serious if you drive carefully. Also switching from DSC to DTC helped move around totally snow covered parking lots easily with minimal slippage.

Saying all that, I personally think you would be totally fine in Vancouver with your summer tires all year. Temps alone didn't really affect the traction without some underlying snow/ice/compactsnow on the road. And I lived in Vancouver for 8yrs going to university and if you do get snow which doesn't happen every year you could always rent a car for the day for cheaper than a full set of winter RF rubber.

These are just my opinions, I only tried all this winter driving because my winter tires were stuck at the border and we got some early snow (my winters go on tomorrow!!). If you do decide to get a winter tire then look at the really high performance/good on dry/wet pavement because you know you'll be on this type of road 99% of the winter. Maybe look at a Pirelli Sotozero or even the Dunlop M3, I'd stay away from Bridgestone as its more winter orientated. Other option would be getting some A/S tires but I really don't know if it will be worth it. Remember unless its really cold your summer sports pkg rubber will be better in dry and wet than an A/S tire anyways.

[arbitrage]

Some more info because I just came back from a good drive on a 100% icy parking lot with my new JH3 wheels and Dunlop M3 DSSTs....WOW, WOW these tires rock. Absolute glue to BMW's solid ice parking lot. I tried really hard to make ABS come on and only got it to kick in once (this morning it kicked in about 20times on the way to the dealership) DSC also very hard to get on unless I give it around a 90deg corner (300lb/ft will do that ).

[voodoo22]

I find the sports package tires handle poorly in rain or anything below degree's celsius. I'm personally looking forward to wearing these Bridgestones out so I can get some tires which handle better in non-optimum conditions.

As far as winter, I wouldn't even consider running the summer tires our cars come with in the winter.

IMO, if you want to drive with a similar style in all conditions, your tires make a huge difference. If you don't mind driving a lot more cautious in extreme driving, then all seasons will do you fine. I had all seasons on my lowered e46 through 4 Winnipeg winters, but Winnipeg is flat and there is no high speed driving around there in the winter. I hit 130-150km/h every day on my commute in the GTA. I wouldn't feel safe driving the summer tires in the winter and add to that the mountains in BC? I think you have to get some good winters.

[Gen_E92]

if you live in vancouver, a set of high performance all-season is all you need. Since it mostly rains here in vancouver, winter tires won't handle as well as all-seasons on wet and dry pavement, and it's only helpful, like you said, 3 or 4 days out of the year, you do the math!

[Black325i]

Yes, Vancouver is different than the rest of Canada ! In Vcr, you may be able to get away with it. Here in GTA, 1 cm snow on summer performance tires is a near death experience...