Questions on Spare Wheels with Winter Tires

[skweezr]

Holy cow this forum is awesome. Thank you so much everyone for all of the info. I will study up and let you guys know.

[Vas]

Holy cow this forum is awesome. Thank you so much everyone for all of the info. I will study up and let you guys know.

Where are you located and how bad do the winters get there?

[Daddyoh]

Holy cow this forum is awesome. Thank you so much everyone for all of the info. I will study up and let you guys know.

Welcome, and congrats to you on your choice of car AND forum!

[ecrabb]

Just one point of clarification... It's not the "clear coat" coming off the wheel. Those wheels (as are many BMW wheels) are painted. What's coming off is the entire paint layer (along with any additional clear-coat), revealing the bare oxidized/corroded aluminum underneath.

What usually starts this process is that a rock or other debris pierces the painted coating. Then, salt-water from the road gets into that opening, which starts the aluminum corroding. Once it starts corroding, the oxidation and corrosion expand, bubbling the paint, exposing even more aluminum to the elements, and the process continues. That's how you end up with those big "sheets" of loose paint. The chrome wheels on my H3 did the same thing.

Like Vas said, do a little prep to knock all that loose paint off, clean them up as best you can, and give them a quick Plast-Dip job and you'll have a darn nice-looking winter setup.

Cheers,
SC

[skweezr]

The blizzak's should be directional and will be side dependent. I have a set of them currently for sale and from my experience with them, I would run them in the rear.

What's your location and what are your winter driving needs? Are you going to be dealing with heavy snow or more ice and or slush? The e46 with the D.SC. does great in snow and with good snows it you should have little or no problem.

May want to read up on how the D.SC. works before the first snow. You may need to change the mode in heavy snow situations and turn off the rev limiter.


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The Blizzaks are directional. I did read up a bit on the DSC system - I would have just guessed on/off but now understand there is a "long press" for OFF-OFF.
I'm in Cincinnati - so most winters we don't get too much snow. I will probably mount the Blizzaks on the rear based on all the suggestions in this thread.

[skweezr]

Where are you located and how bad do the winters get there?

I'm in Cincinnati. The winters vary quite a bit but usually aren't too bad. 2 years ago it felt like Cleveland moved down to join us in Cincinnati. It was a bad winter. But last year we got almost no snow. Just slush.

[skweezr]

Hope this helps - congrats on the new car!

Thanks for your detailed reply - it did help. There is about 8/32 on the Blizzaks and 10/32 on the off brand.

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[ryankokesh]

Thanks for your detailed reply - it did help. There is about 8/32 on the Blizzaks and 10/32 on the off brand.

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Cool, should be set for a winter or two with the blizzaks. If you plan on keeping the car for a while I would personally bite the bullet and get a matching pair. I guess there's not much harm in giving the off brand a shot up front, but I have a feeling you won't enjoy them if you plan on doing anything close to "spirited driving". That's where the LM60s excel... Getting you through the snow and not making it feel like you're driving on a yoga mat.


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[Vas]

You can sell those front two tires on Craigslist. Just an idea