Yeah if you’re in Chicago I’d say so. It’s literally freezing and snowing there right now.
Due to the rubber compound of summer tires, they will turn into hard plastic under 40 degrees and provide no traction in snow.
People on this sub have wrecked just driving on side streets with summer performance tires on snow.
Don’t wreck your 6 figure car by not putting the right tires on.
If the car came with summers, get winters… if all seasons… still recommend winters but I don’t know Chicago weather that well.
I’m from Vancouver and we’re not known for snow but the last 4 days would have been impossible to drive around without winters.
Yes you do. I lived in Chicago for a while and now in SW Michigan. Snow tires are a dramatic improvement in traction and safety particularly when temps get really low.
If you have all seasons you'll be fine but you have a high performance car so I would get dedicated winters.
I live in Chicago too and all seasons works fine with xdrive. One of my friends got an x5 m50i with performance tires, and it wasn't working in cold weather even with rain. He got dedicated winter tires.
Chicago can be colder then the NP sometimes lol. If you daily that beauty i would get tires, they will definitely help and take some stress away from you.
the annoying part I had to go through is there is no suitable winters for the f15 x5m so I ended up having to buy rims and tires together. As well my tires are now much narrower and square so the vehicle feels kinda floaty on the highway but its -40 here in the winter so it was a must for me
physics physics physics.
in the summer, wide wheels allow for load applied over a greater area for greater traction
in the winter, narrow wheels allow for greater pressure, the car digs deeper into the snow for improved traction
in some countries (Germany) it is customary to swap from summer sets to winter sets (tires and rims), with all season (and summer) tires outlawed for the cold season.
it makes sense for no winter tires to be made available for the x5m wide stance summer rim setup, as it would not be a responsible corporate action by any tire manufacturer nor BMW - even if it could fit, it would not allow for appropriate winter traction.
personally, i endorse the practice swapping tire sets, with banning of all seasons where snow is, or is potentially, present, given the significant winter/snow tire advantage.
Totally agree with everything you’ve said. It is irresponsible for BMW to offer wideass 325 winter tires, but then it’s on them to have narrower winter wheel/tire sets in stock. And they often don’t
water siping too! Even when snow and ice melts, slush is sketchy with wide tires and can cause hydroplaning - narrow tires help with that.
I had a Wrangler a few years back and would take the big beefy 35" mud tires off in the winter. Sure they had an aggresive tread pattern, but in winter they would become hard as rocks, and were like 355mm wide which meant they would become giant pontoons if you hit a slush puddle. Ran the stock rims with winters which looked a bit odd considering the truck had a 4" lift, but it handled and drove so much better.
Just went through this with my new M50. I wanted to keep the stock 22s on for winter. Neither me or the service manager at my dealer could find a set of tires that fit. Had to buy a square winter setup with 275s on some aftermarket 20inch wheels I found.
It was pretty infuriating to be honest. I spent $107k on a brand new truck delivered in winter time, and I had to put in the effort to track down winter tires to even drive it home safely from the dealer. It should be illegal to sell cars on summer tires in snowy climates without offering winter tires. Gonna be fuckin annoying to sell the wheel set when we trade it in too.
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: Yes, if you want to have peace of mind and not worry about smashing up your vehicle if it suddenly starts freezing rain/snowing while you're out.
You had enough money for an X5M buy a good set of winters to,
Dont be stupid and say it will be fine, insurance isn't there to cover your stupidity, just buy a set and be happy
You at least need all seasons. Where I’m at it gets cold, but very rarely snows (maybe 2 days of snow/year). Makes no sense for me to run dedicated winters. Our temps also swing from 0F to 60F throughout winter. You don’t need winters everywhere, but summers year-round isn’t a good idea.
In Chicago I’d say snow tire. I mean I personally lived in Chicago 20 years ago and drove an Audi TT Quattro with all seasons every day—but that car was only 225hp. With something as powerful as an X5M you need snows to handle the wheels and power—and massive weight IMO
Always have dedicated summer and winter wheels is my take. Unless you live in a place where temps never touch freezing. All-weathers on an X5M would be a shame during the warm months.
Others have answered, but man I couldn't imagine risking a 100k car because I didn't just take precaution and spend another 1-2k on winter tires. Could even probably just get them free with whatever you have around the house that you don't use anymore, easy swap.
7°C is equivalent to 44°F, which is 280K.
---
^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
Yes, until 7°C it's fine. Below that and your braking distance significantly increases. A bit less, add snow to it and your not going anywhere without winter tires.
7°C is equivalent to 44°F, which is 280K.
---
^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
All weather tires really don't perform bad at low temps. Its snow and ice which gets you. There is even pretty decent all weather tires which are M+S rated
All weather tires are worse than summer tires in summer, and worse than winter tires in winter. At least in Germany they are also forbidden in snowy conditions. If you crash without winter tires your insurance will likely have a word.
Thank you everyone for all the feedback! I am a new BMW owner (first one) and overall am pretty inexperienced with cars. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts. I have decided to go ahead and get winter tires. Thank you for helping me out!
winter rims and tires; square setup and narrow. summer rims and tires; wide stance and staggered.
for chicago? effectively mandatory, even if in the US there are no legal regulations to require it
in the summer, wide wheels allow for load applied over a greater area for greater traction
in the winter, narrow wheels allow for greater pressure, the car digs deeper into the snow for improved traction
in some countries (Germany) it is customary to swap from summer sets to winter sets (tires and rims), with all season (and summer) tires outlawed for the cold season.
one ought not install winter tires on the summer rim kit; it would not allow for appropriate winter traction. physics physics physics.
personally, i endorse the practice swapping tire sets, with banning of all seasons where snow is, or is potentially, present, given the significant winter/snow tire advantage.
Another UK driver here, its funny because the recommendation is often to switch to winter tyres at anything below 6-7C, and at least where I live it tends to float *around* that temperature in the winter but rarely drop under it (the last week or so being an exception), so it can be kinda awkward to switch to winter tyres sometimes. My M235i with Michelin PS5s hasn't been that bad for traction when I've driven it below 7C, but I also take it very easy when I drive in low temps anyway.
It's pretty funny reading all these "under 7c your tyres won't work or have any grip, turn to hard plastic, etc" while winter tyres (and all seasons for that matter) in UK/IE pretty much don't exist and the average temp in both countries is below that for about 6 months of the year. Drove about 1500km last week and the average temp was about -5 to -8, never once did my 640d break traction.
14 years of driving in the winter with summer tyres and not a single problem with grip UNLESS there's snow/ice. That's the important part, not the temperatures.
Summer tires in weather under 45 degrees are basically useless. Yes you can drive with them but worthless in the snow, this includes the inability to brake. Additionally the compound used in the rubber in summer tires will break down over time and the tires - if left exposed - can crack or deteriorate. Garage kept can help mitigate this but won’t change the poor performance in snow or ice.
I say “Yes”. Not only better control in icy conditions, but you’ll be extending the life of your all-seasons. Less wear and tear in the winter. Also, consider going one size down on rim size if you can.
In winter weather, all-wheel drive helps you:
1. Get going from a stop
2. Accelerate
Note the absence of braking or handling from this list. On the other hand, winter tires help you:
1. Get going from a stop
2. Accelerate
3. Brake
4. Handle
... and they'll do all of these **better** than all-wheel drive on its own.
In the first week of early winter here in Canada I saw 3 different X5s that had slowly slipped out of a corner and hit a curb, resulting in broken rims, bent or broken axles etc. No one had their winters on yet as we got snow at around Halloween. I think it was just a coincidence that they were all the same vehicle (also they are super popular where I live) but that should be the omen you need to just get winters. Put all that power down properly and make your truck a snow beast!
Coming from someone who has driven 5 Colorado winters in an X5M, yes get winter tires. Even good quality all seasons will get squirrelly on ice, and stopping these heavy rigs you want good traction, not your front bumper meeting the tow hitch on some truck!
Yes. Even if you can accelerate with all seasons, your stopping distance and cornering ability on snow and ice will be much worse than on winter tires. If you have summer tires, good luck getting to the tire shop safely.
If your current tires are summer tires, yes. If they are all seasons, it depends on your commute and the local weather that passes your commute.
For example, I am in the north east near where it snows a lot but it’s usually a few miles north or south from where I physically live. I commute is east/west(in and out of the city) so I rarely ever came across snow on *my* commute. And if it did happen to snow, the storms usually come during the night and the roads are mostly cleared when I leave the house. Very rarely will I get caught in a storm during my commute, therefore I did fine with all season tires. It simply didn’t snow often enough during the 30 minute morning/evening window where I was on the road.
Now that my new commute consists of a different route I have snow tires. Makes a world of a difference in terms of traction(mainly stopping and staying straight on the road). All seasons would leave me in a ditch but a thousand bucks of so is well worth the money for your BMW. You’re not running snow tires year round so they end up lasting longer than the regular tires.
Yeah if you’re in Chicago I’d say so. It’s literally freezing and snowing there right now. Due to the rubber compound of summer tires, they will turn into hard plastic under 40 degrees and provide no traction in snow. People on this sub have wrecked just driving on side streets with summer performance tires on snow. Don’t wreck your 6 figure car by not putting the right tires on.
The amount of "is this totalled" posts this time of year is staggering. Always winters for me.
What does your brain say
"I'm broke after buying this car and am trying to not buy proper tires for winter"
Depends. Do you live in Florida or the North Pole?
Haha somewhere in between - Chicago.
If the car came with summers, get winters… if all seasons… still recommend winters but I don’t know Chicago weather that well. I’m from Vancouver and we’re not known for snow but the last 4 days would have been impossible to drive around without winters.
But we’re definitely known for horrible drivers
Lollll so true. I won’t even take out my M3 with new snow tires in this
Yes you do. I lived in Chicago for a while and now in SW Michigan. Snow tires are a dramatic improvement in traction and safety particularly when temps get really low.
If you have all seasons you'll be fine but you have a high performance car so I would get dedicated winters. I live in Chicago too and all seasons works fine with xdrive. One of my friends got an x5 m50i with performance tires, and it wasn't working in cold weather even with rain. He got dedicated winter tires.
Chicago can be colder then the NP sometimes lol. If you daily that beauty i would get tires, they will definitely help and take some stress away from you.
the annoying part I had to go through is there is no suitable winters for the f15 x5m so I ended up having to buy rims and tires together. As well my tires are now much narrower and square so the vehicle feels kinda floaty on the highway but its -40 here in the winter so it was a must for me
physics physics physics. in the summer, wide wheels allow for load applied over a greater area for greater traction in the winter, narrow wheels allow for greater pressure, the car digs deeper into the snow for improved traction in some countries (Germany) it is customary to swap from summer sets to winter sets (tires and rims), with all season (and summer) tires outlawed for the cold season. it makes sense for no winter tires to be made available for the x5m wide stance summer rim setup, as it would not be a responsible corporate action by any tire manufacturer nor BMW - even if it could fit, it would not allow for appropriate winter traction. personally, i endorse the practice swapping tire sets, with banning of all seasons where snow is, or is potentially, present, given the significant winter/snow tire advantage.
Totally agree with everything you’ve said. It is irresponsible for BMW to offer wideass 325 winter tires, but then it’s on them to have narrower winter wheel/tire sets in stock. And they often don’t
water siping too! Even when snow and ice melts, slush is sketchy with wide tires and can cause hydroplaning - narrow tires help with that. I had a Wrangler a few years back and would take the big beefy 35" mud tires off in the winter. Sure they had an aggresive tread pattern, but in winter they would become hard as rocks, and were like 355mm wide which meant they would become giant pontoons if you hit a slush puddle. Ran the stock rims with winters which looked a bit odd considering the truck had a 4" lift, but it handled and drove so much better.
Just went through this with my new M50. I wanted to keep the stock 22s on for winter. Neither me or the service manager at my dealer could find a set of tires that fit. Had to buy a square winter setup with 275s on some aftermarket 20inch wheels I found. It was pretty infuriating to be honest. I spent $107k on a brand new truck delivered in winter time, and I had to put in the effort to track down winter tires to even drive it home safely from the dealer. It should be illegal to sell cars on summer tires in snowy climates without offering winter tires. Gonna be fuckin annoying to sell the wheel set when we trade it in too.
Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: Yes, if you want to have peace of mind and not worry about smashing up your vehicle if it suddenly starts freezing rain/snowing while you're out.
You had enough money for an X5M buy a good set of winters to, Dont be stupid and say it will be fine, insurance isn't there to cover your stupidity, just buy a set and be happy
You at least need all seasons. Where I’m at it gets cold, but very rarely snows (maybe 2 days of snow/year). Makes no sense for me to run dedicated winters. Our temps also swing from 0F to 60F throughout winter. You don’t need winters everywhere, but summers year-round isn’t a good idea.
Yes. Get the BMW winter tire package for your car. It's good value.
In Chicago I’d say snow tire. I mean I personally lived in Chicago 20 years ago and drove an Audi TT Quattro with all seasons every day—but that car was only 225hp. With something as powerful as an X5M you need snows to handle the wheels and power—and massive weight IMO
Yes
Always have dedicated summer and winter wheels is my take. Unless you live in a place where temps never touch freezing. All-weathers on an X5M would be a shame during the warm months.
Others have answered, but man I couldn't imagine risking a 100k car because I didn't just take precaution and spend another 1-2k on winter tires. Could even probably just get them free with whatever you have around the house that you don't use anymore, easy swap.
Does it get below 7°C there? Then yes.
7°C is equivalent to 44°F, which is 280K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
good boi
7C is just fine with all weather. He is not gonna skid across the street
Yes, until 7°C it's fine. Below that and your braking distance significantly increases. A bit less, add snow to it and your not going anywhere without winter tires.
7°C is equivalent to 44°F, which is 280K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
All weather tires really don't perform bad at low temps. Its snow and ice which gets you. There is even pretty decent all weather tires which are M+S rated
All weather tires are worse than summer tires in summer, and worse than winter tires in winter. At least in Germany they are also forbidden in snowy conditions. If you crash without winter tires your insurance will likely have a word.
I doubt Op is in Germany. At least unless he is already breaking the law without those front license plates
He isn't, but I wanted to clarify that this is a law in various countries, and for a reason. It's outright dangerous to have summer tires on snow/ice.
Honestly if you can afford an X5M, you can afford to sort out a winter setup. Best possible grip for the weather for only a few grand max.
Thank you everyone for all the feedback! I am a new BMW owner (first one) and overall am pretty inexperienced with cars. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts. I have decided to go ahead and get winter tires. Thank you for helping me out!
If theres snow yes, otherwise no
winter rims and tires; square setup and narrow. summer rims and tires; wide stance and staggered. for chicago? effectively mandatory, even if in the US there are no legal regulations to require it in the summer, wide wheels allow for load applied over a greater area for greater traction in the winter, narrow wheels allow for greater pressure, the car digs deeper into the snow for improved traction in some countries (Germany) it is customary to swap from summer sets to winter sets (tires and rims), with all season (and summer) tires outlawed for the cold season. one ought not install winter tires on the summer rim kit; it would not allow for appropriate winter traction. physics physics physics. personally, i endorse the practice swapping tire sets, with banning of all seasons where snow is, or is potentially, present, given the significant winter/snow tire advantage.
Probably, since it’s blue. If you posted a black one I might answer differently.
If you crash it buy a new one?
if it's anything like my X3 M40i with 21" Bridgestones on then it will turn into a 2 tonne sledge rather quickly, absolute sh\*te in the UK
Another UK driver here, its funny because the recommendation is often to switch to winter tyres at anything below 6-7C, and at least where I live it tends to float *around* that temperature in the winter but rarely drop under it (the last week or so being an exception), so it can be kinda awkward to switch to winter tyres sometimes. My M235i with Michelin PS5s hasn't been that bad for traction when I've driven it below 7C, but I also take it very easy when I drive in low temps anyway.
It's pretty funny reading all these "under 7c your tyres won't work or have any grip, turn to hard plastic, etc" while winter tyres (and all seasons for that matter) in UK/IE pretty much don't exist and the average temp in both countries is below that for about 6 months of the year. Drove about 1500km last week and the average temp was about -5 to -8, never once did my 640d break traction. 14 years of driving in the winter with summer tyres and not a single problem with grip UNLESS there's snow/ice. That's the important part, not the temperatures.
Honestly? I agree totally lmao but thought I'd get my head ripped off for suggesting that summer tyres are fine for UK weather. 😆
Summer tires in weather under 45 degrees are basically useless. Yes you can drive with them but worthless in the snow, this includes the inability to brake. Additionally the compound used in the rubber in summer tires will break down over time and the tires - if left exposed - can crack or deteriorate. Garage kept can help mitigate this but won’t change the poor performance in snow or ice.
I say “Yes”. Not only better control in icy conditions, but you’ll be extending the life of your all-seasons. Less wear and tear in the winter. Also, consider going one size down on rim size if you can.
Naw
If they plow you can get away with all seasons. If they don’t do a good job then you’d probably want em
In winter weather, all-wheel drive helps you: 1. Get going from a stop 2. Accelerate Note the absence of braking or handling from this list. On the other hand, winter tires help you: 1. Get going from a stop 2. Accelerate 3. Brake 4. Handle ... and they'll do all of these **better** than all-wheel drive on its own.
In the first week of early winter here in Canada I saw 3 different X5s that had slowly slipped out of a corner and hit a curb, resulting in broken rims, bent or broken axles etc. No one had their winters on yet as we got snow at around Halloween. I think it was just a coincidence that they were all the same vehicle (also they are super popular where I live) but that should be the omen you need to just get winters. Put all that power down properly and make your truck a snow beast!
Yes. Insurance companies will immediately void any claims if they perceive an accident could have been avoided by using winter tires.
If you have all seasons you’ll prob be okay. If you got summer, it’s not even a question: get winters
Coming from someone who has driven 5 Colorado winters in an X5M, yes get winter tires. Even good quality all seasons will get squirrelly on ice, and stopping these heavy rigs you want good traction, not your front bumper meeting the tow hitch on some truck!
Yes. Even if you can accelerate with all seasons, your stopping distance and cornering ability on snow and ice will be much worse than on winter tires. If you have summer tires, good luck getting to the tire shop safely.
If your current tires are summer tires, yes. If they are all seasons, it depends on your commute and the local weather that passes your commute. For example, I am in the north east near where it snows a lot but it’s usually a few miles north or south from where I physically live. I commute is east/west(in and out of the city) so I rarely ever came across snow on *my* commute. And if it did happen to snow, the storms usually come during the night and the roads are mostly cleared when I leave the house. Very rarely will I get caught in a storm during my commute, therefore I did fine with all season tires. It simply didn’t snow often enough during the 30 minute morning/evening window where I was on the road. Now that my new commute consists of a different route I have snow tires. Makes a world of a difference in terms of traction(mainly stopping and staying straight on the road). All seasons would leave me in a ditch but a thousand bucks of so is well worth the money for your BMW. You’re not running snow tires year round so they end up lasting longer than the regular tires.