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Originally Posted by Tut
My understanding is that you need narrower tires in the snow, it provides better traction. Apparently, 18" wheels are the minimum needed to clear the brakes, and they need to be staggered, according to my SA and the Tire Rack adviser.
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Two things:
1) "Narrower" than what? Back in the E46 days, if you put 245 snows on the car then people would try to tell you that was way too wide. Now suddenly its ok just because that's what BMW recommends? Makes no sense. Don't get me wrong, I would not go with 305s or anything ridiculous, but lets look at it this way - the tire companies make 255 and 265 width snow tires, so why not use them? They are not going to sell you something that simply won't work, they've got a reputation to uphold. And frankly unless someone can show me a test with real data that demonstrates 245s are actually providing noticeably more traction in real life situations, then I am going to stick with my 255s in rear (265s when I get an E9X m3).
Same goes for wheel size too, BTW. For the E46 everyone said to use 17s. Well, ok, it was the smallest wheel that would fit. Now 18s are the smallest wheel that fit. So are people suddenly going to have worse performance in the winter now? No way. The car will be fine, and plus, as someone outlined above, the only real reason for using a smaller wheel/tire with more profile in the winter is because they are potentially cheaper and more available, and because you have a bit more cushion for potholes. So if you run 19s in the summer and want to go with 19" snowtires, don't sweat it.
2). They don't need to be staggered. In fact BMW recommends 245s all around. Is this necessary? No. Will it help? Well, possibly. I've run 225F/255R on the M3 and 335i for years. They work great. Would it handle better with the same width all around? Maybe. Who can say? Will a car with 245s all around handle better than a car with, for example, 225F/245R? I really, really doubt it. So is adding another 1cm in the rear going to break the bank? No way. Would 225 F/R be better? Sure. But again, BMW is already saying 245s for the E9X M3. Is adding another 2cm in the rear to get you to stock width (for 19s) going to break the bank here? Again, I doubt it, but I can't tell you for sure how that will work yet since I haven't tried it.
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Snows make a big difference in Kansas City, I had them on my old 545 and it made the car feels like my old Audi A6 2.7T (AWD) in the snow. So, if you get more than 2-3 storms in the Winter months and the M3 is your daily drive, I would go with 18" wheels and tires. I usually install them from mid Nov to mid March. Good luck.
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Agreed on all that.