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      10-08-2018, 02:12 PM   #23
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Many of our customers have had a lot of success running our EC-7 18x9" ET31 wheels with 245/40-18 tires. These wheels easily clear the massive OEM brakes, as well as being a direct fit with no spacers or modifications required. Our focus for these winter fitments is brake clearance and durability to ensure safety throughout the winter.





We also just launched our annual Winter Wheel & Tire Group Buy if you are interested.

https://www.gangup.com/apex/winter-w...s-q3-2018.html
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      10-15-2018, 01:27 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Canuckistan View Post
I really don't like the OEM 640M wheels that BMW offers. They have a painted silver finish that looks really cheap IMHO. The OEM set up also comes with Michelin Alpin tires, which are useless in more than a sprinkling of snow. I'm going with a square 18" set up using a BBS F1 knockoff and Continental WinterContact Si tires (have heard excellent things about them from my trusted tire guy).
I have to tell you, I have the 640Ms with the Alpins and they do really well here in Chicago. Better than some of my previous performance snows.

I was thinking about powder coating them (I don't think they look cheap, just not as nice as my 437s) but couldn't decide on the finish (I swear, who knew there were that many shades). Then I saw the orbit grey posted here. Might spend the $500 after all....

FYI, The Alpin's are #1 in their category
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...RatingsReviews
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      10-16-2018, 01:38 PM   #25
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Look, the Alpin is a great great tire, but it's made for mostly cold weather dry tarmac driving. Maybe some light snow. If I want to have the ability to drive in a serious snowfall I prefer having a more snow/ice oriented tire, that's all. Anyone that's happy with their Alpins should enjoy them in good health. When I had my Golf R and its all wheel drive, I used SottoZero 3s, which are the Pirelli equivalent of the Alpins.
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      10-16-2018, 08:51 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Canuckistan View Post
Look, the Alpin is a great great tire, but it's made for mostly cold weather dry tarmac driving. Maybe some light snow. If I want to have the ability to drive in a serious snowfall I prefer having a more snow/ice oriented tire, that's all. Anyone that's happy with their Alpins should enjoy them in good health. When I had my Golf R and its all wheel drive, I used SottoZero 3s, which are the Pirelli equivalent of the Alpins.
To be clear, the Aplin is a better tire for Chicago (and I bet Toronto) than a true snow tire like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta (or the Blizzak WS line). I actually had a person from Nokian explain this to me when I was shopping for snows for the Mother In-laws car (she got the Nokian WGR2s).

Because MOST of the time - here in Chicago, and yes, Toronto, we are not driving in heavy snow - we have dry and cold days and yes, some rain. A true snow tire like the Hakkapeliitta - has terrible stopping distances in the dry and wet, but amazing in the snow. And yes, most of the time we are NOT driving in snow.

So people make the mistake of cranking up the snow tire for the worst of worst conditions for cities that just don't have it.

Now if you live in a mountain area with lots of snow fall - heck even in an area with lots of snow fall, then hell yea, get that real snow tire. But otherwise, a performance snow tire or even an all-season (like the Nokian WGR series) is simply a better and more safe tire.
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Last edited by doug_999; 10-16-2018 at 08:59 PM.. Reason: Added Blizzak WS reference
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      10-17-2018, 10:26 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doug_999 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Canuckistan View Post
Look, the Alpin is a great great tire, but it's made for mostly cold weather dry tarmac driving. Maybe some light snow. If I want to have the ability to drive in a serious snowfall I prefer having a more snow/ice oriented tire, that's all. Anyone that's happy with their Alpins should enjoy them in good health. When I had my Golf R and its all wheel drive, I used SottoZero 3s, which are the Pirelli equivalent of the Alpins.
To be clear, the Aplin is a better tire for Chicago (and I bet Toronto) than a true snow tire like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta (or the Blizzak WS line). I actually had a person from Nokian explain this to me when I was shopping for snows for the Mother In-laws car (she got the Nokian WGR2s).

Because MOST of the time - here in Chicago, and yes, Toronto, we are not driving in heavy snow - we have dry and cold days and yes, some rain. A true snow tire like the Hakkapeliitta - has terrible stopping distances in the dry and wet, but amazing in the snow. And yes, most of the time we are NOT driving in snow.

So people make the mistake of cranking up the snow tire for the worst of worst conditions for cities that just don't have it.

Now if you live in a mountain area with lots of snow fall - heck even in an area with lots of snow fall, then hell yea, get that real snow tire. But otherwise, a performance snow tire or even an all-season (like the Nokian WGR series) is simply a better and more safe tire.
No disagreement here. However, the M2 is my DD, so I have to be able to handle those days when there is snow on the roads, plus I take the car to go skiing north of Toronto. I have simply made the decision to trade off some dry tarmac capability for piece of mind and additional snow/ice capability.

The owner of my tire store had a tuned M6 GC, and was pretty adamant that the Alpins he had weren't able to handle the torque even with a light sprinkling of snow. He (and his customers) love the new Conti Winter SI, which he says is a fantastic middle ground between winter performance tires like the Alpin and full on winters like the Nokians.

Everyone should have an honest think about what they need from their car in the winter and buy tires accordingly. I am simply describing my parameters and the logic of my choice.
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      10-18-2018, 12:17 PM   #28
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Exactly this ^^^

What works for one person might not work for another. For example on the west coast we get very different snow than the rest of Canada - wet, slushy, and incredibly slippery. Tires that rely on filling the tread grooves with snow and using it to stick to the snow on the ground just don't work here.

Older Pilot Alpins were horrible for these conditions, Blizzak WS are surprisingly good for the snow we get here and pretty good in the rain.
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      10-18-2018, 07:30 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_lab_rat View Post
Exactly this ^^^

What works for one person might not work for another. For example on the west coast we get very different snow than the rest of Canada - wet, slushy, and incredibly slippery. Tires that rely on filling the tread grooves with snow and using it to stick to the snow on the ground just don't work here.

Older Pilot Alpins were horrible for these conditions, Blizzak WS are surprisingly good for the snow we get here and pretty good in the rain.
Tires that rely on filling tread grooves with snow and using it to stick to snow? I've never heard of that. Can you elaborate a bit?

And correct me if I'm wrong, the WS is an ICE tire not a slush tire. And the point is, from what I know about Vancouver winters, a performance snow is a far better choice than a true snow tire.

Unless you are driving up into the mountains.
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      10-18-2018, 10:33 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doug_999
Tires that rely on filling tread grooves with snow and using it to stick to snow? I've never heard of that. Can you elaborate a bit?

And correct me if I'm wrong, the WS is an ICE tire not a slush tire. And the point is, from what I know about Vancouver winters, a performance snow is a far better choice than a true snow tire.

Unless you are driving up into the mountains.
End of this article talks about the way some snow tires use the "snowball" technique to stick to snow on the road - https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/car/t...action-on-snow

I'm talking from personal experience with slushy snow in Vancouver. Tires that fill the tread intentionally don't do well here because the snow is too slushy. Tires that rely on speed to clear the grooves by centrifugal force don't work well here either because we are not going fast enough.
I'm not sure why the Blizzaks work so well for the slush but they do. Being good in the rain and ice is also great.
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      10-19-2018, 12:05 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_lab_rat View Post
End of this article talks about the way some snow tires use the "snowball" technique to stick to snow on the road - https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/car/t...action-on-snow

I'm talking from personal experience with slushy snow in Vancouver. Tires that fill the tread intentionally don't do well here because the snow is too slushy. Tires that rely on speed to clear the grooves by centrifugal force don't work well here either because we are not going fast enough.
I'm not sure why the Blizzaks work so well for the slush but they do. Being good in the rain and ice is also great.
Interesting, I have never heard of that - but/and, what makes you think that the Pilot Alpins do this?

Anyway, I can't argue that the WS is not a great snow/iCE tire (at least for the first part of its tread life), and compared to other tires in its category, it does stop well in the wet.

However, compared to a winter performance tire, it is still pretty bad in the wet. My point being that if your rainy days far out number your slushy snow days, you are probably better off with a winter performance tire. Some interesting test results below (the real surprise is how well the WS does in the dry)

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=181
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=193
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      10-19-2018, 12:50 PM   #32
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does anyone know if these wheels will fit?

18x8" ET35 72.6CB 5x120
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      10-19-2018, 09:10 PM   #33
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does anyone know if these wheels will fit?

18x8" ET35 72.6CB 5x120
Yes, they should fit M2 (not M2C). They will sit about 18mm deeper into the fenders so I would suggest a spacer to make it look better.

Are they OEM BMW wheels?
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      10-19-2018, 09:21 PM   #34
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They are not oem just some wheels I saw on ECS. I want narrow wheels and tires for New England winters, I'm willing to sacrifice performance in the cold months.
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      10-19-2018, 10:54 PM   #35
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I'm not aware of any 18" wheels that don't fit over the brakes but I only tried three different wheels. The easiest would probably be asking the seller to measure internal diameter of the barrel and ideally also the spacing from the mounting surface to the spokes (but that can be fixed with spacers).
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      10-20-2018, 07:00 AM   #36
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640M staggered with Pilots Alpin



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      10-20-2018, 08:43 AM   #37
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640M looks awesome! Did you get them at the dealership? Do you mind sharing how much you paid?
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      10-20-2018, 10:23 AM   #38
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      10-20-2018, 05:17 PM   #39
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640M looks awesome! Did you get them at the dealership? Do you mind sharing how much you paid?
$2600.13 installed at the dealer
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