[bri1042]

I'm having some fun with this but thought it was worth mentioning, especially for any folk who haven't spent a lot of time driving rear-wheel drive cars (I nearly consider myself in this category due to how long it's been since I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a RWD car...though it's all coming back to me pretty fast).

For my winter set, I went with BMW's recommendation and bought the 641 set with 235 Michelin Alpin's pre-mounted. I put them on the car last Wednesday. Putting the front wheels on took a bit of faith since they honestly didn't look like they were going to fit over the calipers. They did, though I'm slightly terrified of a tiny pebble getting stuck between the wheel and the caliper...there is very little space.

To the point:

Straight-line traction is just fine so far, but the difference in corners and on long curves is massive. Tripping the traction control on a corner is insanely easy, even at moderate throttle. Between my near-rural suburb and the larger suburb that has more stuff is a road with some very long curved sections of relatively new asphalt, one tighter and one wider. I've driven that route 4 times since Wednesday, twice in each direction and the car's desire to oversteer is much more pronounced. Overall, lateral grip is heavily compromised, more so than I was expecting.

A couple of caveats: The tires aren't broken in yet, and it's a bit too warm for the winter rubber. Overall traction at the temperatures I was driving in was better than the PSS's at the same temp in a straight line, but the PSS's were still doing better when I wasn't headed in a straight line. Braking is also noticeably better on the Alpin's at the moderate Pacific Northwest temps since Wednesday. I'm very interested to see if this balance changes as temps drop and I get more miles on these tires.

I'm also tempted to head straight to Discount Tire and have them put wider Alpin's on the back (and then save the current rear tires as spares for the front). I really don't want to spend more money on tires right now, though. I get what BMW was trying to do here...these tires would cut through snow better with this setup than with a staggered, wider-in-the-rear setup. Not sure where I'm going to go with this, but if the grip doesn't improve with time, I will have to do something as the margin for error on a curve feels dangerously small right now (though it is kinda fun).

[Chasing Dreams]

I am putting mine on next week. Same tire and width but 18 instead of 19".

I would hold off with purchasing anything until 1) tires are broken in 2) temps are cool and tires are warm 3) have double checked the tire pressure.

[bri1042]

Tight fit on the front-right:

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by Chasing Dreams

I am putting mine on next week. Same tire and width but 18 instead of 19".

I would hold off with purchasing anything until 1) tires are broken in 2) temps are cool and tires are warm 3) have double checked the tire pressure.

I am holding off until #1 and #2 are satisfied.

#3 is already done, immediately after install and again the next morning. FYI - they were at 45 lbs when I put them on, so don't drive anywhere without checking it.

[bri1042]

I really do like the style of the 641's, though. Nice and simple:

[detroitm2]

Agreed. I would wait to pass judgment until the temp drops and they are broken in.

Fwiw, I went with 265/35r19 all the way around on my car. I did not notice any loss in lateral grip. But I switched after the Temps were consistently below 50F

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by laszlof

Agreed. I would wait to pass judgment until the temp drops and they are broken in.

Fwiw, I went with 265/35r19 all the way around on my car. I did not notice any loss in lateral grip. But I switched after the Temps were consistently below 50F

Temps have been below 50F. Both trips around the fun curves were right about 40F ambient temp.

[Chasing Dreams]

Originally Posted by bri1042

Temps have been below 50F. Both trips around the fun curves were right about 40F ambient temp.

How many miles on them?

[jeff4598]

I'm thinking you are enjoying the tires slipping a bit at sane speeds- feels like the car on OEM tires at racetrack speed.Just don't push them too hard or you will be off road very quickly.

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by jeff4598

I'm thinking you are enjoying the tires slipping a bit at sane speeds- feels like the car on OEM tires at racetrack speed.Just don't push them too hard or you will be off road very quickly.

That was the main point of the post for others who get this set, though not all that well stated due to the early hour. It's fun, but a lack of experience and a dollop of excessive exuberance could certainly lead to an unfortunate experience with an arboreal barrier.

[bri1042]

One other note: The Michelin Alpin 4's, considering that they are not broken in yet and narrower than the stock tires, are surprisingly quiet and with a softer ride. The car is, overall, a more comfortable drive on these tires, in temps between 38F and about 43F than the PSS stock tires. I was expecting them to be louder than they are.

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by bri1042

I really do like the style of the 641's, though. Nice and simple:

Is there a chance the rears are massively over inflated? Your picture might just be from a strange angle, but that would certainly cause some of what you are experiencing.

Also, does BMW make those in black or did you get them powder coated? Wish they did that with the 640s - cause yours look great (and I don't feel like spending $500 on powder coating my winters).

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by doug_999

Is there a chance the rears are massively over inflated? Your picture might just be from a strange angle, but that would certainly cause some of what you are experiencing.

Also, does BMW make those in black or did you get them powder coated? Wish they did that with the 640s - cause yours look great (and I don't feel like spending $500 on powder coating my winters).

They are not over inflated. I set them and then checked them the next day. I've been watching the TPMS display on the regularly to make sure they don't have any leaks due to mounting errors (I had this happen once about 25 years and I've been paranoid about it ever since). Specifically, they're set at 36 all around, per the entry in the manual for these tires. Keep in mind that the tires are all the same size, but the rear wheels are half an inch wider than the fronts (19x8.5's vs 19x9's) so it's not going to be entirely square since the rears are stretched a bit further. The wheel sizes are stamped on the inside of the wheels, and I was careful to not mix them up since all four look basically the same.

They came in black. I probably wouldn't have picked black but I didn't have the part numbers for the silver versions of the 641's I've seen in some pics. As it turns out, I love them in black, so that worked out.

[RM7]

If I’m reading this right you put 235s on a car this heavy and powerful? I’d say the reason for loss of traction is obvious. You only go narrower for snow if you are dealing with a lot of fresh snow often (on top of a hard surface) and have a vehicle that can put some weight on those narrow tires. Your ground clearance will prevent that anyway. Wider is better.

[dgm3]

Originally Posted by bri1042

I'm having some fun with this but thought it was worth mentioning, especially for any folk who haven't spent a lot of time driving rear-wheel drive cars (I nearly consider myself in this category due to how long it's been since I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a RWD car...though it's all coming back to me pretty fast).

For my winter set, I went with BMW's recommendation and bought the 641 set with 235 Michelin Alpin's pre-mounted. I put them on the car last Wednesday. Putting the front wheels on took a bit of faith since they honestly didn't look like they were going to fit over the calipers. They did, though I'm slightly terrified of a tiny pebble getting stuck between the wheel and the caliper...there is very little space.

To the point:

Straight-line traction is just fine so far, but the difference in corners and on long curves is massive. Tripping the traction control on a corner is insanely easy, even at moderate throttle. Between my near-rural suburb and the larger suburb that has more stuff is a road with some very long curved sections of relatively new asphalt, one tighter and one wider. I've driven that route 4 times since Wednesday, twice in each direction and the car's desire to oversteer is much more pronounced. Overall, lateral grip is heavily compromised, more so than I was expecting.

A couple of caveats: The tires aren't broken in yet, and it's a bit too warm for the winter rubber. Overall traction at the temperatures I was driving in was better than the PSS's at the same temp in a straight line, but the PSS's were still doing better when I wasn't headed in a straight line. Braking is also noticeably better on the Alpin's at the moderate Pacific Northwest temps since Wednesday. I'm very interested to see if this balance changes as temps drop and I get more miles on these tires.

I'm also tempted to head straight to Discount Tire and have them put wider Alpin's on the back (and then save the current rear tires as spares for the front). I really don't want to spend more money on tires right now, though. I get what BMW was trying to do here...these tires would cut through snow better with this setup than with a staggered, wider-in-the-rear setup. Not sure where I'm going to go with this, but if the grip doesn't improve with time, I will have to do something as the margin for error on a curve feels dangerously small right now (though it is kinda fun).

Experienced the same when testing a demo car with the same winter wheels set up and temperature close to 15C (60 F°). But I was not expecting anything different ...You have 30 mm less rubber/1 inch narrower rim at the rear, softer rubber and heavily bladded design. That's the trade off to get good traction on the snow. If you have only occasionally snow and do not face start and stop conditions on hilly roads a wider rear set up is probably better.

[3tekcorps]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

If I’m reading this right you put 235s on a car this heavy and powerful? I’d say the reason for loss of traction is obvious. You only go narrower for snow if you are dealing with a lot of fresh snow often (on top of a hard surface) and have a vehicle that can put some weight on those narrow tires. Your ground clearance will prevent that anyway. Wider is better.

We have lots of rain here. Many mornings where temps are in the 30sF, but almost no snowy days. I'm in the same area as OP and debating on what to do for tires. I don't want to drive on the PSS at 35F, but can't see buying a set of snow tires for it either. The 2 snow days we get i'll just take the SUV anyway.

1st world problems.

[Transfer]

Michelin PA4s are awesome winter tires for the PNW with constantly cold/wet roads but little snow in lowlands. I've had multiple sets on several different cars. They are quiet, comfortable, good overall grip, great handling, and they lose traction in an incredibly soft and controllable manner. I've had 245s all around on an E90 M3, 225/255 on M235xi, and now 255/285 on my E92 M3. I am not in the narrower is better in winter camp at all and quite happy with my super wide setup at present. Especially on a high torque car like the M2, wider makes sense to me.

If you can make it work for you, I would increase section width in the rear if not all 4 tires. Since you already have 235/35 tires, increasing to 255 at least in rear is no big deal except for cost. Also, that wheelset is 8.5" front, 9" rear. I don't understand why BMW didn't spec the package with rear 255s. 235s are just way too narrow.

Overall car looks great with those wheels though!

[///M Houbi]

I remember my collection day with 641M and Michelin PA4. They where also over inflated...

...got a few scary moments!

Setting the correct pressure helped a lot, traction control no more intervening all the time.

Temperatures coming down 2 weeks later helped as well. But i'm sure handling, grip and precision is nowhere near compared to the summer set of rubber..

[nidfix]

Originally Posted by ///M Houbi

I remember my collection day with 641M and Michelin PA4. They where also over inflated...

...got a few scary moments!

Setting the correct pressure helped a lot, traction control no more intervening all the time.

Temperatures coming down 2 weeks later helped as well. But i'm sure handling, grip and precision is nowhere near compared to the summer set of rubber..

Which pressure did you set them to ?

[///M Houbi]

2.5bar (~36psi) is working well for me.

2.8 - 3.0 bar (40.5psi - 43psi) absolutely not OK!!! (Thats how i got the car)

[nidfix]

Originally Posted by ///M Houbi

2.5bar (~36psi) is working well for me.

2.8 - 3.0 bar (40.5psi - 43psi) absolutely not OK!!! (Thats how i got the car)

I am currently running 2.5 (front)/2.7 (back) and it seems to be already too much for the back: I don't need to set MDM mode in order to drift a bit

[///M Houbi]

Nope

go 2.5 all around if you‘re alone in the car. You will have much better traction!