[dskurth]

Hey all, give me some thoughts.
Ordering a 2019 X3 M40I. Got all the features completely decided...except tires.

I like good handling tires that minimize groove weave, handle the road well, but since I am in a lot of different places (Los Angeles) where I also drive on dirt roads and sometimes water...up in the mountains, but mostly on the highways, were grooving on the highways is a big deal.

Should I order the 19" or the 20"? The 20" have two different sizes on the front vs the back.

If 19", All Season or Performance?

Gotten so many opinions from non-bmw folks, I am confused.

[BeeMdblU]

Go for 20 performance, my opinion based on looks and stance only, not off-roading ability

[kryptik.m5]

This is all personal preference. If you do plan to go "off-roading" to some degree, the 19" is your best option. If the dirt you speak of is like any other dirt road, the 20" should be fine as long as you're not running over large enough rocks (sharp or otherwise) which can cause your tire to blow under pressure if you run it over just right. Low profile tires only have so much give inwards before there's no more space for pressure to spread. At which point all that pressure will simply force it's way out by way of a loud pop of the tire.

With that said in general, regardless as to whether you go 19 or 20, in response to your tire question, "summer" performance vs all season (I stress "summer" as there's also such a thing as high performance all season tires which I believe is the distinction you're attempting to discuss) is dependent on how you wish to drive as much as the quality of tires you purchase. You can buy solid summer performance tires that has the potential of out performing cheap all season tires any day of the week in wet and dry even if the summer performance tire was geared more towards dry as it all depends on tread patterns (specifically how the water evac channels) and sipes. Otherwise, if you really just mean "performance" tires vs all season with no distinction of "summer" then just go with ultra high performance all season tires which in general will cover you on a happy medium front (not the best of each world, but the better of both worlds blended). In terms of grip into a turn, what you'll want to look for is the amount of contact patch that exists on the edge of the tires. The more contact patch there is, the more contact the tire has with the pavement, the more grip it'll have. If it has tons of tread patterns on the sides, then it has less rubber contact with the road thereby has less grip with the road. At the same token, softer compound tends to be "stickier" therefor grippier than hard compound rubber.

I know that was long winded, but I figured best to give you a more exact response than a generic go with blah type of tires as it isn't as black and white as your initial question poses.

[dskurth]

Originally Posted by kryptik.m5

This is all personal preference. If you do plan to go "off-roading" to some degree, the 19" is your best option. If the dirt you speak of is like any other dirt road, the 20" should be fine as long as you're not running over large enough rocks (sharp or otherwise) which can cause your tire to blow under pressure if you run it over just right. Low profile tires only have so much give inwards before there's no more space for pressure to spread. At which point all that pressure will simply force it's way out by way of a loud pop of the tire.

With that said in general, regardless as to whether you go 19 or 20, in response to your tire question, "summer" performance vs all season (I stress "summer" as there's also such a thing as high performance all season tires which I believe is the distinction you're attempting to discuss) is dependent on how you wish to drive as much as the quality of tires you purchase. You can buy solid summer performance tires that has the potential of out performing cheap all season tires any day of the week in wet and dry even if the summer performance tire was geared more towards dry as it all depends on tread patterns (specifically how the water evac channels) and sipes. Otherwise, if you really just mean "performance" tires vs all season with no distinction of "summer" then just go with ultra high performance all season tires which in general will cover you on a happy medium front (not the best of each world, but the better of both worlds blended). In terms of grip into a turn, what you'll want to look for is the amount of contact patch that exists on the edge of the tires. The more contact patch there is, the more contact the tire has with the pavement, the more grip it'll have. If it has tons of tread patterns on the sides, then it has less rubber contact with the road thereby has less grip with the road. At the same token, softer compound tends to be "stickier" therefor grippier than hard compound rubber.

I know that was long winded, but I figured best to give you a more exact response than a generic go with blah type of tires as it isn't as black and white as your initial question poses.

This is AWESOME! Thank you Thank you! Wow. :
You, without knowing it, read my mind. So many blogs we’re so confusing and contradictory with grip, no grip!

I am leaning toward getting the 20 “ on my car order as most of the time i am on a freeway. My only challenge is the dam grooves made for channeling rain water ( that rarely happens in southern California). during the dry and frequently hot weather , the groove wander is annoying.. often nerve racking.

So if i read you corrrxrly, the wider tire will help with this and cornering when using the performance tires. I may take a dirt road now and then but classic off roading, no.

Will sleep on it and see what i feel in the morning before ordering.

Thank you so much.

[kryptik.m5]

If you go with the 20" I would suggest going with their staggered setup (they have 2 tire setups for the 20" I believe. One where all 4 wheels/tires are the same size and another is staggered where the rears are wider than the fronts. I ordered the staggered for myself of course). From there, the only tire I would ever put on is the Mich PS4S which I believe is available in the same size as the OEM tires.

I only use PS4S on both my track f82 and track f10 m5. These tires grip hard and are absolutely predictable. You know when the tire's are just about to break loose on you. Even better is that they handle wet and cold road conditions brilliantly for "summer" tires. I'm also in S. Cali so my driving conditions are comparable to yours.

The purpose for the wider rears is grip during launch. The rear tires are less inclined to spin out if there's more tire width in contact with the pavement. Even though all 4 wheels move with the x-drive, it splits power to the front vs rear in varying form based on road/driving conditions. In my previous 3 x-drives generally most if not all the power would be sent to the rear so having fatter rear tires makes a ton more sense the way I drive. For cornering it's less about width of the tire and more about the contact patch area on the outer edges of the tire if I'm not mistaken. Goto Tirerack and look at the outer edges of the PS4S. Then look at some of the other tires. You'll notice on the outer edge tread pattern there's more rubber and less tread patterning. Other all season tires have tread patterning close to each other such that there's less overall contact patch per section. With a larger amounts of rubber in contact with the pavement at any given time at the edges, it = more grip. When your cornering, your using more edge of the tire than center since the vehicle is leaning into a turn generally.

Only caveat with the PS4S suggestion is I've never driven them on dirt so I can't add value to your question regarding dirt/off-road driving.

[Sea-Tac]

Smaller tires will give you better performance in the driving situations you mentioned. Stay with the 19s.

[dskurth]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

Smaller tires will give you better performance in the driving situations you mentioned. Stay with the 19s.

That is what everyone says...and yet I had those tires. Groove Weave was awful with them. I have read on blogs from tire companies, that wider is better. I have read on other blogs that narrow is better.
Then there are those that say it depends on the suspension which tire..making this more confusing.

Thus the debate about getting a wider tire.

[kryptik.m5]

Originally Posted by dskurth

That is what everyone says...and yet I had those tires. Groove Weave was awful with them. I have read on blogs from tire companies, that wider is better. I have read on other blogs that narrow is better.
Then there are those that say it depends on the suspension which tire..making this more confusing.

Thus the debate about getting a wider tire.

Part of the complexity with the specific desire to minimize or eliminate groove weaving is it does depends on the suspension, tire, tread pattern, rubber compound (soft = grippy; hard = less grippy) and less about the width of the tire. It's why you're receiving such inconsistent answers to your specific question. There's simply too many variables. If people are simply saying narrow does X and wide does Y it's not useful information unless they state specifically with this make/model tire of this exact size.

Beyond the tires, if you're experiencing major groove weaving, you should probably consider having your alignment checked out as alignment issues.

These are all possible reasonings and there are dozens more. There's unfortunately no right or wrong answer to your question and the variables certainly don't help. You could very well get wider tires and experience the groove weaves more. Or, you could also possibly experience it less. You won't know until you drive it around and see with that given make/model/size tire.

[dskurth]

Originally Posted by kryptik.m5

Part of the complexity with the specific desire to minimize or eliminate groove weaving is it does depends on the suspension, tire, tread pattern, rubber compound (soft = grippy; hard = less grippy) and less about the width of the tire. It's why you're receiving such inconsistent answers to your specific question. There's simply too many variables. If people are simply saying narrow does X and wide does Y it's not useful information unless they state specifically with this make/model tire of this exact size.

Beyond the tires, if you're experiencing major groove weaving, you should probably consider having your alignment checked out as alignment issues.

These are all possible reasonings and there are dozens more. There's unfortunately no right or wrong answer to your question and the variables certainly don't help. You could very well get wider tires and experience the groove weaves more. Or, you could also possibly experience it less. You won't know until you drive it around and see with that given make/model/size tire.

Thank you again. You are probably right.

So for a new 2019 X3 M40I, what would you advise, given the parameters. The 19" 250/45 R19 Performance or the staggered 20" 245/45 R 20 with 275/45 R 20, in back, performance?

[dskurth]

Originally Posted by kryptik.m5

Part of the complexity with the specific desire to minimize or eliminate groove weaving is it does depends on the suspension, tire, tread pattern, rubber compound (soft = grippy; hard = less grippy) and less about the width of the tire. It's why you're receiving such inconsistent answers to your specific question. There's simply too many variables. If people are simply saying narrow does X and wide does Y it's not useful information unless they state specifically with this make/model tire of this exact size.

Beyond the tires, if you're experiencing major groove weaving, you should probably consider having your alignment checked out as alignment issues.

These are all possible reasonings and there are dozens more. There's unfortunately no right or wrong answer to your question and the variables certainly don't help. You could very well get wider tires and experience the groove weaves more. Or, you could also possibly experience it less. You won't know until you drive it around and see with that given make/model/size tire.

Decision made...19" performance. Since technically the 19" is 5mm wider, will have the same tires on all wheels for rotation purposes and save the $950 extra..especially since in the discussion, there really is not that big of a difference. I do, although rarely, go on dirt roads and that possibility of having higher pressure, sorta swayed me.

The 20" are very cool looking, but in the big scheme of things, the car does not need much more.

Thanks kryptik.m5 for you outstanding help!

[kryptik.m5]

Anytime! Just glad you got it all sorted.

There's only upsides about your 19" choice and it's the best overall choice in general based on your description as Sea-Tac rightfully pointed out. All it takes is the right tire to match up with your driving style and road conditions and you're all squared away.

BTW, for the 19" tire size you mentioned, are you sure that's correct? I thought the stock tire size for the 19" is 245/50 but I may be wrong.

[dskurth]

Originally Posted by kryptik.m5

Anytime! Just glad you got it all sorted.


BTW, for the 19" tire size you mentioned, are you sure that's correct? I thought the stock tire size for the 19" is 245/50 but I may be wrong.

19" are the 245/50. My mistake. Been looking at WAY too many numbers.