[mibmwx3]

Haven't had snow tires in years, but considering them for my X3. For those of you in Michigan or in locations with similar climate, when are you planning on changing your tires? Early December?

[Itchywasabi]

When it starts snowing?

[Le Chef]

The answer is NOT when it begins snowing!

If you have summer tires on then the answer is when temperatures go below 45F (+7C) and look like staying there. Typically(!) that is somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd week in November, but can be earlier.

[Want the thrill]

November (middle to end of).

[drmd]

I was told in stock all season tires are good enough for moderate snow. I will see when I drive in snow.

[Want the thrill]

Originally Posted by drmd

I was told in stock all season tires are good enough for moderate snow. I will see when I drive in snow.

Guess it depends on how much snow you get! Here in K-zoo we get a ton of lake effect snow so we get anywhere from 75" to 120"+ of snow not to mention ice.

[Lotus7]

In Northern IL, I can usually wait until the end of November, or until we have the first deep snowfall. Our X3 was delivered in early February so I drove it twice on lightly snow covered roads (1 to 2 inches max., and temps. of low 30's F.) The OEM Pirelli P7 All-Seasons were surprisingly good in those conditions and I had no loss of traction during braking or turning. Of course, they were brand new then.

However, the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D's are stacked in the garage, and as soon as the prediction is for more than 1 inch, they will be swapped for the P7s.

See: Changing Wheels and Tires on a X3 if you're planning on changing tires yourself.

[XB101]

Lotus, do you know if there is a break in period for winter tires? eg. A few hundred km for the tires to start to be effective in snow? I thought I had read something about that.

[Lotus7]

Originally Posted by XB101

Lotus, do you know if there is a break in period for winter tires? eg. A few hundred km for the tires to start to be effective in snow? I thought I had read something about that.

Don't believe it's an issue. Like any tires it's always a good idea to take it easy for the first hundred km to let the tread scuff-in. Virtually all new generation winter tires use semi-porous, soft tread rubber to help them on wet and ice covered surfaces. The closed, outer surface should wear in in a few miles and then they should have optimum [ice] traction. In deeper snow, the added traction comes from the open, siped tread patterns and the soft, flexible rubber compound, so surface wear-in is not a factor.

Some manufacturers recommend you limit speeds to under 100kph for the first 100 km or so to allow the mold release compound to wear off, but I find it hard to believe that there would be any release compound left on the tread surface after driving a few km on most abrasive road surfaces.