Best Tires for the BMW E46 325ti

Fitted for the last two winters so I can at least get up my 30° drive in snow. If you fit these you must run them at proper snow tire pressures (generally higher than summer tire pressures). For the first winter I had them at normal pressures, and while generally OK and very good on snow and ice, the traction light came on every time you put my foot down. In the second winter with them at the proper pressures they were transformed, still very good on snow and ice but now like a soft compound track tire on wet or dry tarmac, you can throw the car round corners like it is on rails (aloughing for the extra squirm you get from a winter tire). They have now done 8000 miles and the rears will probally last another winter (although I will change them if we get heavy snow again) and the fronts a least another couple of winters. Running them at the correct pressure to begin with would probally have made them last longer. The only reason I would not buy these again is that I understand some other winter tires are even better.

I have used these on my current car and my previous Alfa Romeo 145QV. I tend to drive on the limit of grip and also enter sprints/hill climbs. Most sprint/hillclimb regulations are list 1A tires only (normal treaded road tires) and only some allow you to use list 1B (things like R888s) so I tend to stick to list 1A tires and most people in the paddocks appear to use T1-Rs or A539s. So I have done about 70,000 miles on these and I rate these much higher than most normal road tires. Good progression wet or dry, good dry grip (not the best but a good wear rate) resonable wet grip but I find progression more important in the wet, and a very good wear rate (as long as you don't scrub the shoulders off). On my E46 325ti rears last about 20,000 miles (including 2 trackdays and about 20 sprint starts) and the fronts still have about 3mm at 35,000 miles, although they will be changed soon as the outside shoulders are going. Rubbish in snow, use proper winter tires.