[wbmorey]

Picking up a 2014 335i (MT, RWD) this Tuesday. I live in NJ and I believe the car came from california, so it has summer performance tires on it (bridgestone run-flats). The dealer (who drives an older M3) tells me that as long as I don't drive in the snow, the summer times will be OK in the winter. While I can avoid driving in the snow (I live at the beach, it does not snow as much here as the mainland), I will be driving this car in sub-40 degree temperatures for probably 5 months straight.

Can people please opine on whether or not summer performance tires are a good idea during those months or should I switch them out for all season or winter/snow tires?

I have been driving an F-150 for 8 years, so I am buying the car to drive and do want the performance all year.

Thanks! I am pumped to be joining the family and these forums have been a great resource so far!

[n55x3]

I have a RWD 335i (DHP, Auto) with same summer Bridgestones as you do and I'd say your dealer is a moron. You don't want to run summer rubber in the winter. You can certainly do it, but not daily IMHO. I have ran my Bridgestones in winter temps and it's very hard to maintain traction when the temps get below 30 degrees. I live in Ohio where we do see occasional snow days and having the best performance I could get was very important to me.

Since I'm not having snow packed roads for days on end a dedicated snow tire made absolutely no sense. I decided on the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, an ultra high performance all season tire. They are nothing short of amazing for my climate. It's hard to tell them apart from my summer rubber honestly. They allow me to get by on the snowy days with relative safety (compared to summer rubber) and for the majority of days where we are dry but really cold, like 20* and below these tires are awesome. If I had a to pick a single tire to run on my 335i year around it would have to be these. Luckily I am able to switch back and forth between these and the summer rubber so it doesn't matter much and I can get the best of both worlds. But come December I'm definitely not crying about putting my all seasons on.

Also, the other semi performance all season is the Conti DWS. I had them as well on my previous car and they are amazing in the snow. Best all season I've had on snow covered roads. BUT, they are not even close to being a performance tire. They are very soft, turn in is really really bad. Almost like riding on a marshmallow. I never realized how bad it was with them until I got the Pilot A/S 3s and saw how they performed.

[wbmorey]

Thanks very much! This was a big help.