Driving an E46 in the winter/snow anyone?

[TouringMatt]

After a bit of advice for a mate who's looking to move from his Audi to an E46 320 (2005 ish) petrol. He likes the BMW but has a lot commited appointments he has to make, and is concerned about the RWD thing (only ever had FWD) for the two weeks of the year we have snow

I just said bang a set of winter tyres on, (as i would on an E30) but would appreciate input on this.

Cheers!

[Morat]

Our e46 was so hilariously bad in the snow we bought a jeep. staggered mtech alloys with summer tyres didn't help because snow tyres in those sizes would have cost nearly as much as the whole jeep.

No, it was crap...dsc on off or "really off" it made no real difference. 0 traction, some steering, 0 braking. Scary.

Then again, audis are no better on summer tyres. I pulled an A4 quattro out of our work car park last winter. It was sitting there spinning all four wheels.

[darkchild]

My old E46 318ci was utter sh!te last year but it did have very worn michelins on the front and no name ditchfinders on the rear. I expect winter tyres would've helped no end but it was practically immobile - I ended up using my E30.

In BMW Car magazine a couple of the staff ran E46s with winter tyres and were full of praise for them.

[Morat]

Any idea what sizes they ran?

[darkchild]

Any idea what sizes they ran?

One had a 330i so needed 17s to clear the brakes. I think the other was a 325i on 16s.

[Morat]

yeah ours is a 330... thanks. Tbh, I'd be more likely to run the e30 in snow.it has better feel and smaller wheels.

[TouringMatt]

Interesting info! Whats the 320 petrol like in general, good engines?

[nickso]

The 320i will be the valvechronic 4 pot engine won't it? Not fabulous engines I hear but others will know more about them.

My E36 has just got new 205/50/15 winter tyres and I'm expecting greatness, pissed off the snow isn't here yet actually.

Last winter I had an Audi A4 Quattro with 225/17 summer ditchfinders on 3mm all round and it cruised through the snow with no trouble at all. Shame the rest of it was a bit shite.

[Simon13]

e46's are not great in the snow, an e30 is better imo. As is an e36

[suchy]

It's usually the level of incompetance in a driver that is the main cause of trouble in snow driving. But yes lovely low profile wide summer tyres just add to their grief ...

[bss325i]

I had no problems last year in my old 328Ci with 255/35R18 budgets.

I struggled a bit with a 118d Auto M sport on 18's i had for a week in the snow but still got about.

[darkchild]

The 320i will be the valvechronic 4 pot engine won't it? Not fabulous engines I hear but others will know more about them.

E46 320i's have a 6 cylinder 2.2 M54. E90 320i's have the shagtronic donk.

[harry_p]

Winter tyres seem to make a massive difference on them. E30s aren't too bad because they're quite light with fairly skinny tyres.

Heavier, newer bmws really seem to struggle, especially with a lot of summer tyres like continental sport contacts having tread in straight bands around the tyre rather than directional stuff I.e toyo t1r and the old Goodyear eagle f1 with deep Vs accross the tyre which seem to get a lot more traction on snow.

[Morat]

But Barry, you live in the balmy tropical south where cars don't rust and snow falls for 20 minutes while you skip back from midnight mass past the carol singers and the robin sitting on a spade handle to open your shiny presents. Up here, it falls from October to March and drifts 20ft deep. Also, northern snow is black due to all the soot in the air ;)

[Morat]

Jeep Weather! Notice the complete lack of snow plough action Neither of those cars moved for about six weeks. Check out the wing mirror on the E30!

[suchy]

Jeep Weather! Notice the complete lack of snow plough action Neither of those cars moved for about six weeks. Check out the wing mirror on the E30!

Wow that's a rare shot- sunshine up north!! I see you're quite handy at P.shopping as the snow is lovely and white

[Morat]

Wow that's a rare shot- sunshine up north!! I see you're quite handy at P.shopping as the snow is lovely and white

yep, actually I was taking a photo of the sunshine. Normally it's dark for six months in a row and yes, I had to photoshop the snow or you wouldn't be able to see anything ;)

[kieran325]

I couldn't use my E46 for the last 2 winters, I live at a bottom of small close with an incline and I couldn't get it up



The E30 Touring on the other hand made it, not gracefully but it was acceptable and the fun began terrorising the neighbourhood with my childish antics.

[suchy]

Wow that's a rare shot- sunshine up north!! I see you're quite handy at P.shopping as the snow is lovely and white

yep, actually I was taking a photo of the sunshine. Normally it's dark for six months in a row and yes, I had to photoshop the snow or you wouldn't be able to see anything ;)

Dark for 6months and then raining for the other 6

Glad you 'shopped the snow or it would have just looked like slag and we'd all have presumed you were Welsh

[Morat]

Now there's no need for insults

[Maxus]

I bought a 2nd hand set of 17" wheels and bought winter tyres last year for my E46 330 convertible. The car was used every day through the snow no problem at all. The car would have been unusable without them.

[Morat]

Well, looky HERE