[chhatre9]

I bought an 08 335xi coupe in December and I must say, the performace is just terrible in the snow. I'm using the OEM RFT Bridgestones (I know - probably the biggest issue), but why the hell would BMW put THIS SUCKY of a tire on a car that has to do reasonably well in the snow? It is terrible at braking, accelerating, and now I am stuck in a pile of snow in the parking lot. I just left it there and hope some will melt by the end of the day.

My wife's 7 year old C240 4matic with General tires does waay better than this car. Is it too powerful and brakes too forcefully? I am so unimpressed with this XI business that I wish I would have saved myself thousands of dollars and went with a regular "i" with winter and summer tires, which would have been waaay more fun too.

Just disgusted.

[stratplaya06]

This is exactly why BMW doesn't include the 18" wheels on the standard sport package. My car on the 17" all seasons, even with stage 3+ mods and coilovers still does better than our x5 does on summer tires. Tires really are EVERYTHING when it comes to snow.

Buy snow tires. You will notice a night and day difference.

[chhatre9]

Mine has the sport package with 18s. I think the sport for Xi is just wheels right? The steering wheel is not chunky and suspension is so-so. Oh, the paddle shifters too.

[stratplaya06]

There are two levels of the sport package, just listing the '08 now:

Level 1:
different wheels (in the case of the '08, style 188's, with 17" all seasons)
sport seats
steering wheel with paddles

Level 2:
All of level 1, but with style 189 18" wheels, with summer tires
Includes oil cooler, and 150mph speed limiter.
Costs another 1k (i believe) over the standard sport package

Do not try to drive in snow with the level 2 sport package, you will crash. I cannot stress enough the need to buy snow tires for your car, or at the very least, find a used set of all seasons to put on for the rest of the season.

[chhatre9]

I have the level 2 because I remember the raised speed limited. Since I bought it used I wonder if they put the summer or all seasons on. Regardless, this has me worried. I will check as soon as I get out there what I have on. I know they are bridgestone RFT.

[ajsalida]

You are (clearly) driving a car with summer tires on it in winter and in a major blizzard. I mean duh! And complaining about its handling? Try putting at least some all season tires on it or snows. No car or truck, AWD or not, will handle that kind of snow with the summer RFT's on it.

The car came with summer tires on it. I know I have one myself, level 2 sport package. It is your responibility to know what kind of tires are on your car before you go out driving in a blizzard.

[Zoot]

This is pretty much echoing what other posters have said, but snow tires make all the difference in the world. I drove through the big Chicago blizzard on Tuesday night and I was confidently carving through unplowed streets with my 328xi, passing other cars that were having great difficulty, or even stranded. I was so thrilled with my car's performance that I literally gave it a round of applause once I made it home safely into my garage.

I've got Blizzak LM-25 RFTs on my car and I can highly recommend them - great in the sloppy stuff, yet still very stable at higher speeds on those early morning expressway commutes.

[Babydragon]

Me too, drove Tuesday night through the Chicago blizzard out to the western burbs. No problem at all. I have a 07 328xi and it rips through the snow.

[chhatre9]

Yes, yes, I am an idiot. "Max summer performance" is the rating of these ridiculous RFT OEMs. I'm quite surprised, I guess, at how well it has done with summer tires then! Looking forward to next season. (Still wish I had the sport suspension)

[ajsalida]

I have the Conti DWS all season on stock 18" sport rims, stock sizes. Very pleased with how well they work, and I see snow like you did this week all winter long in CO. Would never recommend these for non-AWD but for xDrive cars they are a good compromise and a true all season tire.

edit: and since they are not RFT tires they feel 100% better than OEM summer RFT tires.

[Alchem]

You need to get rid of summer tires. They do not work under 40degrees. I have winter tires and the car performs amazing in snow. Love x Drive.

[powerbarsk8ter]

I have level I and my xdrive got me through the rush hour thunder snow a couple of weeks ago, but I did realize that xDrive is rear biased, you could tell when you made turns. I do need to upgrade to summer 18" when the weather warms up.

[chowser51]

my ancient xdrive works great in the snow with all-seasons, but it is SO much better now that i have dedicated snows. drop to 17s for snow tires and keep your summer 18"s.

[nemith]

Originally Posted by chhatre9

It is terrible at braking.

Doesn't matter if you car is FWD, RWD, or AWD. We all brake the same in the snow.

It's tires not the car.

[cb4]

Originally Posted by chhatre9

Yes, yes, I am an idiot.

1

[RobNH]

Originally Posted by chhatre9

I bought an 08 335xi coupe in December and I must say, the performace is just terrible in the snow. I'm using the OEM RFT Bridgestones (I know - probably the biggest issue), but why the hell would BMW put THIS SUCKY of a tire on a car that has to do reasonably well in the snow? It is terrible at braking, accelerating, and now I am stuck in a pile of snow in the parking lot. I just left it there and hope some will melt by the end of the day.

My wife's 7 year old C240 4matic with General tires does waay better than this car. Is it too powerful and brakes too forcefully? I am so unimpressed with this XI business that I wish I would have saved myself thousands of dollars and went with a regular "i" with winter and summer tires, which would have been waaay more fun too.

Just disgusted.

Glad I'm not the only one noticing this. I traded my 2004 330xi in for a 2008 335xi a few weeks ago and I have noticed a significant decrease in traction in the snow vs. my 330xi. I have attributed it to the shitty Bridgestone Tuaranzas that the car came with, but just don't have the money yet to go out and put better winter tires on it.

[woodpecka]

I came back from a snowstorm and my e91 XI was very good in snow. I put a set of Michelin XI2, one of the best snow tire, and it works fine.

[the_doctor]

When I bought my car, the salesperson STRESSED that I needed to get winter tires otherwise it'd be useless in the snow. The main reason was that the car came with summer performance tires as opposed to all seasons. I loved the analogy he made - since summers / all seasons harden in the cold, it'd be like trying to walk/run with wooden shoes vs. running shoes if you don't use winter tires when it's freezing out.

I would have gotten winter tires regardless, but that's just me and I do live in Canada ... haha

So now I run with a set of 17" Gislaved Nordfrost 5's - car handles well in the snow. It hasn't really snowed that much in Toronto, the biggest snowfall was just the over-hyped 15-centimetre "storm" (~ 6 inches) last week and 5-10 centimetres (~2 to 4 inches) here and there. Whether it's unploughed sidestreets or snow-covered highways, my traction control never really had to intercept.

I would say that the car performed as expected using winter tires.

[MassBimmer]

As many have said, the sports package comes with 18" summer performance tires. You should know what kind of tires you're getting when you purchase a vehicle. Put dedicated winters on or run all seasons year round and your xi will be great in snow.

[E92Corsky]

Originally Posted by nemith

Doesn't matter if you car is FWD, RWD, or AWD. We all brake the same in the snow.

It's tires not the car.

+1
AWD may even be slightly worse because of the added weight.

[Babydragon]

Originally Posted by E92Corsky

1
AWD may even be slightly worse because of the added weight.

No way, all wheel drive is worse. I have stock conti's on 16 inch wheels and my 07 xi is a tank. I drove through the worse blizzard I've seen in along time in Chicago and my xi drives just as good as my wifes x3 and my old explorer.

Xi in the snow= very reliable.

[othermarc]

Originally Posted by E92Corsky

+1
AWD may even be slightly worse because of the added weight.

ditto. Why does everyone forget that braking/turning is an important part of driving?