Winter Tires - CAUTION: DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE

[stormsaw]

Hi Folks,
Had an interesting event yesterday. I ordered the Nokia snow tires from TiresByWeb (strongly recommend) for my wife's i3 Rex Giga. She doesn't like the aftermarket wheel options nor does she like the base wheels that BMW offers as part of their snow package, so I elected to have the Nokia's mounted on her existing wheels. For the Rex, the normal set-up has 155's in the front and 175's in the rear. The winter set-up calls for 155's on all four wheels. Note #1: you don't need a complete wheel set that is specific to 155's; the 155's will mount just fine on the rear wheels. Note #2: THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE... THE REAR WHEELS HAVE A DIFFERENT OFFSET THAN THE FRONT WHEELS. I took my tires to Mr. Tire to have them switched out. Mr. Tire inadvertently remounted the rear wheels on the front, and the front wheels on the rear. When I picked up the car and drove off, the winter tires seemed to be markedly noisier than the summer tires. I was surprised at the difference, but chalked if off to the tread difference. That was a mistake. In fact, the front tires were rubbing against the coil springs, due to the now-incorrect wheel offset.

Result: Smoking front tires, stuck on the side of a busy freeway in the dark while waiting for AAA.

Epilogue: In the dark I didn't know what had happened. Had it towed to Rockville BMW (Maryland). The next morning their service was great, and their charges were reasonable. They wrote something up for me to use at Mr. Tire. Mr. Tire agreed to reimburse for both of the shot tires as well as the bill from Rockville BMW.

 

[SSi3]

 

[stormsaw]

LOL! Thank you. You cheered me up.

 

[rsplodge]

That's crazy!

However, I just wanted to confirm then that it is possible to mount the winter tires on both the front 5" and the back 5.5" rims?, as I've read some conflicting things about that.

I presume that is true for either the Nokians or the Blizzaks (?).

Did you bother with TPMS?

Thanks, ..Roger

 

[jadnashuanh]

That's crazy!

However, I just wanted to confirm then that it is possible to mount the winter tires on both the front 5" and the back 5.5" rims?, as I've read some conflicting things about that.

I presume that is true for either the Nokians or the Blizzaks (?).

Did you bother with TPMS?

Thanks, ..Roger

My car (a BEV) came with the staggered 19" rims and tires. THe BMW OEM winter tire set uses 5" for both the front and back (the tires are directional...make sure you get 2 of each, mine were mounted all for the right side!). Generally, a narrower tire works better in snow. IOW, narrower works in the rear, wider does not work in the front!

Depending on where you live, not having functional TPMS could mean failing an inspection. If they aren't there, the car will put up annoying warnings once it detects they aren't responding. Having that warning message/light up when you drive in to get the car inspected may cause it to fail.

 

[rsplodge]

That's crazy!

However, I just wanted to confirm then that it is possible to mount the winter tires on both the front 5" and the back 5.5" rims?, as I've read some conflicting things about that.

I presume that is true for either the Nokians or the Blizzaks (?).

Did you bother with TPMS?

Thanks, ..Roger

My car (a BEV) came with the staggered 19" rims and tires. THe BMW OEM winter tire set uses 5" for both the front and back (the tires are directional...make sure you get 2 of each, mine were mounted all for the right side!). Generally, a narrower tire works better in snow. IOW, narrower works in the rear, wider does not work in the front!

Depending on where you live, not having functional TPMS could mean failing an inspection. If they aren't there, the car will put up annoying warnings once it detects they aren't responding. Having that warning message/light up when you drive in to get the car inspected may cause it to fail.

Thanks, but that's not my question. My question is if you can stick with the staggered rims (5" and 5.5") and mount the one size 155/70 R19s winters on both those size rims. The first post seemed to indicate that is what he did. Someone in the FB group also mentioned having done that.

Yup we're fine in Ottawa, Canada without TPMS in terms of inspection, or at least it's never been an issue for me. We've done it on other cars. The only inspection we have is a drive-clean test every 2 years or a safety inspection upon purchase. Yes the light can be annoying.

...Roger

 

[jadnashuanh]

The reason the tires differ on the i3 with staggered wheels is to keep the OD the same. Putting the narrower tire on the wider wheel should be within the tire's capabilities, but it will make the OD smaller, affecting the odo putting on more miles than actually covered, and making the speedo show even higher speeds than actual.

Don't Canadian vehicles get the pressure check via tire rotation verses TPMS? If so, it probably won't be issuing any errors verses those markets where they use an in-wheel TPMS module.

 

[rsplodge]

The reason the tires differ on the i3 with staggered wheels is to keep the OD the same. Putting the narrower tire on the wider wheel should be within the tire's capabilities, but it will make the OD smaller, affecting the odo putting on more miles than actually covered, and making the speedo show even higher speeds than actual.

Don't Canadian vehicles get the pressure check via tire rotation verses TPMS? If so, it probably won't be issuing any errors verses those markets where they use an in-wheel TPMS module.

I assume the i3 here uses the TPMS sensors like many other newer cars in Canada. I know there are some cars that do it based on other means like in my Mini Cooper a Clubman but most use TPMS I thought.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The reason the tires differ on the i3 with staggered wheels is to keep the OD the same. Putting the narrower tire on the wider wheel should be within the tire's capabilities, but it will make the OD smaller, affecting the odo putting on more miles than actually covered, and making the speedo show even higher speeds than actual.

Don't Canadian vehicles get the pressure check via tire rotation verses TPMS? If so, it probably won't be issuing any errors verses those markets where they use an in-wheel TPMS module.

I assume the i3 here uses the TPMS sensors like many other newer cars in Canada. I know there are some cars that do it based on other means like in my Mini Cooper a Clubman but most use TPMS I thought.

It's easy to check...if your stems are metal...you have TPMS, if they are rubber, you do not.

 

[stormsaw]

Hi Roger,
Yes, you are correct. I mounted the 155 Nokia's on all four wheels (155's in the front wheel, 175's in the rear wheel). I have now replaced the two Nokia's that were trashed when Mr. Tire put the rear wheels on the front and the front wheels on the rear. They work just fine (I have 100 miles on them since yesterday).

Had another experience that illustrates how different the i3 setup is compared to anything else that a tire shop routinely experiences. They filled all four tires to 33 psi, following the door label which specified 33psi for the 155's and 41psi for the 175's. In this instance the tire width doesn't matter; the spec is for 41psi in the rear, regardless of tire size. Of course the tpms flagged 'low pressure' but the system has a long time constant... it didn't indicate low pressure until a good 3 or 4 miles down the road. Easy fix of course.

For all the hassle I experienced with a franchise tire outfit, I think I will go to bmw for the tire swap in the future. The extra few bucks are worth the hassle savings. The extra bucks are also a factor to consider when you are pondering whether or not to purchase a complete winter wheel set. In our case my wife simply doesn't care for any of the wheel options that are presently offered - either the bmw wheel package or the Tire Rack aftermarket option. 'tis her car, so there you go. Hopefully other aftermarket options will show up next year.

Side note: I swear the regenerative braking felt differently when the rear tires were at 33psi. It seemed to be noticeably weaker.

-Syd

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, with the different rolling diameters because of the same tire on different width wheels, and the incorrect pressure, the car may have felt the car was slipping slightly, and reduced the regen to compensate. All speculation. The winter tires DO feel different than the standard tires to drive, and that may contribute to the sensation. Different rolling resistance as well.

 

[SSi3]

The reason the tires differ on the i3 with staggered wheels is to keep the OD the same. Putting the narrower tire on the wider wheel should be within the tire's capabilities, but it will make the OD smaller, affecting the odo putting on more miles than actually covered, and making the speedo show even higher speeds than actual.

Don't Canadian vehicles get the pressure check via tire rotation verses TPMS? If so, it probably won't be issuing any errors verses those markets where they use an in-wheel TPMS module.

I assume the i3 here uses the TPMS sensors like many other newer cars in Canada. I know there are some cars that do it based on other means like in my Mini Cooper a Clubman but most use TPMS I thought.

Canadian i3's do not have sensors in the wheels, they just use the abs wheel speed sensors. In BMW-speak (see owners manual) Canadian cars have FTM (flat tire monitor) and US cars have TPM (tire pressure monitor).

 

[Apial]

Hi everyone. When I Google minimum tyre widths for 5.5J wheel rims the websites I find they say that 165 width is the minimum. This would indicate that fitting 155 tyres on to the rear 5.5J wheels is inadvisable and probably unstable, not to mention that it would invalidate your insurance too.

The BMW winter wheel package is for all 5J wheels with 155 width tyres. I presume that the wheels front and rear all have the same off set? If this is so, then you need to buy at least an additional pair of 5J wheels to fit on the back of the i3 to fit your Nokian 155 tyres, and that for the fronts you only need to swap the summer's for the winter tyres.

 

[Pac]

Hello,
We have a Rex Giga and also had the Bridgestone winter tires mounted by a tire store. We contacted the BMW dealer and they told us to install the 155s on the front and back. I did not ask about the tire pressure, but when I checked a few minutes ago, all tires had the same pressure (approx. 35psi). Is everyone using 41psi on the rear 155 winter tires? According to the manual, that should be the case, but I just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything.
Thank you

 

[Apial]

Hello,
We have a Rex Giga and also had the Bridgestone winter tires mounted by a tire store. We contacted the BMW dealer and they told us to install the 155s on the front and back. I did not ask about the tire pressure, but when I checked a few minutes ago, all tires had the same pressure (approx. 35psi). Is everyone using 41psi on the rear 155 winter tires? According to the manual, that should be the case, but I just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything.
Thank you

Hi, yes I am using 41psi on the rear tyre. Just don't mount the 155 on the original alloy wheel if it was a 175 because its the wrong fit. It could come of the rim.

 

[Pac]

Thanks for responding. Could you please let me know your source? I have read and heard that despite having the 175 on the rear as original equipment, you are still able to install the 155 winter tires on both front and rear. I asked my dealer and they said the same thing.
Thanks again!

 

[jadnashuanh]

My i3 came with the staggered wheels, and the 155 winter set works fine, and are the only ones available. There are only two winter tires in the proper size available for the i3 (there's a third one, also by Bridgestone, but they don't import it to the USA) - the Bridgestone and the Nokian. They all require the 5", 19" rims to work right.

 

[Pac]

Thank you jadnashuanh,
Did you get new 5" wheels for installing the rear winter tires? My dealer told me it was not necessary to do so. I am using in the rear my winter tires mounted in the same wheels in which the 175 tires came.
I am a bit confused now. The OP seems to have done the same.
Thanks

 

[jadnashuanh]

I bought the OEM winter tire set, which comes with wheels and TPMS, all 5" rims and 19" tires. Mounting the 155mm tire on a 5.5" rim will make the overall rolling diameter smaller, which may be enough for the stability control to think that the rears are slipping, and adjust the regen intensity. Those tires are designed for a 5" rim, and a wider one may work, but it is not ideal. It will change the tire's footprint on the ground and likely wear differently than if on a 5" rim. It may also affect the odometer and speedometer slightly.

 

[Lilpig]

Hey guys,

For those who (like me) who learns of offset for the first time, this page explains it well. I was able to keep the entire post in perspective

http://www.wheelprospowersports.com/page/offset-explained/9

OP, Thank you for helping other i3 owners out.