Advice on snow tires from a serious snow country (archive)

First of all: using only 2 snow tires is not a good idea. The e32 is so heavy that you DO need good winter tires on the front wheels as well or you'll end up in a ditch somewhere.

Living in a country with very long, hars winter I've tried a zillion different snow tires and there is a lot of difference.

I use on my 750i Nokia Hakkapeliitta 1 205/65/15. The "Hakka" 1 is the type of Nokia currently being imported to the US. It can be used with or without studs; since I live in the counryside the studs help a lot but was I still living in a big city by the sea where snow is melted with salt and roads ploughed on a very steady basis, I'd go for studdless.

They have come up with Hakka 2 and Hakka Q (studdless) that are currently being sold only in Scandinavia and they have dominated all the tests just like Hakka 1 before them.

A former model was Nokia NRH; many cheap "remanufactured" tires use that pattern and Nokia rubber compound. Not that bad either, been using them on our 2nd cars like my wife's little 316 but I would never use remanufactured tires on a car as heavy (not to mention fast) as the e32.

Go for the Hakka1, I'd say. Perhaps a wider kind than the 205 would be good for extra traction but even those are remarkably good. If your laws allow it then get them with studs.

E32 is darn heavy that one can't really drive it immensily fast on slippery conditions, but as a plus side the weight and length of the car allow long, steady slides and overall stability.

The ASC+T is a truly marvellous invention; combined with LSD it is nearly impossible to get stuck or to lose control totally.

Henkka
Summer is gone and pretty soon we'll be in for them snow storms...

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