[Valentine_07]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum; I found myself in a bit of a pickle and would like some advice from those who are more familiar with this topic. Long story short, I own a 2018 M5 and went to Costco to purchase a set of winter tires after my previous set (Pirellis) formed 3 bulges in the side wall after just 1 winter and needed to be thrown out. I bought the Michelin Alpin PA4 (only other winter tire available aside from the Pirellis). The issue is the car ended up with a set of Michelin asymetrical tires for the front and directional for the back; this was a total mess; after multiple orders Michelin just couldn't get it right; Costco claimed they discontinued the back asymetrical tires and that's why they kept shipping directional ones to them. So now I have 275/35ZR20 (front) asymetrical and 285/35ZR20(back) directional staggered configuration. Costco gave me a partial refund after all this mess and let me keep the tires. The parts manager at my local BMW dealership said it's ok to drive the car like this but Costco believes it may damage the all wheel drive system and also lead to improper wear and tear. What do you guys think ? Is it really a serious problem? Any advice is appreciated ! Keep in mind it's been very hard to find winter tires for my car; lots of local shops don't even carry any.

[micvite]

Originally Posted by Valentine_07

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum; I found myself in a bit of a pickle and would like some advice from those who are more familiar with this topic. Long story short, I own a 2018 M5 and went to Costco to purchase a set of winter tires after my previous set (Pirellis) formed 3 bulges in the side wall after just 1 winter and needed to be thrown out. I bought the Michelin Alpin PA4 (only other winter tire available aside from the Pirellis). The issue is the car ended up with a set of Michelin asymetrical tires for the front and directional for the back; this was a total mess; after multiple orders Michelin just couldn't get it right; Costco claimed they discontinued the back asymetrical tires and that's why they kept shipping directional ones to them. So now I have 275/35ZR20 (front) asymetrical and 285/35ZR20(back) directional staggered configuration. Costco gave me a partial refund after all this mess and let me keep the tires. The parts manager at my local BMW dealership said it's ok to drive the car like this but Costco believes it may damage the all wheel drive system and also lead to improper wear and tear. What do you guys think ? Is it really a serious problem? Any advice is appreciated ! Keep in mind it's been very hard to find winter tires for my car; lots of local shops don't even carry any.

No, it's absolutely fine. First of all the m xdrive isn't a full time awd, it only engages the fronts as needed. Secondly, if anything was going to mess with the awd it would've been the extra diameter of the rear tires vs the fronts (in stock config) but since it's not a permanent system avain you're fine. Just make sure one tire doesn't wear significantly more than the others (which according to bmw engages the xdrive full time) there's a tsb out there and it only mentions mismatched sizes, so other than that I wouldn't worry about it. Funny enough, on audis they literally don't care about the wear level of tires on some cars and that's a permanent system so... I wouldn't stress about it.

[Valentine_07]

Great thank you very much for the response ! So in conclusion there should be no issue, just have to monitor the wear and tear. How about grip and hydroplaning? Will that be affected ? So far it seems to do pretty well in snow.

[damianwo]

Same here with Pirellis, a bubble on side wall on each of the two tires. I would not buy again.

[GhostOne_322]

I've run the asymetrical Michelin Alpin set up on my 2020 M5C for going on 3 winters now. Sometimes I like these tires better than my summer Michelins. No issues on dry, wet or in snow and I mean with seriously spirited driving. I've probably put ~10k miles on my Alpins.

[Valentine_07]

Originally Posted by damianwo

Same here with Pirellis, a bubble on side wall on each of the two tires. I would not buy again.

Oh wow and i thought i was just the unlucky one. Even the Costco technicians we're saying that Pirellis are good for the summer but for winter to go with Michelin.

[Valentine_07]

Originally Posted by GhostOne_322

I've run the asymetrical Michelin Alpin set up on my 2020 M5C for going on 3 winters now. Sometimes I like these tires better than my summer Michelins. No issues on dry, wet or in snow and I mean with seriously spirited driving. I've probably put ~10k miles on my Alpins.

Good to hear !! Do you have asymetric on all 4 ?

[GhostOne_322]

Fronts and rears have different patterns.