# Gary: is Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D good enough in Indiana?



## philchen (Sep 27, 2009)

I heard that you live in IN. I will move to there from LA this winter and thinking to buy a set of winter tires/wheels. I have a 2004 BMW 325CI and will pick one between "Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D 225/45/R17 91H" and "Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60 225/45/R17 91R". I need your opinion which one is better to me? I need commute 40 miles one-way each day on I-65, which I heard is icy but does not have a lot of snow in winter. Also, sometimes there is icy rain there. I know WS-60 is a bit conservative and trade off the performance for better traction on ice/snow. However I am not sure if I need that because I will drive fast on I-60 because the distance is long and IN does not have as much snow as Chicago. So, do you think if "DUNLOP SP 3D" is good enough for me, which is a performance winter tire? I feel SP 3D has a better balance between performance and traction compared to WS-60.

Also, is it OK I use 17" wheels? The ORM wheels on my 325CI is 225/45/R17 91H. The suggested package from tirerack.com is 16". I do not want to downsize to 16". Is it OK? The reason is that I want to use one of my stock tires as a spare one in the trunk, when I use the snow tires. Will 17" snow tires perform noticeably worse than the 16" ones?

The last questions is, I lean to a Sport Edition A7 wheel, which is 17"x7.5". I also see many wheels with 7" and 8" width. Can all of them be used to mount 225/45/R17 tires? Can this Sport Edition A7 be used for my summer OEM tires (my OEM alloy wheels are old)?

Thanks Gary,


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## shadow 2 (Mar 18, 2007)

I am not Gary but do live in Indiana. A lot depends on where you live. North part of the state gets plenty of lake effect snow from Lake Michigan with heavy snow almost every week. This includes South Bend where Gary is located. From Indianapolis and south snow is much less frequent but amounts are unpredictible. Up north you need thin and smaller snow tires for sure. BTW, northwestern Indiana gets lots more snow than Chicago due to the lake effect, especially the band between the lake east to South Bend and twenty miles or so south of there.


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## Orient330iNYC (Jul 30, 2002)

philchen said:


> I heard that you live in IN. I will move to there from LA this winter and thinking to buy a set of winter tires/wheels. I have a 2004 BMW 325CI and will pick one between "Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D 225/45/R17 91H" and "Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60 225/45/R17 91R". I need your opinion which one is better to me? I need commute 40 miles one-way each day on I-65, which I heard is icy but does not have a lot of snow in winter. Also, sometimes there is icy rain there. I know WS-60 is a bit conservative and trade off the performance for better traction on ice/snow. However I am not sure if I need that because I will drive fast on I-60 because the distance is long and IN does not have as much snow as Chicago. So, do you think if "DUNLOP SP 3D" is good enough for me, which is a performance winter tire? I feel SP 3D has a better balance between performance and traction compared to WS-60.
> 
> Also, is it OK I use 17" wheels? The ORM wheels on my 325CI is 225/45/R17 91H. The suggested package from tirerack.com is 16". I do not want to downsize to 16". Is it OK? The reason is that I want to use one of my stock tires as a spare one in the trunk, when I use the snow tires. Will 17" snow tires perform noticeably worse than the 16" ones?
> 
> ...


there is no problem with using the spare in the trunk with 16 or 18 or 19" wheels.

the outside diameter of the tire and wheel combo are the same.

ex, the 3 series can be equipped with 16-19" rims from the factory. the overall diameter doesnt change appreciably since the sidewall height goes down as the rim diameter goes up.


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## philchen (Sep 27, 2009)

Orient330iNYC said:


> there is no problem with using the spare in the trunk with 16 or 18 or 19" wheels.
> 
> the outside diameter of the tire and wheel combo are the same.
> 
> ex, the 3 series can be equipped with 16-19" rims from the factory. the overall diameter doesnt change appreciably since the sidewall height goes down as the rim diameter goes up.


Oh, I did not know this.... it is amazing.
For example, the overall diameter of a 225/45/R17 tire is 17*2.54 + 2*4.5 = 52.18 (cm). The overall diameter for a 205/55/R16 is 16*2.54 + 2*5.5 = 51.64 (cm). So this is not a big difference? If I use 205/55/R16 as snow tires, as suggested by Tirerack.com, then I can use my OEM stock summer tires (225/45/R17) as temporary tire in the trunk, even their rim size is 1 inch difference?


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## Orient330iNYC (Jul 30, 2002)

philchen said:


> Oh, I did not know this.... it is amazing.
> For example, the overall diameter of a 225/45/R17 tire is 17*2.54 + 2*4.5 = 52.18 (cm). The overall diameter for a 205/55/R16 is 16*2.54 + 2*5.5 = 51.64 (cm). So this is not a big difference? If I use 205/55/R16 as snow tires, as suggested by Tirerack.com, then I can use my OEM stock summer tires (225/45/R17) as temporary tire in the trunk, even their rim size is 1 inch difference?


yes.

normal staggered sport package tires vary more than this, as well as tire wear front to rear. rim size means nothing, its rolling diameter that matters, its why the aspect ratio goes down as the rim size goes up.
your winter tire size is 24.9"; your summer tire size is 25.0" 0.1" in difference is pretty much nothing in terms of mechanically. you would probably get more of a diameter difference by having a tire 2psi low on air.

i would be more worried about being cautious when driving with the spare-- summer tires have very very poor grip in the winter, so if you ever have to use it, drive very very carefully as your traction will be very unbalanced.


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## philchen (Sep 27, 2009)

Orient330iNYC said:


> yes.
> 
> normal staggered sport package tires vary more than this, as well as tire wear front to rear. rim size means nothing, its rolling diameter that matters, its why the aspect ratio goes down as the rim size goes up.
> your winter tire size is 24.9"; your summer tire size is 25.0" 0.1" in difference is pretty much nothing in terms of mechanically. you would probably get more of a diameter difference by having a tire 2psi low on air.
> ...


Thanks so much for your nice reply. So how about the OEM spare tire installed in trunk? Its traction on ice is even worse than the OEM summer tires, right?


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## Orient330iNYC (Jul 30, 2002)

philchen said:


> Thanks so much for your nice reply. So how about the OEM spare tire installed in trunk? Its traction on ice is even worse than the OEM summer tires, right?


you have an E46, which should have the same tires as stock (same rim too) as spare. so what you should find in the trunk is an alloy with a summer tire on it


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

You'll love those tires, unless you to a lot of rural ice driving. There are better ice tires, but you give up a lot in dry and wet to get ice performance.


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## [email protected] (Jun 10, 2003)

I am running Blizzak WS60's on my car, but I'm in Northern IN where we get 2-3 times more snow than most of the rest of the state due to lake effect storms. If you aren't going to be within an hour or so of Lake Michigan, you could likely get away with the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D with no problem. Another option to consider would be the new Blizzak LM60, which has the aggressive tread pattern of the WS60 for good snow traction, but without the special compound. The result would be better snow/ice traction than the Dunlop 3D, but only a slight step down in dry grip and steering response. ]

Winter http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AB2&url=/winter/index.jsp


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## philchen (Sep 27, 2009)

I will live in indianapolis and drive to Purdue each day for work. I am not sure how the weather is in winter between Indy and Purdue.

Yes I used to live in Chicago and I know how terrible it is in winter near the lake. Hope Purdue/Purdue south is not that bad.

I kinda lean to Dunlop sp 3d now. Another question is, if I buy your road hazard warranty, and my tired gets broken, where do I repair it? Do u have local shops?



[email protected] said:


> I am running Blizzak WS60's on my car, but I'm in Northern IN where we get 2-3 times more snow than most of the rest of the state due to lake effect storms. If you aren't going to be within an hour or so of Lake Michigan, you could likely get away with the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D with no problem. Another option to consider would be the new Blizzak LM60, which has the aggressive tread pattern of the WS60 for good snow traction, but without the special compound. The result would be better snow/ice traction than the Dunlop 3D, but only a slight step down in dry grip and steering response. ]
> 
> Winter http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AB2&url=/winter/index.jsp


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