[wanesso]

So how many have more than one winter's driving experience with their i8? I mean northeast, canadian, real winter and real snow, requiring snow tires? Might have to do that this year, low ground clearance and all.....

[JasH]

Here's some real snow.... in Arctic Circle

Studded snow tyres btw.

(Finland Pure Impulse event)

[wanesso]

Originally Posted by JasH

Here's some real snow.... in Arctic Circle

Studded snow tyres btw.

(Finland Pure Impulse event)

AWESOME!!

[Aye-eight]

I’ve done two winters here in Switzerland. No issue at all. Obviously, the car isn’t made for plowing through two feet of snow. I think we’re all smarter than that.

[wrobleskis]

Hello, Did you get winter tires or are you running on the Max performance summer tires?

Thanks,

Scott

[Jo-Sta07]

I've been driving mine this winter. No snow tires. Traction isn't an issue.

[stressdoc]

Winter tires are a must, IMO. Braking, steering as much as traction. Save wear on summer tires. So much safer, and there are excellent high performance winter tires.

[i8_2018]

Driving daily in Swedish winter. No issues. ICE kicks in by itself if car detects slip.

[Arobotbrain]

Two winters and enjoying every day. However, it seems that breaking on snow is not that great. We have measured the breaking distance, on a fully with snow covered road at 30 km/h, of the i8, a Range Rover Sport, and a Subaru Forester. The i8 did worse than the other two. It seems that the abs is less tuned for snow conditions.

A different problem is deep snow as you will transform your car into a snowplow, which sucks as it damages the front.

[NGR]

I went down a slippery, snow covered hill near where I live and it was a real pain. The snow wasn't deep few inches at most and the car decided that DTC, Pedestrian Warning and a few other things were faulty - I think it just got confused.

My intention was to see how good it was getting back up the hill but no chance. Light throttle and the gas engine was racing at 4k+ RPM, no traction at all, back end trying to overtake the front etc. Not sure how much it had to do with the DTC being 'faulty' though.

Anyway, I threw on some snowsocks on the back wheels, got her back home easily with the added traction and garaged her for the night. Day after, engine warning light was on but no problems with DTC etc. Engine light went out after a few hundred yards.

I'll stick with the X5 with it's winter tyres in future!

[i8_2018]

Originally Posted by NGR

I went down a slippery, snow covered hill

Did you have winter tires?

[NGR]

Originally Posted by i8_2018

Did you have winter tires?

No, normal Bridgestone S001s

My biggest surprise was how quickly the car decided that all the stability systems were faulty and needed to be turned off - it was literally 30 seconds down the hill. I got down ok, no real drama and had enough traction to stop.

The 4wd has helped me immensely getting onto my lane and up my driveway a few times (e.g. can't get past my gates in 'comfort' because it's FWD, put it in 'sport' and she drove up no problems.)

At least I now have a good idea of snow performance on hills and standard tyres! For emergencies, I'll carry my snow socks just in case of a sudden unexpected drop of snow in future.

[F5506m]

I drive my car all year and currently have the BMW Winter Wheel/Tire package installed.

[mikenyc]

that would be a good starting point for you to look at

http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1318710

[JasH]

Me doing a J Turn in i8, in Solden, Austria last month.

[wanesso]

Originally Posted by JasH

Me doing a J Turn in i8, in Solden, Austria last month.

Originally Posted by JasH

Me doing a J Turn in i8, in Solden, Austria last month.

Beautiful!!

[Aye-eight]

No offense to anyone. But driving in snow on normal tires isn’t a very smart thing to do. Especially in a powerful, light-weight car. It’s technically even illegal in places like Switzerland, Germany, etc. Of course, you may opt to keep your summer tires on. But if you have any sort of mishap, your insurance won’t cover you and the police may have a word to say of you damaged anything other than your own property.

[JasH]

Different laws, different countries, different weather.

Perfectly legal in UK to use non winter tyres. No insurance issue either.

Not legal in Germany and many other countries of course.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

No offense to anyone. But driving in snow on normal tires isn’t a very smart thing to do. Especially in a powerful, light-weight car. It’s technically even illegal in places like Switzerland, Germany, etc. Of course, you may opt to keep your summer tires on. But if you have any sort of mishap, your insurance won’t cover you and the police may have a word to say of you damaged anything other than your own property.

Agree it's not very smart, I made a short trip to see how AWD in the i8 would cope on normal rubber, the answer (on hills at least) is 'not very well'.

I personally take these things seriously and despite snow being fairly rare in the UK my X5 has a set of alloys with winter tires. Even on a normal 4x4 they make a huge difference. A couple of nights ago in the middle of nowhere, I was happily ploughing through drifts reaching 4 feet in places. I'm sure normal tires couldn't have coped and I would have been digging it out despite the 4wd.