[Maynard]

I don't bother with trunk weight lately, but if you do, you may want to get some fine gravel, rather than kitty litter (unless you just borrow some from your cats, and have a use for it later). The rough, 1-3mm sized chunks, not the larger pea-sized. Last time I had to try spreading litter it mostly just made a muddy mess.

I haven't actually felt the need, but have heard that using Eco Mode can also help, with softer throttle and more engine braking (may not really apply much to MT).

And the tire pressure advice I always got was to drop pressures a little for better traction. That gives a larger contact patch, and softer, more compliant tire surface. You need to stay within acceptable range, but can go to the low end (off roaders will sometimes drop pressures WAY down, but they max out at 20-30mph). You'd only want to drop pressures for the day of the big storm, and pump them back up when you go back to more normal driving (for faster turns and highway speeds). I doubt that this will be a make-or-break factor - much more dependent upon the tire and driving style. Can't say enough good about Conti WinterContacts, but haven't driven anything else in over a decade (heard great things about Hakka's too - they will probably be my next winter set).

[Uridian]

I'll chime in too. Westchester County, NY with a 6MT 228i rear drive and Blizzak WS-80. Never had a problem whatsoever. My driveway at home and at work are both fairly steep inclines and only once or twice have I slipped a little backing out of my driveway.

I'll disagree with that tire pressure advice, though. You want a more narrow contact patch to cut through/bite in as much as possible. That's why it's advisable to run much more narrow winter wheels than summer (205/50/17 winters here). I run as high a tire pressure as I can on my winters within the specifications.

[Dylan86]

RWD isn't the issue, its the ground clearance IMO. While my RWD 235 is parked, I drive a 2WD Dakota V6 here in powder central, BC. Lots of sideways situations but nothing stops it, accept for driving too slow uphill! Momentum is your best friend, drive slow but consistent and you'll be fine. AWD isn't ever "needed", but sure is preferred, and I understand why, it's just easier that way..

So not every RWD summer car owner has a 4x4 or AWD vehicle for winter, it's just "preferred" in most cases. And while I say I'm getting through winters here in a 2wd truck, the truth is, I'd be better off and safer with AWD, but I'll make do with what I have

[esp260]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Studless winter + 100 lbs of sand in trunk + moderate amount of common sense = you'll be fine.

I'll look into adding some weight in my trunk!

[esp260]

Originally Posted by Deutsche-Broke

Could not agree more.. 2 year old WS-70's, some extra weight in the trunk and it's pretty bulletproof... It was fun last week running through tall drifts of powder..

And passing joe-redneck upside down in the median of the freeway

Best vehicle I've ever owned on the ice.. Ever..

Thanks for the advice. I agree with your last statement.

Also, nice winter wheels!

[esp260]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

I drove in unplowed forest off road in NH on my S2000 with high performance winter tires.....Not sure how you can get stuck with WS80s , maybe LSD helped me.....

You can get stuck though if rear wheels dig deep enough. AWD is your best friend when it comes to those situations. I only got stuck 1 time in New England winters since 2006 (those were like 3-4 year old performance winters)

Not sure how I got stuck either! Pretty embarrassing to be honest, I hope that was a one time thing and after reading all the input in the this thread it won't happen again.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by esp260

.................................................. ...............

Does anyone else daily their 2-series in the snow or I am the only dumbass? If the weather keeps up I'm worried getting stuck will be the norm. Any tips for winter driving?

I wanted to go down to having only one all-weather, all-season daily driver and traded my X1 and 128i in for the 2er xDrive.
We've also had way more snow this year than last and my M235xi ragtop with OEM A/S RFTs handles light snow, heavy snow and slush as well as any AWD ever did. No fear of ever getting stuck in this puppy..
Some may say that snows would be better for stopping, etc, but I find that the A/S's with xDrive are more than adequate for what we get here.

[kunzjob]

I'm with Pparana as I'm also from Buffalo. The biggest thing would be seat time. This is a skill, just like shifting. How long did it take you to drive manual before you felt comfortable, like really comfortable shifting, starting on an incline, etc. It's all about practice. Your tires are more than capable, the car is more than capable. Keep it slow, go practice in empty parking lots. I'm driving the M235 rwd stick with WS80's and can't complain. Sure the Utah winters where I came from and the commute of +- 4,000 ft over 15 miles...and serious snowfall, yeah rwd isn't ideal out there... I preferred the STi with Blizzaks on it.

[rich8566]

Originally Posted by esp260

I moved to the east coast for a job and bought myself a 6MT 228i. I really wanted a MT car and since the x-drive models cannot be had in the configuration, I convinced myself that I would do just fine with the car as long as I have a good set of snow tires on during the winter. I read countless threads of x-drive vs. RWD and snows vs. all-seasons and it seemed that a RWD vehicle would do fine, but maybe I failed to realize most of these people did not have a RWD car as their only vehicle??

Last winter, we were blessed with a mild winter. Nothing too crazy and the car did just fine. This year however, the weather doesn't seem as forgiving. We've had 2 back to back snowstorms and the car is starting to show its weaknesses in the snow. I got stuck for the first time in an unplowed parking lot today and luckily one employee came out to help push the car.

Does anyone else daily their 2-series in the snow or I am the only dumbass? If the weather keeps up I'm worried getting stuck will be the norm. Any tips for winter driving?

My 2014 M235i is RWD and I have four snow tires on a square set of 17" wheels. I have absolutely no issues here in NY in the snow. We are in Westchester county which gets a fair amount of snow each season. You have nothing to worry about.

[Pparana]

Originally Posted by Maynard

I don't bother with trunk weight lately, but if you do, you may want to get some fine gravel, rather than kitty litter (unless you just borrow some from your cats, and have a use for it later). The rough, 1-3mm sized chunks, not the larger pea-sized. Last time I had to try spreading litter it mostly just made a muddy mess.

I haven't actually felt the need, but have heard that using Eco Mode can also help, with softer throttle and more engine braking (may not really apply much to MT).

And the tire pressure advice I always got was to drop pressures a little for better traction. That gives a larger contact patch, and softer, more compliant tire surface. You need to stay within acceptable range, but can go to the low end (off roaders will sometimes drop pressures WAY down, but they max out at 20-30mph). You'd only want to drop pressures for the day of the big storm, and pump them back up when you go back to more normal driving (for faster turns and highway speeds). I doubt that this will be a make-or-break factor - much more dependent upon the tire and driving style. Can't say enough good about Conti WinterContacts, but haven't driven anything else in over a decade (heard great things about Hakka's too - they will probably be my next winter set).

Originally Posted by Uridian

I'll chime in too. Westchester County, NY with a 6MT 228i rear drive and Blizzak WS-80. Never had a problem whatsoever. My driveway at home and at work are both fairly steep inclines and only once or twice have I slipped a little backing out of my driveway.

I'll disagree with that tire pressure advice, though. You want a more narrow contact patch to cut through/bite in as much as possible. That's why it's advisable to run much more narrow winter wheels than summer (205/50/17 winters here). I run as high a tire pressure as I can on my winters within the specifications.

Your both right, you want to lower pressure if you can't cut through the snow or it is fresh unplowed, ice underneath ext, not too low but not too high. Once your out, you want to raise as you need to cut the snow, and you do not want the tread blocks deforming. Pizza cutter tires

Same as off-roaders, they may drop the pressure to get over a rock and then increase once over. I would set high and if you have an issue drop, but 95% of the time high is better when sub freezing.

[Maynard]

Overall, I think you are right that what is better will be speed/condition dependent; the only people I know who actually reset pressures are doing it on off road sand or snow, so I'm thinking probably diminishing returns on city streets.

Uridian's comment did get me thinking that this is probably something deserving of a careful experiment; hadn't really thought about the patch-shape side of this. I also advocate for narrow is better in wet/slush/snow (less hydroplaning or floating over the snow), but I think this only really directly relates to sizing tires, where the overall area of the patch is the same (same psi & weight, same ultimate grip, so just a different shape). In this case, by lowering pressure, you also increase the size of the patch - this would theoretically increase overall grip force (friction coefficient x area), but also widen the shape of the patch. So it raises the an empirical question of whether the added contact area offsets the added width and tread deformation - float and mushy tread won't be a factor in a parking lot, but likely to be very relevant at higher speeds like highway or fast city streets, or when taking curves.