[Hammer09]

I traded in my 2014 M235i for a 2020 M240i a few months ago and needed to get some new snow tires for the cold and snow here in Colorado. I ordered a set of Michelin X-Ice XI3s in 225/45/17 from Tire Rack and had them mounted on the the aftermarket rims that I had used with the M235i.
The 2020 M240i door sticker recommends 38 PSI in the front and 45 PSI in the rear tires, but this seemed pretty high for snow tires. I started them at 34/40 PSI and the handling was terrible. I checked with Tire Rack and they told me to go with 38/45 PSI in the snows.
With this pressure, if I get hard on the gas the traction light flashes constantly under hard acceleration and the car is very twitchy at highway speeds. When I start a turn at speed you can feel the tires roll onto the sidewalls before it grips. I never felt this with the old snow tires. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[aerobod]

X-Ice XI3s will behave just as you have described on a RWD car with fairly high torque, the tread blocks just fold over too much. On our AWD Golf R we use the same 225 wide X-Ice tyres with no problem, but the Sottozero 3 ‘H’ speed rated tyres (‘V’ rated version has less snow grip) are far better suited to the M240i, with very close snow braking and similar snow cornering grip, but with much better stability and dry road braking due to the interlocking tread blocks that don’t fold over under high loads.

With XL load rated tyres in both cases (VW and BMW, both being comparable weights), I use 35PSI all around to prevent excessive wear of the centre of the tread on the rear tyres. Compared with the standard load summer tyres that BMW fits from the factory, XL tyres would normally require 4PSI less pressure.

[MassNerd]

While I love the inclement weather handling of the X-Ice tires, those things are not going to be fun for any type of performance driving. They are just soft and mushy.

[msej449]

+1 for the Pirelli Winter Sottozero S3 which I have on my RWD+LSD M235i Convertible. They're snow-biased compared to the Winter Sottozero Serie-II but don't give up too much of the good warmer/dryer handling of the Serie-II. And the S3 has outstanding anti-aquaplaning, so that's a bonus in wet autumn/spring conditions. The S3s will still have you lighting-up the traction control but generally this only happens when I'm careless, in autopilot mode on familiar local roads, and forget that just because it's bright and sunny, January still isn't July.

[Shovelman]

Being soft they might firm up at colder temps. You may have put them on too soon.