We’ve been mulling over whether to change a car before winter. I’ve got quite a hankering for a four wheel drive, but for a variety of reasons (not least that we really like both of the current cars!) we’ve decided to stick with what we’ve got. The real issue we faced last winter was the snow and ice – we couldn’t get either car off the drive, let alone navigate safely. I’ve read many good things about winter tyres, most notably the fact that they out perform normal tyres when the temperature is 7 degrees or lower regardless of the presence of snow or ice – and that kind of temperature can usually be found in December, January and February. So I’ve decided to source another set of wheels for the 330d, and fit them with winter tyres.

The 330d’s large front brakes mean that the smallest wheels that can be fitted are 17 inches, and these come as standard with 225/45 R17s. 17 inch wheels are less desirable than the “sport” 18s, and are therefore easier to come by. Winter tyres are also more readily available in smaller sizes, so it made sense to start hunting for E46 17 rims. Ebay of course came up with a variety of options, and last weekend I managed to pick up a set of my preferred style 44 E46 17s from a nice chap in Salisbury. As is so often the case, the 330d wasn’t available when I needed it, so the M5’s passenger space ensured the new rims had a comfortable journey home.

This morning I was up bright and early to take the wheels to my preferred tyre centre.

Wheels in the garage. The tyres aren’t up to much, but they have now been disposed of.

Today the 330d was available, and it made short work of swallowing its spare wheels.

I was a bit taken aback by the tyre centre’s reaction when I asked to talk to someone about winter tyres. “Are you going abroad?” No, but England is having a winter. In any case, I was instructed that I’d have to call back during the week to get them to let me know the options. A little disappointing really – mytyres.co.uk offer a good range with decent brands starting at £105 a corner. In any case, I will call them in the week, and they did at least pop the tyres off the rims and dispose of them for me.

I gave them a clean and considered their rather dubious state of repair – they’ve received some fairly heavy kerbing in their time.

Here’s a close up – three of the wheels were like this most of the way round – the best wheel just had about 60 degrees of this kind of damage. It looks like someone has tried to touch them up – I thought I’d try to improve on their attempt.

Here’s the same wheel after I’d had a go at it with a power detail sander.

Still looks a bit wrong but it was smooth to the touch. I did the same to all of the wheels.

Then it was time for another wash before I painted them. In the garage ready for a paint:

And here’s the same wheel painted:

Final photo: the full set, painted and lacquered.

The photo actually makes them look better than there are. If you look closely it’s pretty obvious they’ve been touched up rather than professionally refurbished, but I’m satisfied with the result given just a few hours work. The next step is to source and fit some winter tyres – then wait for winter!

The car is currently on 225/40 R18s (and 255/35 R18s at the back), so these 17s won’t look as bling, and even with summer tyres wouldn’t provide the same grip in the warm and dry. However, it won’t be warm and dry in mid-winter! Also, the old man in me is looking forward to the higher tyre profile – it’ll be interesting to see if the ride quality improves noticably.