winter tires on staggered 21s, or buy a square set of 19s for the X5?

square 19s, no question, and i say that as someone who did the staggered winter thing for two years first. the wide rear tire floats on top of snow instead of cutting through it, and in a rut on a county road the back end wanders. a square 265/50R19 is the base xDrive40i size so it is a normal, cheap, easy to find tire. i bought a set of 19 inch takeoffs from a guy in Madison who had upgraded his base truck, 600 for four with the TPMS sensors still in them, and put Blizzak DM-V2s on, another 1,100. the ride on the 19s over frost heaves is better too, and you can rotate a square set.

the staggered thing is about how the truck feels at the limit on dry pavement. it does nothing for you at 15 below on packed snow.

the GX runs a boring 265/60R18 so i do not have the wide tire problem, but the general rule holds for every truck in this segment: narrower and taller does better in snow than wider and lower. i run Michelin X-Ice Snow on the factory 18s and just swap tires at the shop, because the GX wheels are cheap and i did not want two sets in the garage.

one thing for people new to Minnesota: studded tires are not legal on passenger vehicles here, so do not order the studdable version and pay to have them studded like a friend of mine did after moving from Montana. studless winters only.

from the 22 inch side of the room. our 2021 Escalade Sport Platinum came on 275/50R22 and the Blizzak DM-V2 comes in that size, so i kept the factory wheels and just run winters on them, 1,700 mounted and balanced at Discount Tire on 41st street. i looked at going down to 20s and the brakes clear a 20 but the wheel and sensor package was another 1,400 on top of the tires, so no.

the honest downside of 22s in winter is not traction, it is potholes. a 50 series sidewall on a 22 does not have much give and i have bent one wheel on a frost heave on I-29. the 19 with a 50 series has more rubber to work with. if your truck can take a 19 or 20, take it.

my Range Rover came on 21s and lives on 20s from november to april, 255/55R20 Michelin X-Ice, and it is a different vehicle in the snow. the thing that made the wheel shopping easy was the winter wheel packages on tirerack.com. you put in the year and trim and it only shows wheels that clear your brakes and match the bolt pattern and offset, and it ships them mounted, balanced, with sensors, ready to bolt on. for an X5 with the big M Sport brakes that is worth a lot, because not every 19 clears them and the guy at the local shop may not know which ones do.