Anyone in Boston Area Comment on needing winter tires?

[wcorey]

I didn’t care for Aero look either but I didn’t care in the Winter. Car will be a mess most of winter anyway. And Aero’s will give you a little extra range that you can use in winter.

It’s more of a pain swapping tires than swapping wheels. And the tires take up as much space as the wheels.

You can order the whole package from Tesla. Note you may have to order covers separate.

19” snows would be fine traction wise but they are higher risk to damage with potholes.

I don't like the Aero look either but, taking the 'hub caps" off it's a nice looking wheel. For $50 get the wheel caps and it's a real nice look.

 

[Castlerock]

Probably piling on here, but winter tires are for winter, not just snow. Better traction in cold in addition to snow.

X-Ices are great (Nokian ran out of tires last year in Model 3 size or I would have purchased those out of habit). But one more thing to consider. Snow tires end up being a wash cost wise, in effect they are free. Hear me out:

1.) You wear tires per mile driven.
2.) Snow tires are typically less expensive than summer/A/S tires.
3.) If you have winter tires you WILL keep your summer tires longer as you wont be motivated to replace them until they are really gone.
4.) Yes there is an expense for remount or a second set of wheels, but it is equaled out by the points 2 and 3.

And wouldn't it suck if you slid into something?

 

[mswlogo]

Probably piling on here, but winter tires are for winter, not just snow. Better traction in cold in addition to snow.

X-Ices are great (Nokian ran out of tires last year in Model 3 size or I would have purchased those out of habit). But one more thing to consider. Snow tires end up being a wash cost wise, in effect they are free. Hear me out:

1.) You wear tires per mile driven.
2.) Snow tires are typically less expensive than summer/A/S tires.
3.) If you have winter tires you WILL keep your summer tires longer as you wont be motivated to replace them until they are really gone.
4.) Yes there is an expense for remount or a second set of wheels, but it is equaled out by the points 2 and 3.

And wouldn't it suck if you slid into something?

Exactly. The only additional cost is a 2nd set of rims.

But you can often find folks selling their brand new Aero's with new tires, TPMS, and Covers for around $1100.00

One other bonus is you don't have to compromise on a better traction or better looking wheels for summer either to get by in Winter.

You also have to rotate tires any way, I just rotate each time I swap seasonally, so that is free too.

Understandably some folks live in Condo's, Apartment complexes etc. and have no place to store their off season wheels. For those folks some tire shops will store them for you off season. Call Around. Direct Tire in Watertown used to provide that service. Not sure if Tesla might as well if you buy their package.

If your totally stuck I'd run an All Weather tire year round, like Nokian WR series.

 

[wcorey]

If your totally stuck I'd run an All Weather tire year round, like Nokian WR series.

I put Nokian WR series on my 2012 Prius and my wife's 2008 Prius. I loved them and looked for them when I got the Model 3. Nokian doesn't recommend them for the 3. Or so I was lead to believe! Entyre and Z-line for all-season. However, as I went to dbl check, my search confirmed what I typed and discovered about a yr ago when looking at all season tires. WR-G4 WAS listed under all-weather. So what's the difference between all-season and all-weather?

 

[JWardell]

About to pick up my model 3 AWD with 19 inch wheels and debating if I need to buy winter tires.

Use of the car will majority of time be highway into and out of Boston, with occasion trips to other destinations but almost always on highway.

If I went the winter tire route appreciate any advice on need wheels or simply having someone swap out tires. From research the ones below seem to look solid, but have very little exposure.

In addition (last question I promise), if you do get wheels/tires switched out how have people got them back to the house as I struggle to see the model 3 having enough room to store them on the trip back.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Winter+Sottozero+3&partnum=34VR9SZ3XLNCS&i1_Qty=4&autoMake=Tesla&autoModel=Model 3&autoYear=2020&autoModClar=Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive&vehicleSearch=true

Thanks!!

I wholeheartedly encourage winter/snow tires and have had a set for all my cars in the last 20 years, but the real answer depends entirely on your situation.

Do you NEED snow tires? Well no, most people don't have them and survive.
But there are many benefits. Not just traction in the snow, but better performance in cold temperatures. (Which as you have seen this week, we do get from time to time) It may be the difference between getting out of your driveway or parking spot, or not going to work that day.
More traction also means more safety, and well I'll let you determine the value of that.

Do you have a job that you will usually have to go into work when it snows? Even if just a few inches? Or do you have one of those cool bosses that lets you work from home whenever a flake falls?

Do you have a basement or place that you can store an extra set of four wheels? Expect to swap between winter and summer wheels twice a year. If you have a driveway, this is super easy to do yourself in an hour. (or almost any service station will do it fairly cheap) This also checks off tire rotation that you would have to do anyway.

As for specific recommendations, well nearly any snow tire will outperform non-winter tires. Nokian Hakkapelittas are the best of the best, if you happen to live up some steep unplowed hill, but that is overkill. Instead I would recommend a performance variety that is made for sporty European cars so that they still have excellent grip on the dry pavement which in reality is what you drive on 90% of the time. The Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 on my wheels have much better grip on dry roads than the twice as expensive Michelin all seasons that came with the car. And frankly the Continental Extreme Contact UHP all seasons I run in the summer would have better grip in the snow than those stock michelins.

If you can install yourself, nothing is easier than going on tire rack and picking some homely winter wheels and tires and having them shipped to your door ready to mount. As many others suggested, I would also highly recommend taking advantage of EV Tuning both for their excellent packages and if needed mounting service. But you should be fine going with the local tire places as well. No specialized Tesla knowledge is required to put on wheels.

 

[Snow Drift]

Tesla won't (or at least wouldn't, maybe the policy has changed) install aftermarket wheels on a car. Or mount unsupported tires on factory wheels, for that matter.

So, I think you are right about rims...but they (2 different SC) always mount my Michelin X-ICE snow tires on Aeros, which are the same size/load specs as stock tires.

 

[tga]

So, I think you are right about rims...but they (2 different SC) always mount my Michelin X-ICE snow tires on Aeros, which are the same size/load specs as stock tires.

When I bought my S 3 years ago, Dedham was not willing to mount a set of Hakka R2's on 19" Cyclones that I bought from them until I pointed out that the R2 was an officially supported tire in Norway. Maybe things have changed, I don't know.

 

[Snow Drift]

When I bought my S 3 years ago, Dedham was not willing to mount a set of Hakka R2's on 19" Cyclones that I bought from them until I pointed out that the R2 was an officially supported tire in Norway. Maybe things have changed, I don't know.

Could be a Masshole thing haha. Mt Kisco and Syosset have never balked at my request for a seasonal tire swap...I've done it 3 times now.