My expected delivery is Feb 1-Mar 1 so I’m starting to look into winter tires because in the Q it’s the law. I found a great deal at Can Tire for Motomaster Winter Edge but when I spoke to them they said those are not suitable for the Model 3 because it’s too heavy. Now I know Tesla sells and recommends Sottozero snow tires but they are almost double the price. What are you guys riding on as far as winter tires go ?
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Newbie winter tire question
- Thread starter jlim
- Start date
On my model 3 I have Michelin IceX tires. I left for work today with 6 inches of snow on the road. The road was not plowed. They held the road great. Even better than my 4 x 4 Ford F-150. My tires are not studded I stay home in ice storms. Put the car on chill mode with slip start.
Soul Surfer
Cancervivor, tech geek & musician
It is true that Tesla charge more for their kit. There are many tire shops which offer the same kits for less. Just remember that you need to get bluetooth sensor (quite expensive) as the RF one will just not work. I got mine at the same shop I've used for eon and saved over $500 (tax in) from the Tesla offering. Same wheels and Pirelli Sottozero 3's with the BT sensors.
My question to you and everyone else is that after this high an investment, going for the "deal" is not always a good thing. We just had a major snow dump in Toronto of close to 60cm's and I NEVER got stuck while it was a veritable shitshow around me. The Pirelli's and Michelins and even the Bridgestone are way, way better than CTC. Just my 2¢
Motomaster tires = NO. Too low quality for Quebec winters.
You NEED a tire that supports the weight of the car, check the load rating. Very important.
This is one of the reviews that you should read to make up your mind : Top 10: Best Winter Tires for Cars and Small SUVs, 2021-2022 Different people have different criteria. Ice tires are better on ice but are mushier in normal driving for example. I prefer snow tires than ice because of that. I don't mind road noise, some people do, etc... But I won't go as far as running studs, they are too noisy for me. YMMV, it's all about compromise and your own preference.
I ran Pirelli Sottozero 3s (bought at Tesla) for two winters because I got my car late december 2019 and I wasn't able to find other tires anymore. They were excellent on dry pavement, say on the highway, road feel almost the same as all seasons. But they were not great on the snow and ice.
I have now switched to Continental WinterContact 7s, and I know many people running them around here. They still have good highway behavior and are okay on snow. The best seems to be Nokian Hakkapelliitas, either the 10s or the R3s. They are pricy and cannot be bought online, only shops that install sell them. I decided against them because I needed to buy the tires in advance (before they become BO) and finish using up my Pirellis. I regret my decision a bit.
Now, not everyone needs the absolute best tires, depends on your situation.
EDIT: I ran Hakkapeliittas on previous cars and was never disappointed (apart from the price).
2nd EDIT: With all that said, you will probably have a hard time finding your preferred tire at that date and will have to settle for what you can get your hands on.
You NEED a tire that supports the weight of the car, check the load rating. Very important.
This is one of the reviews that you should read to make up your mind : Top 10: Best Winter Tires for Cars and Small SUVs, 2021-2022 Different people have different criteria. Ice tires are better on ice but are mushier in normal driving for example. I prefer snow tires than ice because of that. I don't mind road noise, some people do, etc... But I won't go as far as running studs, they are too noisy for me. YMMV, it's all about compromise and your own preference.
I ran Pirelli Sottozero 3s (bought at Tesla) for two winters because I got my car late december 2019 and I wasn't able to find other tires anymore. They were excellent on dry pavement, say on the highway, road feel almost the same as all seasons. But they were not great on the snow and ice.
I have now switched to Continental WinterContact 7s, and I know many people running them around here. They still have good highway behavior and are okay on snow. The best seems to be Nokian Hakkapelliitas, either the 10s or the R3s. They are pricy and cannot be bought online, only shops that install sell them. I decided against them because I needed to buy the tires in advance (before they become BO) and finish using up my Pirellis. I regret my decision a bit.
Now, not everyone needs the absolute best tires, depends on your situation.
EDIT: I ran Hakkapeliittas on previous cars and was never disappointed (apart from the price).
2nd EDIT: With all that said, you will probably have a hard time finding your preferred tire at that date and will have to settle for what you can get your hands on.
I had a set delivered to me (Que -> AB) from PMC tire. Good service and price IMO. I got a set of Continental Viking Contact 7 on replika 241 rims (18") with the teslas BT sensors for around 2400$. As noted above the BT sensors are pretty expensive (added almost 500$ to the price, yuck).
I noticed a big difference in quality winter tires vs the cheap sets (Nokian Hakka's on my minivan, also very good). I wouldn't think twice about the purchase again. Just my 2 cents.
November 2021; although I should have noted that is without tax.
Teslas (and many modern cars) have tire pressure sensors. If you do not install these on a new set of tires in your Tesla you will get all kinds of software warnings and errors. The car itself should run fine but I can't confirm this.
Model 3/Y used to have a more standard 433 MHz sensor that you could find cheap aftermarket options for ~$40 and avoid buying directly from Tesla at a high price.
In 2021 they switched to a bluetooth sensor of which, to the best of my knowledge, there is no aftermarket option and only the official expensive Tesla product works. Hence you are looking at an extra $500 to buy a second set of tires because of this situation.
I'm not sure where the cheapest place to buy the BLE TPMSs are. Tesla service centers might be cheaper than what you can find online: (TPMS Tesla)
The TPMS - tire pressure monitoring system - is a set of 4 doohickeys that are attached to the wheels (at the valve stem?), monitor the tire pressure, and use Bluetooth to relay that information to the car. I know the ones for the MY are unique and new in 2021 (but I'm not sure if that's true for the M3), so they have to be purchased from Tesla and there are no 3rd-party substitutes. Some tire stores will sell them, but they're acting as a middleman for Tesla......you can walk in to a Tesla Service Center yourself and buy a set. If you are going to get new wheels to go with your new tires, then get a set; if you're going to remount the tires onto the same wheels each exchange, then you don't need another set. Personally, I decided it was easier to get new wheels to go with the new tires, so I also got a new set of TPMS.
All cars these days have sensors in the valve stem (the place where you put air in the tire) to monitor the tire pressure. So if you are buying new rims, you need a set of tire pressure sensors to be installed in the rims. If you just use old-school valve stems, you will have an error message on your display every day which will be annoying.
All companies and Tesla (except Model Y and 2021+ other models) use a Radio Frequency Tire Pressure Monitoring System (you will see this called RF TPMS). However for 2021, Tesla has switched to a new Bluetooth-based TPMS which is incompatible with the old RF sensors. The old RF based TPMS you could get generic sensors for less cost, but since the Bluetooth ones are unique to Tesla for the time being, you can't get aftermarket ones.
Currently you have to buy the TPMS sensors from Tesla, or from a 3rd party company that buys them from Tesla. If you are buying rims/tires locally, and you have a local Tesla service center, you can buy the sensors there and bring them to the tire shop.
Some places will resell sensors from Tesla. I bought my winter tires and rims from pmctire.com which is out of Quebec and they resell the Bluetooth TPMS so when you order rims/tires they can install the correct sensors and ship the rims with the tires mounted and balanced. Since they have to buy the senors from Tesla, they mark them up a bit to cover the cost of ordering/receiving/stocking the sensors, so they cost more than if you bought them direct from Tesla (who of course also marks them up from what they pay for them). I don't have a local Tesla service center so the price was worth it for the convenience.
Also I have the X-Ice tires and they have been amazing. Winter has been really bad this year and the Model 3 has handled it like a champ. I think the X-Ice are my favorite winter tires and worth the cost.
So if I understand , I don’t need to buy or change the sensors if I’m just swapping tires, right ?
That’s what I don’t get. I checked the load rating and it’s more than fine. I called two Can Tires and they both told me the same thing. They are not sutable for my car because of weight and speed rating. And on special at $650, that’s a pretty good deal.
They probably have no idea what they are talking about. Those tires have a load index of 98 which means they can handle up to like 6600 lbs. The car weighs just over 4000. I doubt you and your passengers weigh 2500 lbs.
The speed rating of H means maximum 210 km/h which is plenty.
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