Noob question: 20" and 22" tires

[MrTomP]

Was thinking about purchasing a set of 22" for my new MX LR. For local/city driving, I figured 22"s would be fine and then for any long trips, swap them out. My question for swapping out, is it as easy as just putting my MX on a lift and just switching the tires out or is there anything special besides an alignment that I need to do? 22s look so much better on the MX and with the daily home charging don't really see any efficiency concerns except for long trips.

 

[Richbot]

It's as simple as swapping them out and a couple screen taps on the old ones but not sure on the new ones with the bluetooth TPMS - if it's anything like the other cars with bluetooth, it's probably also as simple as swapping them out

 

[MrTomP]

Didn't think about the TPMS, but that seems like something easy to figure out.

 

[ngng]

TPMS should pick itself up after a few miles. You don't need to align your car.

 

[Richbot]

ALthough, as turble as the factory alignments often are, maybe not a bad idea regardless of whether you get new tires...

 

[ngng]

ALthough, as turble as the factory alignments often are, maybe not a bad idea regardless of whether you get new tires...

Yeah, they're pretty terrible. Vehicles should not go out of alignment though unless you hit something or take parts of the suspension apart.

 

[Richbot]

Agreed, although the camber curve and other "design decisions" (read: lack of any meaningful redesign from the 1000lb-lighter Model S with 40% less articulation range)) and general "prone to need stuff replaced" nature of this car (I've already got two new front control arms!) suggest to me that it's underbuilt a bit so maybe just a bit more likely to be scared out of alignment by seeing a squirrel near the roadway

On my other cars (except miatas, lol), it's always been set and forget. I don't think my M3 has ever had a proper pro alignment, toe plates and camber gauge have been enough to verify it's still not mvoed every couple years

 

[MrTomP]

Thanks all for your responses. I figured that after long weekend trips, I would just swap the 22s back with the 20s with no issue. Sounds like shouldn't be a problem.

 

[ngng]

Agreed, although the camber curve and other "design decisions" (read: lack of any meaningful redesign from the 1000lb-lighter Model S with 40% less articulation range)) and general "prone to need stuff replaced" nature of this car (I've already got two new front control arms!) suggest to me that it's underbuilt a bit so maybe just a bit more likely to be scared out of alignment by seeing a squirrel near the roadway

On my other cars (except miatas, lol), it's always been set and forget. I don't think my M3 has ever had a proper pro alignment, toe plates and camber gauge have been enough to verify it's still not mvoed every couple years

"design decision" lolll

I don't usually hit things with my car, so I'll string up the car and report back in another 5k miles once I hit 10k and see how far things have moved.

 

[sorka]

Is there any advantage to 22s over 20s? Towing capacity is far less. I prefer the look of low profile tires but I've never liked them so low profile that you get the rubber band look.

 

[Richbot]

The 22's coming on plaids we've seen pictures of so far in the states (Continental SportContact 6) are summer tires, and the 20's (Conti crosscontact LX) are all-seasons, so if you want to stop, go or turn fast, they're better. Not sure if they're delivering 22's with all-seasons on them yet

 

[DCGOO]

Is there any advantage to 22s over 20s? Towing capacity is far less. I prefer the look of low profile tires but I've never liked them so low profile that you get the rubber band look.

It depends on who you ask. The 22s are high performance tires. So if you are a high performance driver, there are a number of things you will like. If, like me you are looking for economy and maximum range, there are no advantages. i have 20 inch tires on my car now, but I did have a set of 22s on for about six months. They looked great, but they sucked watts like crazy. So I took them off and sold them (they were free from a Tesla promotion). The new 20 inch wheels now are black, and that black was most of the good look. Twenty inchers for me.