Question About Winter Tires

[Aganan]

I'll be picking up my Model S soon and the car will only have summer tires when I take delivery.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go to get some winter tires? I have a few more snowboard trips I want to do, so I absolutely need them.

I'm interested in 245/45R19 winter tires with alloys preferably.

I'm considering checking out my local Costco, Autobacs, Yellowhat, etc.

I've also had a look online, Amazon, Yahoo Auction, Google shopping, etc

I also checked Fujicorporation which actually had a Tesla option in their menus, though it was rather expensive. I can afford them but would like to keep things reasonable.

Does anyone have any experience buying winter tires in Japan for their Tesla and could give recommendations of where would be best to buy some?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Andy11]

Hi Aganan,

I was struggling with the same thing last winter. I ended up buying Michelin X-ICE 3+ 235/45R18 98H XL for my Model 3 (without alloys). I paid a bit over 110 000JPY for the set of four tires at Rakuten (T-world).

Before this I was in touch with a local Yellowhat if they could provide a "turn-key" solution including alloys. They told me bluntly that "Sorry, they cannot provide support for American cars due to different standards". I'm not sure if this is the case for every Yellowhat in Japan though.

At the moment I get my tires (only the rubber parts) changed at a local garage twice a year and it works well for me.

 

[Aganan]

Hi Andy11, thanks for the advice.

I actually went into a Yellowhat today and they said something similar, though the woman was specifically saying they didn't want to jack it up as it was an EV.

I'm going to do some window shopping tomorrow and if I can't find anything, I'll just have to go online and purchase some there. I spoke to one person on Yahoo Auction about some brand new alloys and tires but seems they have to order them in and didn't give me a time frame for delivery. /sigh

 

[mk677]

for my money these are the best snow tires you can buy
Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 - Winter tires / Nokian Tires
I believe they can be found in Japan

 

[Aganan]

for my money these are the best snow tires you can buy
Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 - Winter tires / Nokian Tires
I believe they can be found in Japan

Hi mk677.

Ironically I did come across some of these when looking on Yahoo Auction.

So, yes they can be found in Japan, but they're not really an off the shelve purchase here. More of an online order them from overseas purchase, which means just the tires alone for 4 of them is almost the same cost as alloys with winter tires.

Thanks for the link. I did have a look on their site and it's reassuring to see a Model X being used in their promotional video. Looks like they have outstanding reviews too. I'm just not sure if I want to stretch my budget that far.

I'll have a harder think.

 

[mk677]

all I can say is that you live or drive in places that see a lot of snow the hakkas are one of the best tires. you have a top notch car in a place where I assume teslas are rare, and tires are the most important external component it might be wise to stretch your budget.

 

[hiroshiy]

@Aganan, in Japan, tires are usually more expensive than in the States. I would ask the Tesla Service Center for the quote. They sometimes have the best price. I usually buy summer tires there.
For Winter tires, I'm not sure they carry Nokian tires. You might find Pirelli winter tires, but I don't recommend them for Japanese winters - they are mostly for high-speed, flat, plowed highways.

 

[Aganan]

@mk677, @hiroshiy,

Thanks for the advice and information.

In the end, I decided to purchase some 2nd hand Tesla Model S (discontinued) 19" base alloys from Yahoo auction which has Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires already attached. The tire condition looks good with about 6mm of tread remaining on the tires.

Financially I wasn't ready to part with the amount of money required to purchase brand new alloys and tires. I also didn't want to simply change the tires on the 21" alloys that come with the car from summer to winter and back again each year as @Andy11 suggested, as that would require going to a 3rd party to be involved and I'd rather just do it myself.

I do totally agree with @mk677 and will most likely in the future purchase the Nokian tires (as I found them quite compelling) for next winter season to replace the Michelin tires, but as we're exiting winter and entering spring soon and nearing the end of the fiscal year, I just didn't want to drop so much money on something I'd probably only use for a month if that before switching back to summer tires.

I think I made the right decision for myself financially. The price was too attractive to pass upon. If I decide to keep the alloys and just buy the Nokians for next season too, then I've really saved quite a bit of money just on the alloys alone.

When I did go to fujicorporation and Costco, they both said that they didn't carry any stock in-store and so everything would have had to have been backordered which would have taken between 2 to 4 weeks. Bad planning on my part to be fair, but I need the Winter tires by next week Monday at the latest for a snowboard road trip Tuesday.

Fingers cross all goes well. I'll let you know how the Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires handle.

 

[hiroshiy]

@mk677, @hiroshiy,

Thanks for the advice and information.

In the end, I decided to purchase some 2nd hand Tesla Model S (discontinued) 19" base alloys from Yahoo auction which has Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires already attached. The tire condition looks good with about 6mm of tread remaining on the tires.

Financially I wasn't ready to part with the amount of money required to purchase brand new alloys and tires. I also didn't want to simply change the tires on the 21" alloys that come with the car from summer to winter and back again each year as @Andy11 suggested, as that would require going to a 3rd party to be involved and I'd rather just do it myself.

I do totally agree with @mk677 and will most likely in the future purchase the Nokian tires (as I found them quite compelling) for next winter season to replace the Michelin tires, but as we're exiting winter and entering spring soon and nearing the end of the fiscal year, I just didn't want to drop so much money on something I'd probably only use for a month if that before switching back to summer tires.

I think I made the right decision for myself financially. The price was too attractive to pass upon. If I decide to keep the alloys and just buy the Nokians for next season too, then I've really saved quite a bit of money just on the alloys alone.

When I did go to fujicorporation and Costco, they both said that they didn't carry any stock in-store and so everything would have had to have been backordered which would have taken between 2 to 4 weeks. Bad planning on my part to be fair, but I need the Winter tires by next week Monday at the latest for a snowboard road trip Tuesday.

Fingers cross all goes well. I'll let you know how the Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires handle.

@Aganan,
Sorry for the late reply - yes, as you might already know, Japanese people are preparing things much earlier than western people. Most winter tires are sold out in December - so if you need one, make sure you order one by early December, or you will end up buying at the MSRP.

 

[mk677]

@mk677, @hiroshiy,

Thanks for the advice and information.

In the end, I decided to purchase some 2nd hand Tesla Model S (discontinued) 19" base alloys from Yahoo auction which has Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires already attached. The tire condition looks good with about 6mm of tread remaining on the tires.

Financially I wasn't ready to part with the amount of money required to purchase brand new alloys and tires. I also didn't want to simply change the tires on the 21" alloys that come with the car from summer to winter and back again each year as @Andy11 suggested, as that would require going to a 3rd party to be involved and I'd rather just do it myself.

I do totally agree with @mk677 and will most likely in the future purchase the Nokian tires (as I found them quite compelling) for next winter season to replace the Michelin tires, but as we're exiting winter and entering spring soon and nearing the end of the fiscal year, I just didn't want to drop so much money on something I'd probably only use for a month if that before switching back to summer tires.

I think I made the right decision for myself financially. The price was too attractive to pass upon. If I decide to keep the alloys and just buy the Nokians for next season too, then I've really saved quite a bit of money just on the alloys alone.

When I did go to fujicorporation and Costco, they both said that they didn't carry any stock in-store and so everything would have had to have been backordered which would have taken between 2 to 4 weeks. Bad planning on my part to be fair, but I need the Winter tires by next week Monday at the latest for a snowboard road trip Tuesday.

Fingers cross all goes well. I'll let you know how the Michelin X-ICE XI3 tires handle.

if you want the nokians for next winter you might want to consider starting your search now because they can be hard to source

 

[bigfurrymonste]

How about just buying chains?