StealthP3D
Well-Known Member
That's exactly what I've done for years; when the seasons changes, I just jack the car up and change the wheels over myself.
Doing this though, have you noticed your tires get out of balance? My last set even started to leak air.
I suppose when this happens I could go get the tires remounted and balanced on the same wheels, but that ends up defeating the purpose of having the second set of wheels in the first place...
Tires that become out-of-balance in the middle of their life are caused by one of three things (or a combination of these factors):
1) Poor manufacturing consistency. This is largely a non-issue with modern, high-quality tires but I'm sure a few marginal ones slip by.
2) Running too low of air pressure. Keep those pressures up, particularly in the winter months!
3) Tires that were poorly balanced to begin with. I always go to a shop that has superior Hunter balancing machine(s).
#3 note: A marginally balanced tire will become more out of balance over it's life. If you feel this developing, take it back to the shop that initially balanced it. All they need to do is remove them and check the balance. They will probably have to move the weights or add a little. They shouldn't have to unmount/remount them.
#2 note: Tires have less pressure rise from driving in the colder winter months. So it is necessary to have higher cold pressures to begin with to compensate for this fact. When you notice the weather getting cooler, you can bet it's past time to add air. And you should inflate about 2 psi higher than in the summer months. Then, when deep winter sets in, you will probably need to add some more air to maintain those higher pressures.
general note: Sometimes a tire will "flat-spot" when parked in cold conditions. This can mimic an out-of-balance condition and is most likely to happen after a fast highway drive when the tires are parked hot. It's also more likely to happen if your tire pressures are too low (because this builds more heat). You can tell the difference between flat-spotting and out-of-balance because the flat-spotting will go away after 5-10 highway miles while an out of balance tire will always seem at least a little out-of-balance.
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