I'm looking for buying winter tire but not sure what to buy.
I used to drive mountain area for skiing. For those familiar with WA: Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, and Crystal Mountain are my major destinations in winter time.
I found Tesla is selling winter tires on their own website, but not sure if it's worth for, compared to buy tires from local shops. (e.g. Firestone, Les Schwab ..)
Model X 19" Cyclone Wheel and Winter Tire Package
Also, there's following question: how much does it cost for installing tires on MX? Is installation cost same with normal SUV tires? (not cost of tires, cost of installation itself)
I'm looking for buying winter tire but not sure what to buy.
I used to drive mountain area for skiing. For those familiar with WA: Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, and Crystal Mountain are my major destinations in winter time.
I found Tesla is selling winter tires on their own website, but not sure if it's worth for, compared to buy tires from local shops. (e.g. Firestone, Les Schwab ..)
Model X 19" Cyclone Wheel and Winter Tire Package
Also, there's following question: how much does it cost for installing tires on MX? Is installation cost same with normal SUV tires? (not cost of tires, cost of installation itself)
The installation of tires on a Tesla should not cost any more then any other vehicle with tire pressuring monitoring systems. You can quickly call around and get a install quote.
As far as tires/wheels, depends on cost, need, and weather.
First off I have been shopping and studying this exact thing. My conclusion is one way to do it, others may not think it is worth it, or have different solutions or standards.
So I will share my situation, and you can do what you will with the information. I wanted dedicated wheels and winter tires, sound like you are the same.
First off, these vehicles are notoriously expensive and difficult to get repaired, maybe a bit easier for you in Seattle area. Timing can take a long time as well. Hopefully in the future this is not such a issue. So I try to do all in my power to keep them on the road undamaged.
The single most important thing on a car it tires. It all comes down to 4 areas, of what 6"x9" contact with the road, or ice, or snow, or water, that we are relying on to keep our cars on the road. This is a very small surface area to stop and control a 6,000lb machine. All the fancy things about cars, aerodynamics, ceramic breaks, 100s of HP, best suspesion, ect.... is to help improve the interaction of tire and surface. You can have the best of above, with s*&t tires, none of it matters.
So for tires I will always believe it is worth the extra cost for the best tires. If I can afford a 115k car, I can afford this protection and piece of mind. Mind you I had them on my 5k car before.
This leaves me with one option, get the Nokian, currently the best is the studded Hakkapeliita 9. Some don't like the studded or think they are not necessary. The thing is studded tires are the only ones that will preform on ice. So if you know that you will never drive on ice, then studded are not necessary. I can't be 100% sure of this, even if it is a rare occurrence, I still believe it is worth having the best protection.
This leads to the shopping, that you asked about. I looked at the Tesla winter kit as well. My main problem was the tires, not the best and average from the reviews I could find. Some people also took them off because they did not like them would never buy again, this situation not common but applied.
I liked the idea of stock, you know correct size weight ect... Shopping can get complicated. But the cost of basically throwing away the new tires and putting others on was not worth it to me. I looked elsewhere for other options.
Also liked the idea of using 19" wheels. So I looked around to see what else was available. I was really only interested in stock size, ie same rim size, tire size, offset, and weight ratings as OEM. Not a lot of options. To me this was more important to how they looked.
Here is what I was able to find:
Wheels: 19" Telsa, TWS Sebring, TWS Yas.
20" TST Sportline, TSW Max, BBS SU
There are other options for bigger and fancy but they started to increase the cost greatly, also Nokan does not make 22". Not interested in spending that much.
Tires: Nokian only makes the new Hak 9's in compatible 20" tires sizes, the 19" tires are only available in Hak 8's.
So I had to choose between the 19" with Hak 8 or the 20" with Hak 9. After price comparison, and seeing the difference with the new Hak 9's I decided they were worth the extra cost, of bigger tires (~$100) and rims (~$400). Probably about $500 more. They are quieter and have a better efficiency, with improved stud design.
The most cost efficient choice was the TWS Max (F 20x9 & R 20x10), and Hak 9 (265/45-20 F & 275/45-20 R). Got a quote, installed from Discount Tire, not including the TPMS for $2,534. They are checking if they can get the TPMS. Can get them from Telsa for $108 each if need be.
So in the end I paid around what the Tesla price is, for a better tire setup that is OEM sizing.
