Winter wheel/tire strategy

[tashtibet]

this question comes from people who switch straight from ICE to EV- AWD is a big feature for ICE but EV is different in many ways. The winter driving for EV is awesome: I have driven Nissan Leaf for 2 winters in Colorado with sub standard all season tires-the Leaf perform same as my Subaru Forester. Hence, my model 3 will be all good-the basic winter driving is simple: SLOW DOWN.

 

[Snow Drift]

Depending how long you own the car, that $200-250 per year can buy an extra set of wheels. Swapping my own only takes ~30 minutes and I can do it on my schedule, so for that reason I like swapping wheels on my own instead of taking the car to a shop.

I just have the spare wheels stacked int he garage next to the firewood.

I do both, as I said. But 30 minutes is pretty fast, unless you are using a gun and a lift.

While I like having separate sets, the cost is in the favor of swapping each season:

$200 x 6 years (72 mo.) = $1,200 over time.

OR

$1,000+ rims (unless you rock steelies)
$400 TPMS sensors
$400 TPMS radio code reader/ECU uploader
$2,000 today

 

[Krash]

It is cheaper to get the OEM 18’s and just swap tires...

As was mentioned above it is only cheaper in the short term. Many places but not all will swap mounted rims for free. Plus more hassle. Plus more stretching of the tires. Plus more wear on the rims. Granted it is a lot easier to load tires into your car than mounted rims for a trip to the tire shop. Also there is the occasional experience where you could get a few more months out of the tires but the tire shop won't mount them. I recommend a second set of rims and TPMS: OEM specifically if you want Tesla to ever work on them.

...$400 TPMS radio code reader/ECU uploader...

Why would one need this? Doesn't the car recognize new wheels after driving on them for a bit?​

 

[dhrivnak]

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day weekend! I have a question that I was hoping one of you more experienced individuals would be able to answer for me. I have always had an SUV that was AWD so I never purchased winter tires before. The Model 3 will be my first car that I purchase that is not AWD so I think it is best to purchase a set on winter tires. My question is, can I get by with just having 1 set of wheels and a set of summer and winter tires or is it better to have two sets of wheels with summer tires on one set and winter tires on another?

I was originally planning on getting the Model 3 with the sport wheels and getting winter tires for them, but I have seen many people say they will get the OEM 18s for winter and an aftermarket for the summer. I am wondering if I should also go that route. With my original plan, would I incur an addition cost of rebalancing the tires also where just getting another set of wheels would eliminate this cost?

Apologies if this is a silly question, I am just not knowledgable about this topic.

Thanks In Advance

We are just as hilly as Pittsburgh and we do get snow and I have never had a problem getting around on all season tires. I assume snow tires would be better but since I have always made it to my destination I don’t worry about it.

PS I rarely rotate tires either as I prefer them to wear out in pairs so I do keep the ones with the most tread on my driving wheels.

 

[Aellinsar]

OR

$1,000+ rims (unless you rock steelies)
$400 TPMS sensors
$400 TPMS radio code reader/ECU uploader
$2,000 today

Good points. My current car is a 2002 model. No TPMS so I don't have experience with that.

 

[pkalhan]

We are just as hilly as Pittsburgh and we do get snow and I have never had a problem getting around on all season tires. I assume snow tires would be better but since I have always made it to my destination I don’t worry about it.

PS I rarely rotate tires either as I prefer them to wear out in pairs so I do keep the ones with the most tread on my driving wheels.

Thanks for the reply...unfortunately my wife is the driving force behind the winter tires on a RWD car. I personally would like to see how the car handles with the all seasons but to keep the peace will get the winter tires to make her happy and feel more safe in the car.

 

[nvx1977]

I just bought these to hang on a wall:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B073NXTJ18/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Going to hang these up in the garage. My garage stays relatively cool in the summer, and here in New England, it's only hot for about a month and a half in the summer. Not enough to do significant damage to tires. I'm not going to obsess over it.