[craigd13]

My question is about using one set of OEM wheels to change off my winter tires and all-season tires. I've heard that it's bad to do this.

My issue has more to do with space and storage than the cost of buying a second set of wheels, so I'm curious to find out what people's thoughts are on this topic.

 

[Ragtop 99]

I haven't read up on this, but from experience I can see where there is increased chance of rim, sidewall, and sealing bead damage during the process, but don't know of a reason why it should be automatically harmful.

I'd rather have the rims so I did not go through the cost and hassle of having to R&R the tires and rebalance them. Plus if there is a flat, you immediately have something that can be driven on, even if it doesn't match, until the flat is fixed.

It would seem the storage space needed would be nearly identical if you're not squishing the tires into an odd shape. How do you plan to store the tires alone that is different from if the tires are mounted? Is it a weight issue?

 

[DavidATS]

Agree with the above.

I also bought another set. Add in extra cost and hassle of switching out tires twice a year, damaging wheels in this process, and then running OEM through the winter and the shortening how long the look good (salt, sand and general dirt) and couldn't see a benefit.

Also don't see storing tires without wheels taking up less space than wheels and tires.

Besides these small issues I don't see anything wrong with it, just no good reason for me to do it. I think my $120 per wheels look pretty good and somewhere in the future should be able to get part of it back when I sell the car. I think I can change out wheels and tires in less than 30 minutes, including reprogramming.

 

[Ragtop 99]

David, those are nice looking rims. What color is your ATS?

 

[roadpie4u]

The 18" low profile tires usually run $25-$35/ea for mounting and balancing, so that's like $125 per swap. The ATS comes with free tire rotations every so many miles, which is them swapping wheels (with tires mounted). Your dealer may be willing to "rotate" them by swapping the winter and summer sets and billing it to Cadillac corporate as your included rotation interval. That's up to your service department.

So two options:
(A)You swap every fall/spring, at roughly $125 a shot. In my case, that's Nov'12, Apr/Nov'13, Apr/Nov'14, Apr'15 so far. So I'd have spent $750 in swapping my tires over by this point, and both sets of tires have some life left in them (though the snows will last longer than the high performance summer tires the car came with). I'd guess they'll last me easily another year, so lets say $1000 in swapping them.

(B)I bought a set of acceptable alloys from tire rack on clearance from a decent company for $120 each. They mount/balance for free with my winter tires. So I spent $480, and if I beat the snot out of those wheels with curbs in winter, I don't care. My dealer does one swap for free a year and I pay for the other one at $25. So by this point I've spent a LOT less than having them swapped, and have done less wear/tear on the rim of the wheel - by the end lets say I'll have spent $600. It's $400 saved and less worry about curbing a rim. The longer you go this route, the more you save.

Also, FWIW some dealers will happily store wheels/tires for you for a relatively small fee or even free.

 

[Theroider]

(B)I bought a set of acceptable alloys from tire rack on clearance from a decent company for $120 each. They mount/balance for free with my winter tires. So I spent $480, and if I beat the snot out of those wheels with curbs in winter, I don't care. My dealer does one swap for free a year and I pay for the other one at $25. So by this point I've spent a LOT less than having them swapped, and have done less wear/tear on the rim of the wheel - by the end lets say I'll have spent $600. It's $400 saved and less worry about curbing a rim. The longer you go this route, the more you save.

Did you buy new TPMSs for each new wheel/tire combo?

 

[clempot911]

Aside from cost (remember you have to also add in the cost of another set of sensors, and either get the tool or have the dealer reprogram your TPMS system), I can't think of any downside at all. If you have 18" rims you can go to a 17" rim for winter, get a better ride through those potholes and spend a little less on the winter tires. In fact I'd say you are doing your stock rims a favor because it's very possible to damage your stock rims as they wrestle the runflats off and back on. If you do decide to go this route make sure you take it somewhere that knows what they are doing.

 

[Theroider]

Aside from cost (remember you have to also add in the cost of another set of sensors, and either get the tool or have the dealer reprogram your TPMS system), I can't think of any downside at all. If you have 18" rims you can go to a 17" rim for winter, get a better ride through those potholes and spend a little less on the winter tires. In fact I'd say you are doing your stock rims a favor because it's very possible to damage your stock rims as they wrestle the runflats off and back on. If you do decide to go this route make sure you take it somewhere that knows what they are doing.

I thought about a second set of wheels for my winter tires. Going with 17s wasn't an option for my CTS according to Tire Rack. I'd have had to have gone up to 19s with even less sidewall on the tires than the OEM 18s. The cost of 4 19" wheels, 4 new sensors, plus more expensive 19" tires was prohibitive on a car I'm leasing for 36 months. I think the decision about buying a second set of wheels varies based on how the vehicle is titled.

 

[duneless]

I went the route of winter and summer sets. All have TPMS in them. Wheels and tires last a long time like this. I save money just on that. And my summer wheels stay fresh. There is no other way for me. Every car since I was 20 was done like this. Wheels make the car for me.

 

[DavidATS]

David, those are nice looking rims. What color is your ATS?

Thanks. I think Glacier Blue Metallic but not sure, bought it used. I haven't seen one the same color. Wheels are just 17" MSW for Winter, rest of year 18", surprises me that for what they cost people buy steel wheels.

----------

I thought about a second set of wheels for my winter tires. Going with 17s wasn't an option for my CTS according to Tire Rack. I'd have had to have gone up to 19s with even less sidewall on the tires than the OEM 18s. The cost of 4 19" wheels, 4 new sensors, plus more expensive 19" tires was prohibitive on a car I'm leasing for 36 months. I think the decision about buying a second set of wheels varies based on how the vehicle is titled.

It doesn't make sense that OEM wheels were 18" but to buy Winter wheels you had to go to 19". Something is off here.

 

[duneless]

Thanks. I think Glacier Blue Metallic but not sure, bought it used. I haven't seen one the same color.

I've seen 1 that color in Hartford ct about a year ago. None since but not many ats's around here. Saw maybe 3 this month around. Maybe 5 or 6 in 2 years + the 3. Nice color. If they had that color when I got mine I would have gotten it.

 

[roadpie4u]

Did you buy new TPMSs for each new wheel/tire combo?

I did, but many people I know that buy a set of winter wheels/tires do not. That does add a little to my cost, but it's still cheaper than swapping all the time.

Aside from cost (remember you have to also add in the cost of another set of sensors, and either get the tool or have the dealer reprogram your TPMS system)

My dealer does it for free if I swap them myself in my garage. I pull into the dealer and get a cup of coffee while they do it. Takes literally under two minutes.

was prohibitive on a car I'm leasing for 36 months

That makes a difference. Though it should be said some dealers will really try to nickle and dime you on returning the lease if the wheels show wear & tear. Additionally (up to you and your market) you could always either keep the winter set for your next car if it'd fit, or, try to sell them to the dealer or craiglist/ebay when you were done.

 

[craigd13]

Thanks for the info. Re: the storage situation, I live in NYC, so storage space is at a premium. I'm storing the tires in a place that can only support the weight of the tires; not four tires and rims. To rent a storage unit for wheels doesn't make financial or logistical sense to me, not to mention that it is a lease, albeit, a long one (41 months left).

Re: protecting the 17'' OEM wheels from the winter conditions - If I decide to buy a set of wheels, I was planning to use OEM wheels as the winter setup and new wheels for the all-season OEM tires. However, some good points made here. I may have it backwards, and I should prolly use the winter setup with new wheels and OEM wheels with OEM all-seasons. It'll save one less switch at the end and give me a re-use option. I'll have to make a decision soon. I'd like to take the winter tires off around April 1st, just after my last snowboarding trip up north for the season.

 

[AAIIIC]

My question is about using one set of OEM wheels to change off my winter tires and all-season tires. I've heard that it's bad to do this.

What have you heard is bad about swapping tires? There's nothing inherently bad about doing it, but as others have pointed out, it does mean there are more opportunities for a tire shop to cause damage. If you find a competent shop that uses modern equipment, the risk is very low.

I know there's a New England tire chain (Town Fair Tire) that does lifetime free winter tire change-overs (so they'll swap your tires on your wheels twice a year). Looking at their website it appears they don't extend into NY, but there is a location in Stamford, which might not be too inconvenient depending on where you are in NYC. And there could be places there in NY that offer the same sort of deal; I'm just familiar with TFT because I'm from CT.

I thought about a second set of wheels for my winter tires. Going with 17s wasn't an option for my CTS according to Tire Rack. I'd have had to have gone up to 19s with even less sidewall on the tires than the OEM 18s.

As DavidATS said, that doesn't pass a simple logic test. Your car came with 18s on it, so why would you think 19s were the only option for winter wheels/tires? I'm guessing a call to talk to an actual human would've quickly resolved the situation. If there was a glitch in the system before, it must have been fixed - when I plug your model in on Tire Rack it shows 18" and 19" winter packages available, as would be expected.

 

[rsingl]

I bought a set of new ATS 17" wheels/tires takeoffs from a dealer in TX via ebay. They were new with TPMS installed so the only thing I had to do was have the front two wheels rebalanced with the balancing weights moved away from where they would interfere with the MRC shock mounts.

Because I have a full size 4WD pickup for heavy snow usage the all-season tires were a fine replacement for my summer performance tires. I drove through several 2 to 4" snowfalls this year without issue on the all season tires.

I find it much more convenient to have two sets of wheels/tires.

 

[Theroider]

That makes a difference. Though it should be said some dealers will really try to nickle and dime you on returning the lease if the wheels show wear & tear. Additionally (up to you and your market) you could always either keep the winter set for your next car if it'd fit, or, try to sell them to the dealer or craiglist/ebay when you were done.

All great points. I took the tire/wheel insurance so hopefully I'll be covered in the event there is minor damage. It's true I could keep or sell the second set, I can also keep or sell the winter tires. It's unlikely my next car will have the identical sizes. But, hey, you never know!

As DavidATS said, that doesn't pass a simple logic test. Your car came with 18s on it, so why would you think 19s were the only option for winter wheels/tires? I'm guessing a call to talk to an actual human would've quickly resolved the situation. If there was a glitch in the system before, it must have been fixed - when I plug your model in on Tire Rack it shows 18" and 19" winter packages available, as would be expected.

Actually when I first went on the Tire Rack website there were no winter tire options for a CTS Vsport. I suppose it was too new. I ended talking to an agent and was advised to go with an 18" square setup (245/40/18). I did see a 19" option (as I previously mentioned and as you just saw) shortly around the time I was ordering the winter tires. I believe they were 255/35/19. I didn't want a wider tire and one with less sidewall. I still stand by that choice. A 17" option was never discussed, but I don't think I would have gone that route anyway. I didn't want the expense of 4 new wheels and 4 additional TPMS. Knowing I have the tire/wheel insurance I wasn't overly concerned about wheel damage.

 

[TheCaptain]

Why is it bad to use the stockers for winter? I do, just swapped winter tires on for the run flats. I have summer 18's that I will switch on once all the snow melts.