Wheels all year?

infeliciter · 09-23-2008, 11:18 AM

Hey Everyone

i was wondering up here in the PNW how important is it to switch out your wheels durring ht ewinter months? who runs their wheels all year? i'm curious because i want to purchase some wheels but i dont want to get them and then not run them due to the change in season. i know that the east uses salt on the road which kills cars and rims. so why would i change them out here?

TheDetroitxb22 · 09-23-2008, 11:20 AM

dude i had the same question as you lol im from michigan and its all salt all the time!!!!

infeliciter · 09-23-2008, 11:23 AM

Yeah we use sand over here. so it doesn't eat away at our metals.

moonray · 09-23-2008, 11:36 AM

I've lived in three "snow" states(Washington one of them) and have always put on my stock wheels with snow tires on during the winter and stored the "summer" tire/wheels till spring time. You'll find having a "winter" type tire much better for traction when mother nature decides to snow on you.

infeliciter · 09-23-2008, 11:49 AM

i had some wheels on my jetta but i didn't have anything to change them out with during winter so i ran them all year and didn't have any problems and that was with a bent rear axle. we don't get much snow up here anymore so i'm not terribly concerned about traction. more so with the destruction of whatever wheels i get (i have my eye on some). more or less i dont want to buy some now and then not be able to run them until next year.

white_noise · 09-23-2008, 11:56 AM

dood.. i was about to order some new rims and tire for the winter, but then a big fat wave of luck hit me on my birthday and i have a good winter car. the box is not the daily driver for a while lol.

but buy All seasons. you'll be fine. trust me.

kkawana · 09-23-2008, 12:46 PM

while we dont get snow... we do get ice... plus they use some chemicals in the sand mixture too to de-ice..

guess it depends on if your running big or small rims and what series tires imo
big rim small ruber more prone to damage if you slide a bit somewhere... small rim big tire chances of hitting rim a bit less on curbs/rocks if you do slide

moonray · 09-23-2008, 01:02 PM

Unless the weather has changed up there it used to snow. I lived in Renton(Fairwood area)Browns Point, Tacoma and near downtown Seattle for about ten years and every year it snowed. All season tires are good to a point, but when temps dip down to the teens the tread compound of an all season tire doesn't cut it. Thats why I recommended a strickly "winter' type tire. Way better traction.

o6xbizzle · 09-23-2008, 01:08 PM

dave only if you go up in the mts will it ruin your wheels... only the de-icer eats away your wheels and they dont use it under a sertain elevation so we will be good to keep our wheels on..........to awnser you original question

boxd_up · 09-23-2008, 02:03 PM

Just call in sick those couple days.

We haven't had much problem just running our usual wheels yearround, but then we haven't spent $thousands on them either, so we don't baby them as we might otherwise.

Might be a good idea, atleast to deal with ice traction to have a winter set to run in December and January, maybe February. Mostly I worry about having a good tire for the rain.

kkawana · 09-23-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonray

Unless the weather has changed up there it used to snow. I lived in Renton(Fairwood area)Browns Point, Tacoma and near downtown Seattle for about ten years and every year it snowed. All season tires are good to a point, but when temps dip down to the teens the tread compound of an all season tire doesn't cut it. Thats why I recommended a strickly "winter' type tire. Way better traction.

lol.. ok.. i lied.. we do get snow...but rarely does it last much longer than day or 2... and the random dusting we get other wise isnt much to worry about...
tho the drivers who cant drive when a rain drop hits are worse in the snow..

im in auburn now... tho grew up in bellingham were we'd get wind ice and snow from fraseir valley (cananda) and be iced in for a few days at a time at least once a year...

moonray · 09-23-2008, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kkawana

tho the drivers who cant drive when a rain drop hits are worse in the snow..

How true ^^^

infeliciter · 09-23-2008, 08:56 PM

yeah i'm in tacoma now but i'm from port orchard and we rarly get enough snow to make it hard to drive but its more so the ice and wind. the rims i'm thinking of would be about 600 and 250 for shipping. not quite enought to cry over but just not cheep enough to not care. so i think that i'll get them as soon as possible and if the weather turns real bad or i go up to snowboard i'll throw my stocks on.

kkawana · 09-23-2008, 09:07 PM

^^ sounds like a good plan... keep the stockies around just incase... last couple years i've swapped to my stockies once we get the first bit of ice...then back once first show comes around...

shortbus_8 · 09-24-2008, 06:34 PM

the bus in the winter

infeliciter · 09-24-2008, 08:05 PM

It looks so sad with those little tires on it.

boxd_up_2 · 09-25-2008, 12:07 AM

I only have one set of wheels and tires for my box and my experience has been that I haven't seen any damage (wheels are aluminum), but it is a bit squirrelly with 18's and low profile tires (my old tires were CA dry weather, not all weather like my new ones though).

Fortunately we still have the Pilot so I just park the box and use that...4WD for the win baby!!!...lol