M0J0

New rims, I don't think anyone swaps the tires.

HGSB

apsuard

geko29

Petty much the only advantage of swapping on the same rims is you save a few hundred bucks up front on the wheels. But there are a lot of disadvantages, which is why I'd never do that:

• Must use the same size tire in winter. I prefer to use a smaller diameter, higher profile, narrower tire--255/55R19 for the Q7, vs. 285/40R21 the rest of the year
• Costs more to swap at a shop--Costco charges $20 per swap for an 8-wheel swap, or $40 for a 4-wheel swap, most places charge more
• Can't change them yourself. I've taken to doing this more often than not lately, as it's quicker than loading them up and taking them to the shop
• Stripping and remounting tires 2x/year is more likely to damage your factory rims

It only cost me about $100 more for a set of wheels that were on clearance (MSW type 48, 19x9) and Blizzak DM-V2s at TireRack, as I would have for a set of 21" Pirelli Scorpion Winters for the OE wheels.

mctt197

I went with 20's (summers are 21's) on separate rims. Change them myself in Spring and Fall. There is a shop by me that has a pretty good deal. They will swap tires for you (single set of rims, summer and winter tires) each season. I think he charges $50. What's better, if you purchased the tires from him - he'll store the 'offseason' tires for you. In addition to what you said, I'm also not a fan from a tire perspective. I don't think they are designed to be mounted and dismounted 8 or 10 times during their lives. Maybe I don't need to worry about that, but, not sure it's a great idea. And also completely agree - everything you expose your rims to a shop to mount/dismount a tire - too much of a chance for rim damaged.

smacky

So I was looking in to getting snow tires for the first time ever on any of our cars, starting with the Q7.

Is there anything I need to pay attention regarding wheel specs? I was originally just hoping to swap out the tires but it looks like that's heavily frowned upon and doesn't save a whole lot of money. Money wasn't a big issue but storage was. I have inquired in the past from BMW and MB dealerships about what to do with the spare set when not in use and many offered storage for $300 or something a year. I didn't know if people normally did that or just had the wheels and tires put in the trunk (assuming for an SUV like the Q7) and just taken home and stored in the basement or garage.


New to the whole thing, as I mentioned before, and while cost isn't an issue, I don't want it to be a constant money drain to switch, store, and transport two sets of wheels and tires. But my life is worth more than the money saved by not doing it. Is there a more efficient way of doing all of this, though?

geko29

See the post above yours. Some shops, for a nominal fee ($50/yr is nominal, $300 definitely is not), will swap your wheels in the spring and fall, and store the off-season set year round. I would look into that if you don't want to store them at home. I keep mine (2 sets) stacked in the front right corner of my garage.

ConservativeConsumer

Storing tires for $300 is quite expensive IMO.If you do have WALL room in garage, you can install some heavy duty hooks (tires will not be stored deformed and you won't be taking that much room of the garage floor). Something like this: . That's what I do. However, I have to admit that these wheels/tires are quite heavy and hanging them high is not a small task unless you have some sort of lift. My dealer swaps summer/winter set for $20.

smacky

Yeah our local dealer sent us a "coupon" in the mail, and that was the price for storage, as well. Not sure if it included the swapping of tires in that fee, but that did seem like a lot. Perhaps a "convenience" fee for not having to schlep it back and forth in addition to do the swapping. I don't know, dealers are dealers.


I don't have wall room anymore since our garage is now mostly windows. I think the "cost" and pain of having to load them up in to the car to get them swapped is also something I consider.

I'll have to look around and see if local stores could do it for cheap, like the $25-40 you guys are mentioning, and I'll just deal with moving them between home and store and just storing them at home in the basement or somewhere else cool and dry. And maybe buy covers for them for when they're sitting.

HikerDoc