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Leave Custom Wheels on for the Winter?

3K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Nliiitend1 
#1 ·
Anyone who gets all four seasons leave their custom wheels on for the winter?
How do they hold up? Is the salt and winter weather really that bad on them?
 
#4 ·
I have my summer wheels and my stock ones for the winter. I learned my lesson last winter when it was below freezing for a month or so out here and the potholes were really bad. I hit a pothole so damn hard that I had to replace the wheel and the tire, and the tires were only 4 months old. So my good wheels are coming off for the winter this year...
 
#6 ·
I'll put the stock 15's back on for winter. For quite a few reasons, the 17's handle like crap in the snow, the salt eats the clear coat, the 17's handle like crap in the snow, potholes can wreck both the low profile tires and the rims, the 17's handle like crap in the snow. :)
 
#7 ·
Me, too, put the stock rims back on for the winter, the salt can be hard on them..if you can put agressive winter tires on the stock rims since they are only on in the rough months, keep the pretty ones for the summer, basically put them back on after the first really good rain ( to wash away all the road salt).
 
#8 ·
My wheels are a painted wheel (white) and I'm running on 205/50/16 All Season Falken 512's would that make a difference?

I'm not trying to be smarta$$ and I really appreciate everyone's input but I have one question........quite a few of you who replied are running on 17" wheels 40 or 45's and you point out the hazards of potholes. I don't know about everyone else's Highway Department but where I travel I'm just as likely to hit a pothole in the summer as I am in the winter. I just always believed that was one of the pitfalls you had to watch for all the time when you had custom rims even more so with Ultra-low profile tires like 40 or 45's. [scratch]
 
#9 ·
Potholes in my area are predominantly a winter issue, since most of them are filled in the summer and don't cause problems then, its in the winter when the snow plows wreck the roads, and don't fill them since they are going to get torn up anyways. So, I'm not usually worried about potholes in the summer, there are a few, but much less than the winter time. You also get better winter traction with narrower tires, thats the biggest difference. A 195 handles about 10 times better than a 205 which handles about 10 times better than a 215. Sidewall helps alot by giving you flex and also giving the tire more to press through the snow. Plus most tread patterns for 50 and lower sidewalls are max performance minded and not so much snow minded.
 
#10 ·
I forgot to mention, the past few years we only got snow 2-4 times a year so salt would be minimal. ( ok, now that I've said that I just know it's going to snow like hell this year, crap.[ohcrap] ) Is salt the primary concern for custom wheels? I can have my car washed for free everyday at the dealership, it's part of the deal when you buy a car from them.[:D]
 
#13 ·
Focusedat50 said:
I forgot to mention, the past few years we only got snow 2-4 times a year so salt would be minimal. ( ok, now that I've said that I just know it's going to snow like hell this year, crap.[ohcrap] ) Is salt the primary concern for custom wheels? I can have my car washed for free everyday at the dealership, it's part of the deal when you buy a car from them.[:D]
Not really the primary, as I saidI think traction is the primary concern. Handling and traction in the snow are greatly increased with the 15" wheel over the 16" or the 17". For example... this is the tread pattern of the tire on my car with the 17's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPi...F1GSD3XL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

and the tread pattern of the tire on my car with the 15's...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPi...=96R5PA2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

thats my biggest difference :)
 
#14 ·
I have stock S2 rims with Kumho Ecstas and I take them off in the winter and run a 14" steelie with a dedicated snow tire (Kumho I'Zen) in the winter months, just because I've seen what a nasty winter can do the the clearcoat on a machined fininsh wheel. Plus, nothing beats a nice, narrow (185/70R14) dedicated snow tire in the winter.
 
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