Winter Wheels/Tires or a Second Winter Car?

"Voice of C. Montgomery Burns" (voiceofcmb)
08/26/2015 at 08:53 • Filed to: None

It’s almost to that cold, slippery time of the year and due to a new job with a steep-grade driveway I am forced to accept that maybe my summer tires aren’t going to slide by this winter.

So, I’m faced with the less than 100-some year old question. Do I get a complete new set of winter tires/wheels or a running and inspected beater car that will do much better in the snow than my summer daily driver. Some short points for each:

Wheels/tires - Cheaper at around $1500 one-time investment, ~$100/year to take on and off at the tire shop. Get to continue to drive my preferred car through winter.

Second Beater Car - Running and inspected cars of various types can be found for around $1500-2000 in my area, already found one from a guy at work. Yearly insurance increase around ~$250 for liability. No fear of getting into an accident in my preferred car during more inclement weather as I’d have the second car option. During other seasons, a second car would be convenient if I had dirty jobs to do (not murdering anyone ...) like yardwork, etc.

Have you ever been in this conundrum, did you save some money and just get tires/wheels for your nicer car or did you get a second car and not risk driving your nicer car in the winter regardless of the wheels?

DISCUSSION (37)

deekster_caddy > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 08:58

What kind of car is your DD? Some additional pros and cons: Salt in the winter = bad for the car. Snow tires = total awesomeness and you are invincible.

Okay, not invincible, but snow tires will get you through any reasonable kind of weather issues. Don’t expect to go through 36” of unplowed snow, but you’ll be able to drive through most normal snowstorms with visibility being your concern, not traction. If you have to ask this question, get snow tires on whatever you will be driving.

If you live near Boston, I can handle your tire changeovers for a lot less money.

Voice of C. Montgomery Burns > deekster_caddy
08/26/2015 at 09:02

2011 335is. I drove it last winter in Pittsburgh with the stock summer tread but it was a mild winter and my commute was mostly flat with very few inclines..

CalzoneGolem > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:04

Winter beaters are nice but if it doesn’t come with snows on it then what’s the point?

deekster_caddy > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:06

Pittsburgh is a tough call - not usually heavy winters, but lots of hills. If I remember right, BMW’s traction control has always done well in the snow. I vote for snow tires on your DD. You won’t regret it. Especially after driving throuh a few snowstorms.

Voice of C. Montgomery Burns > CalzoneGolem
08/26/2015 at 09:10

In Pittsburgh, a FWD car with all-seasons will do twice as good as my RWD car with summers. I do agree that snows would be absolute best, but for Pittsburgh, it’s a bit overkill.

Rico > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:18

I would argue that the expense of a 2nd car is overkill. Maintenance on a beater, insurance, gas all outweigh buying winter tires that will easily last you the next 5 years.

Tripper > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:20

I had this problem the last two winters in a row. What I decided to do was be an idiot, and drive my E90 M3 with summer tires through two east coast winters. Believe it or not, I only got totally stuck twice, and only had to leave my car one of those times. However there were so many “white knuckle” rides home in slushy conditions that I would kick myself every time for being so fucking stupid.

So don’t do that. However on my previous M3 I had a set of snow tires and it was no trouble, even in relatively deep snow.

On my (current) Audi I plan to get a winter set again. If I had all season tires on it I wouldn’t worry about it, but I opted for the performance package which came with 19”s and summer tires. AWD or no AWD summer tires are terrible in snow.

So if your DD is your baby and you don’t want it to see snow, then I can see a reason to get a beater. If not I would go with a winter set. That way you don’t have to mess with sourcing/buying/insuring/maintaining another car.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:21

Well the one point to consider is that even if you buy a beater car to use for winter, you still need to buy winter tires for it anyways. So you really have to add that expense either way. From a cost perspective, just buying snow wheels/tires and storing them through the summer is always going to beat buying a whole car just for that purpose. But the biggest concern is just the salt from the roads eating away your nicer car. I drive a Miata year round and I really would like to save it from rusting away but I can’t afford two cars (wouldn’t have a place to put the additional car more importantly). The bigger thing to me though is that I would miss my Miata too much in the winter. Having the top down on any remotely sunny day in the dead of winter is truly the best. Don’t think of it from a cost perspective, take into account how much you want to protect the car from salt (really matters where you drive and how much you drive as well).

Voice of C. Montgomery Burns > Rico
08/26/2015 at 09:23

I recognize that as well, but there’s the intangible benefits of having a second car, like the flexibility of not messing/dirtying up your nice “sporty” car during the winter or other seasons when you need to get somewhere possibly a little sketchy.

Gas however, is gas. The beater car is going to be better on gas than my DD so I’d actually be saving money in that respect.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > deekster_caddy
08/26/2015 at 09:23

Yeah tire changeover should be a $0 expense. It is literally just taking the four wheels off and putting the other four wheels on. This can be done with simple lug wrench and a scissor jack at home.

Voice of C. Montgomery Burns > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 09:26

Yeah, that is a factor in my decision too, and I’m in Pittsburgh and they love salt.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:27

Well if anything, the winter tires would be helpful for not just snow but also ice. Here in NJ it does not snow very much in the winter and they plow quickly when it does. But during the winter, ice is generally a constant problem and all seasons give absolutely no help for that. But with the right winter tires, ice is nearly the same as dry pavement. So much nicer not having to worry about ice making my car go sideways.

jariten1781 > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:28

Snows. If you’re getting wheels and tires, just swap them yourself in a parking lot if you don’t have a driveway or pay for ‘lifetime’ rotations when you buy them (the stores will usually ‘rotate’ from summer to winter without issue).

If you’re getting a beater you’re going to want to get tires anyway. Even if it comes with a lot of tread left they're going to likely be shitty Chinese all-seasons which will be obnoxiously worthless. 1500 bucks isn't likely to buy a car with decent performing all-seasons & sufficient remaining wear, and it's extremely unlikely it'll come with winters with tread.

smobgirl > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:28

I’d personally prefer a beater car for the worst winter days, ski trips, and year-round trips that my DD can’t handle (anything that involves dirt roads or parking lots, or moving anything larger than a lunch box). But my DD (Abarth) is pretty impractical for my hobbies (camping, skiing, biking) and has already been hit once due to snow and I don’t want to go through that again. Ground clearance is the selling point for me though.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:31

A beater in the winter that you never even have to care to wash it is definitely a great thing. I know with my Honda civic I used to have, I would wash it maybe once a month in the summer time but then November-March I would not even wash it once. Now with my Miata, I was washing it more in the winter than in the summer just because I wanted to get the salt off.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Tripper
08/26/2015 at 09:35

Man I thought no-season tires were scary in the sloshly wet stuff. I don’t even want to imagine what summer tires would be like. Even with snow tires I have to drive cautiously. Lol I feel like summer tires would be like a dog trying to run on ice.

NotRichBMWOwner > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:36

What are you driving now and what state? If your in the salt belt get a winter beater. If your down south get wheels/tires.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > smobgirl
08/26/2015 at 09:37

nothing is impractical if you try hard enough! I plan to take my Miata up to Vermont this winter for skiing. YOLO (I hate that phrase haha)

Tripper > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 09:44

Pretty much...However it was not as bad as you would think once you get moving. Like most situations on the road, driving in snow is made most difficult by other drivers! Either way it was really stupid and caused me so much stress that I passed out in a restaurant bathroom after a particularly difficult ride home! (to be fair I had also not eaten nor had I had anything to drink all day leading up to that haha).

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:52

I would just get a nice set of blizaks or X-Ice tires mounted to existing rims, tires should be about $800 for your car assuming 17 or 18” rims. Mount and balance is usually $10-15 per tire. So you are at $850 for something that doesn’t suck.

Voice of C. Montgomery Burns > NotRichBMWOwner
08/26/2015 at 09:53

2011 335is. Pittsburgh, they love salt. I definitely agree with your logic.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:58

But a RWD car with winters will do thrice as good as that FWD with all-seasons. ;)

I daily’d my FR-S with Blizzaks last year and it did amazingly. (I live in Chicago btw, so it was definitely not a mild winter either)

CalzoneGolem > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 09:58

You should look for a set of used snows that fit your RWD car on CL and a winter beater.

smobgirl > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 10:01

It’s not the snow that concerns me - there are potholes in the (dirt) parking lots larger than my car, and I can’t even pull into my driveway without scraping the curb. I’ve bottomed out in much more practical cars than mine at one particular resort. Have fun in the Miata.

NotRichBMWOwner > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 10:11

I have a 2007 335i. Get stuck all the time. Definately winter beater.

cazzyodo > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 10:16

I got a winter set of steelies mounted and had them mounted for about $700 two years ago. I’ve done the changes myself in someone’s driveway.

So easy and so worth it.

fourvalleys > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 10:26

I faced this dilemma last year. I had a BRZ and found lots of good deals on older FWD beaters. Do I spend a few grand and pick up a decent FWD/AWD car, or do I spend a few hundred and DD my BRZ through winter?

Sometimes when you start to search for a car, you get a bit... distracted. I searched for a few weeks and did end up with another car - one that can’t be driven in winter at all. Oops.

So, I ended up finding some lightly-used winter tires on steelies for the BRZ. I’m really glad I did it the way I did though - the BRZ on good winter tires is incredible. It’s fun, predictable, and surprisingly capable. I didn’t even raise my suspension from summer height. That last part might be my biggest mistake, but other than some slush in the wheel wells and ice chunks hitting the front end, it wasn’t too awful. I’ll be doing it again this winter.

If you do get a beater, get snow tires anyway. Such a worthwhile investment.

deekster_caddy > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 10:38

Unless you only have one set of rims. Then you need tire machines, which I have at home. Saves you the cost of buying another set of wheels.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > smobgirl
08/26/2015 at 11:01

Yeah that really depends on the resort. I like the ones with nice paved parking lots lol. I have a season pass to Sugarbush so I will be there mostly. I had gone up in friend’s cars last season and it really wasn’t too bad. The sketchier part was some of the places we stayed on dirt roads. Those are the only scary part to me! Don’t want to be snowed into my lodging and not able to make it to the mountain haha.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > deekster_caddy
08/26/2015 at 11:02

Doesn't that damage the tire bead? I always thought once you take a tire off the wheel, it cannot be remounted. Is it actually practical to take a tire on/off multiple times? Winter wheels can be pretty cheap but yeah having a tire machine sounds awesome!

MonkeePuzzle > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 12:05

I tell ya, I had LITERALLY this EXACT debate. and it resulted in selling my second/winter car.

I had a Civic toy/daily driver and bought an older impreza. the impreza took over as daily driver, and was primarily purchased to tackle winter.

Unfortunately, impreza became part toy/project. In the end it was sold for about the cost of purchase and ownership. So I think having a second car was a net 0 cost.

I bought a set of summer specific tyres for existing second set of wheels, and bought a set of winter tyres for existing wheels.

In the end, owning one car with multiple wheels is less hassle than owning 2 cars and all the insurance and car shuffling for garage space etc. but.... I sure do miss having my impreza.

deekster_caddy > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 12:46

Not at all. Unless you are a hack at it. If you did it every day you might put some abnormal wear on the bead. But for seasonal changeovers, you might dismount/remount a tire 8-10 times over it’s lifespan, not going to harm a thing.

deekster_caddy > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 12:48

Anything with all seasons will be better than anything with summer tires in the winter. But nothing touches a snow tire. Wait until the first icy hill you go down with the snows on. You’ll be amazed! I know the hills in Pittsburgh, I can’t imagine driving them on ice.

deekster_caddy > smobgirl
08/26/2015 at 12:49

Some of the ‘holes’ in ski resort parking lots are amazingly large!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > deekster_caddy
08/26/2015 at 13:08

Ahh that is good to know. Snow tires were hard to find in my stock wheel size but it’s definitely good for future knowledge. I guess I should have researched that a bit more after someone just told me no don’t do it.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
08/26/2015 at 14:09

Last winter I got myself a set of cheap used steelies and some inexpensive winter tires and holy crap did they make a difference. I highly recommend it. Then you can ditch your no-seasons and run full summer’s the rest of the year.

Kinja'd!!!

deekster_caddy > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/26/2015 at 16:05

It is nice to have some extra sidewall, I know a few BMW guys who have nice summer wheels and tires and crappy winter wheels and tires a slightly different size - smaller rims, more sidewall to keep the same rolling height. Also a little narrower helps improve traction.