Rep Power: 0

I was just wondering how many of you take your aftermarket wheels OFF for the winter and how many of you leave them ON. I live in an area where there will be a fair amount of snow and salt on the ground, but not a tremendous amount. Ultimately, is this really THAT bad for the wheels? Someone help me better understand. I don't see how salt can ruin wheels considering most of them are cleared over with some sort of protectant coat. Anyway, any input would be apreciatted.

 
Rep Power: 0

I took my 17's off and put my stock rims back on and bought some blizzak ws50 tires for the snow. I don't think the snow would have hurt the rims finish, its just the risk of sliding and bending a rim! Or hitting a pothole cuz of a stupid plow tearing the street up. Also I guess a thinner tire is better for snow, and my 17's were wider than stock.

 
Rep Power: 0

ahh, yes... Safety. I forgot about that.

*brushes off*

hehehe. Thanks for the reply. You made a good point I hadn't considered.

 
Rep Power: 0

Old steelies are on here....road salt can be a beaaatch!!


2Hottie

 
Rep Power: 320

I just put the steelies on today. The stockers are smaller than the aftermarket setup I have, so when I lowered the car to take the jack out.........

The lift point on the front was trapped in the jack cup. I had to jack the car up, put wood blocks under the tires, lower the car back down to take the jack out.

 
Rep Power: 0

It depends on how much your rims were. If they are like $500-$600 for the set, leave em on, anything more I would take them off.

 
Rep Power: 0

I have 215 45 17 Falken ziex ze 512 tires on 17x7 enkei cdr9 wheelz. This morning it snowed about 6 inches up here in CT .... I don't even know if I can make it out of my driveway. I was thinking about putting the stock tires back on... the Falkens claim that they are mud and snow m+s, but I guess that is just because there is a certain amount of space between the tread blocks or something. Has anyone drivin those tires in the snow? and what kind of mileage on those tires, they seem to be wearing quickly, at least on the outside. Maybe thats from always trying to drive twice the posted on-ramp speed. ya know, gotta start accelerating early to merge.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah I have debated I just ordered rims and I may have them on for a little while but yeah we get a lot of rain and mud here in the NorthWest so I may take them off when we start getting more toward snow season here.

But yeah it all depends I wouldn't drive aftermarket rims in the snow and salt myself.

Nick

 
Rep Power: 0

i took mine off... don't want to get that salt on them

 
Rep Power: 0

I hope you know your rims are constantly getting bombarded with salt whether it's manually deployed into the streets or not. ESPECIALLY if you live near the ocean. The roads are COVERED in salt from the air. Anyhow. I woke up this morning and there was snow everywhere.... Too late, my aftermarkets are still on. Oh well. I'll just try to keep em clean after I drive it.

 
Rep Power: 421

Mine are still on and I live where you live (I think?). We'll see how much slippin' and slidin' there will be, but I don't expect a huge amount. I lived through the last winter with the stock wheels, so we'll see...

 
Rep Power: 0

you dont have too, just go through the car wash often, which you should be doing anyway in the winter....unless your low profiles give really bad traction anyway, then switch

 
Rep Power: 366

I think that taking your aftermarket rims off for winter is kind of silly. You bought them to enjoy, not to worry about. Just take good care of them. It rains in the spring, so the roads are slippery, but you don't take your rims off then. I haven't heard of people taking off their ground effects during the winter and putting the stock bumper covers back on. If you're not going to make use of the parts you buy, just save your money. Or, if you have a bunch of money *cough*S2000man*cough* , buy a winter car for those extra bad days. Thats just my opinion.

 
Rep Power: 0

I hear you man. Nothing really out of the ordinary is happening during the winter. Except for the extra amount of salt (which I can't imagine it's doing anything terrible ). I wash my car at least once a week anyway. In the winter I'll run it through the car wash because it's too cold to was manually. As long as I keep it clean there shouldn't be a problem. I think somewhere along the lines it became routine to take your wheels off during the winter. Most likely because of street tires that weren't good in the snow. After a while people probably just started following that pattern and didn't bother to question why or put any thought into why they're taking their wheels off. Just doing it because everyone else does. *shrugs*

And yes grey. I don't live far from you at all. Maybe 40 miles away. Did you have problems with traction at all when it snowed? There wasn't much accumilated on the streets or anything, but I didn't have any problems. My tires do very, very well in wet conditions. I have Yokohama Parada Spec-2's. I've been impressed with their performance since the day I bought them.

 
Rep Power: 0

actually.. ive heard of people who take lots of things off for the winter (bumpers, skirts, lights... all sorts of stuff)

yes.. theres more salt, but there's also a much greater risk of collision with other cars who have stupid drivers, and with stuff that you cant see under the snow

personally, im just leaving my 18"s off.. and holding off on the installation of my neon underbody kit

 
Rep Power: 342

people take off parts cuz they are taking care of them. they dont want to ruin them in case of a accident in the snow.. and i believe traction would be alot worst in snow compared to rain. and oh, people take off their groud effects cuz they dont want to ruin the paint from all the snow