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[elijaww]

I would like to own a set of winter tires but not sure if I need to buy a wheel/tire combo or just the tires. How much tear and wear does it take to swap a tire on an 18" aluminum rim? cost to re-balance it? Can this be trusted to any gas station type places? I can't decide which route is better and more cost effective. The gas station i am thinking about is right outside of the storage unit, so i can literally "bring" the tires or the wheel/tire combo to them. The winter season for me is 2 months perhaps and i drive low miles, if that makes any difference.

If I am to go with wheel/tire combo, do i need TPMS on the second set of rims? Will the computer get confused or need recalibrating in any way?

my vehicle information:
'07 335i
Front: 18x40x225 runflat
Back: 18x35x255 runflat

[BTM]

Since you have a MY2007 - are your valve stems rubber or metal?

If they are rubber, you don't have TPMS and don't need to worry about it.

[elijaww]

rubber - great. One worry less

[Bpinsm]

Most good service stations can swap the tires easily and with no damage. Last time i had it done it cost me $15.00 including the balancing per wheel.

[hmmcolor]

Let me know if you find a set of tires that'll fit your staggered 18s. I'm in the same situation and haven't seen any winter tires out there. Just summer and all season.

[EYE4SPEED]

There are lots of sizes available for winter tires... but a 1/2 inch width does not mean you cannot run the same tires on all corners?

To minimize the difference from front to back, I'm planning on running 235/40 on all corners. It is a popular Audi size, so lots of used sets for sale.

[fdriller9]

Personally, I would get a dedicated set of winter wheels with winter tires on them.

I have a set of wheels with summers that I'm riding on now and I use my stock 159 style wheels with OEM all season RFT , for the winter. I CAN'T wait for my all-seasons to wear so I can mount some regular, non-BS, non-RFT, on my stock wheels.

Did I mention I hate RFTs?

[CirrusSR22]

Get a wheel & tire set. Even at $15 per wheel (which is on the cheap side) for mount/balance that's $60 per swap, $120 per calendar year. With a two month winter season, you'll easily get four seasons out if the tires if you don't drive like an crazy person. So four years in your at $480. That'll buy wheels right there. Not to mentioned years and years of using those wheels after that (or sell them and get a good chunk of that cash back)

[Gary@TireRack]

Originally Posted by CirrusSR22

Get a wheel & tire set. Even at $15 per wheel (which is on the cheap side) for mount/balance that's $60 per swap, $120 per calendar year. With a two month winter season, you'll easily get four seasons out if the tires if you don't drive like an crazy person. So four years in your at $480. That'll buy wheels right there. Not to mentioned years and years of using those wheels after that (or sell them and get a good chunk of that cash back)

+1

Winter
http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AH8&...nter/index.jsp

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by ysbelman

I would like to own a set of winter tires but not sure if I need to buy a wheel/tire combo or just the tires. How much tear and wear does it take to swap a tire on an 18" aluminum rim? cost to re-balance it? Can this be trusted to any gas station type places? I can't decide which route is better and more cost effective. The gas station i am thinking about is right outside of the storage unit, so i can literally "bring" the tires or the wheel/tire combo to them. The winter season for me is 2 months perhaps and i drive low miles, if that makes any difference.

If I am to go with wheel/tire combo, do i need TPMS on the second set of rims? Will the computer get confused or need recalibrating in any way?

my vehicle information:
'07 335i
Front: 18x40x225 runflat
Back: 18x35x255 runflat

Here is what I think, the short answer to your question would be "Get a winter set of wheels and tires for your car" and I will tell you why.

I always have a set of winter wheels/tires. First of all it is more economical unless you only plan to keep your car a year or two then by all means use the same rims. However, make sure you go to BMW and let them handle your tire change out.

Your OEM wheels are properly in the neighborhood of $600- to $700- each, balanced and ready to go (including all taxes). If you let some Joe Blow change your tires from your wheels two times a year there is a very high possibility that damage may be inflicted to your wheel and you end up replacing it. If you have the work done at BMW and if they screw up they will be responsible. The cost of changing tires two times a year, including balancing and mounting will properly run you in excess of $300-/year.

On the other hand, if you find yourself a set of used wheels (there are sets out there all you need is to look) or even a repro set. In the long run you will be ahead of the game and have piece of mind that no one will screw up your nice and delicate OEM alloy wheels.

Case in point, on a US road trip this summer I had the misfortune of having a flat on my RFT also it turned out that my wheel was cracked and this was the cause of the flat. Well I was lucky on one hand that I found this BMW dealer in a medium town in Idaho, however, unlucky, that this BMW dealer had a very limited amount of equipment and once the new wheel arrived directed me to Joe Blow's tire shop to change out the wheel.

Well the tire shop changed the wheel alright however damaged the wheel in the process of removing the tire in two places. See the pictures (3 and 4 in my garage).

Pictures of gauge markings made during tire removal

Well making a long story short, I had to take the wheel back to Canada to claim warranty, BMW in my home town found the wheel to be bend, I am wondering why it would be bend? So no warranty replacement for that wheel.

So when you think about all that it sure makes sense to have that second set of wheels and you might benefit in the long run when you sell your car. Good luck to you whatever you decide to do.