# Same wheels year round?



## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

If you are in a salty winter environment I recommend a set of steelies or cheap alloys with formal snow tires.
Over a couple of years, your OE wheels will corrode at the bead and tire valve area and you end up with rim leaks as well as the discoloration of the road chemicals, and some degree of clear coat damage.
So, you end up paying to have the tires dismounted, the bead surface smoothed, the stem bore cleaned out, new stems and a remount/rebalance every few years.
And, although the car handles snow driving fairly well on all seasons, it is spectacular on formal snow treads.

By having a winter set of wheel/tires, you effectively double the life (in time) of your summer, factory rims as well as they stay leak free and good looking.
To this, you get four or five (depending on miles) years of safe(r) winter driving on rims you have purchased to suffer the elements.

There are drawbacks......tire/rim storage being one of them.......I keep mine on one of those cheezeball moving cart things from Harbor Freight in a corner of the garage.
The other drawback is you have to have the tire moniters 'relearned' every spring and fall.....most tire stores do this for free and if you have them do the switch every spring and fall it is part of the service.

It sure is nice every spring though, to spruce up the car and install your still, like new, rims.

Rob


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

^^He is right about the wheels. Mine are terrible, I take a picture of one of mine and post it up.


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## 170-3tree (Nov 4, 2014)

I have a set of aftermarket wheels for summer and use my stock alloys for winter. Saves my nicer wheels from salt. I just clean my car religiously in the winter to prevent salt damage all over.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Not gonna argue about summer/winter tire and if needed vs convenient, gonna go with wheel quality taking a hit each year as stated above. I'm on my 3rd set of Eco wheels since winter 2013. This next time I'm gonna recoat them or powdercoat them if I don't break down and go aftermarket or stock take off(LTZ)


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

So glad I can use summer tyres all year round without worrying about them corroding.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Aussie said:


> So glad I can use summer tyres all year round without worrying about them corroding.



I really do NOT Think that I have been more pleased to present this to you at this time and moment ..to an exceptional poster here on The Cruzen Talk ...........................






your Welcome Rini !


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

While you guys are freezing this is what we had today.

View attachment 177041


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

With very few exceptions (Nokian WRG) there is no all-season that can consistently perform in the snow. 

Your new all-seasons are working reasonably well this first year in the snow. By the time you have two or three years on them you'll discover that they will be down right dangerous. 

I always ask people what their insurance deductible is. Then I tell them to spend at least this amount on snow tires. Because a true snow tire (mountain snowflake symbol) will save you at least one at-fault collision, if not many more.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Aussie said:


> View attachment 177041


Hey Aussie, what is the data field in the center upper part of the radio? The US cruze this area is blank, only the clock and outside temperatures shown. Strangely my cruze has shown the data separators(dotted lines) in this area a few times but they always disappear after a restart.


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## 170-3tree (Nov 4, 2014)

Aussie said:


> So glad I can use summer tyres all year round without worrying about them corroding.




I was gonna be angry and jealous of you until I remember that I got all rally cross on my drive home from work the other day in the snow. Talk about fun! Lol


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## StylinPro (Jan 7, 2016)

JoshMonty said:


> Hi guys I got my Cruze LT is April and just bought new all season tires about two months ago. There doing very well in snow so far as they are good quality tires but I'm wondering if it's worth dishing out 900 bucks on winter tires and rims. If I can keep them as ks and they last that would be great. I can always wash them twice a month or so too if that helps. They are the oem alloys that came with the car. Thanks guys


You can always plasti-dip them for the winter....if you don't want to dish out 900...for under 30 bucks for all four with rattle can plasti-dip one can per wheel. This has already been proven to work in the worst of environments....when the weather is over, just simply peel it off and you wheels will be the same as before you dipped them! I live in Michigan, and that's what I do in the winter time...you don't even have to take them off your car either!

Home Depot
Lowes will have what you need in a variety of colors


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Good for what you see....won't prevent rim leaks.

Rob


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## StylinPro (Jan 7, 2016)

That's pretty much the point.....especially aluminum not being easily corrosive....even with salt


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

spacedout said:


> Hey Aussie, what is the data field in the center upper part of the radio? The US cruze this area is blank, only the clock and outside temperatures shown. Strangely my cruze has shown the data separators(dotted lines) in this area a few times but they always disappear after a restart.


Top row, time of day, pre set temperature for a/c and outside temperature.

The rest is FM symbol and radio details. WSFM1017 is the station ID.
4 101.7 is the button to select it and the frequency.
Bottom line is details of what is playing.

This picture is when I use USB stick.
View attachment 177457


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

We have the factory Fuel Max LRRs on the MSR 013s, and then the Michelin Xi3 winter tires on the stock 17s. 

Mainly for convenience, with the side benefit that the MSRs are about 5 lbs lighter per wheel than the stock wheels.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

MP81 said:


> We have the factory Fuel Max LRRs on the MSR 013s, and then the Michelin Xi3 winter tires on the stock 17s.
> 
> Mainly for convenience, with the side benefit that the MSRs are about 5 lbs lighter per wheel than the stock wheels.


Did they msr 's increase fuel mileage at all?


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

You know, I'm not really sure if they have or not. They're noticeably lighter when moving wheels around by hand, but I'd wager that the stock 5-spokes are more aerodynamic, and have 7mm more positive offset, so it sucks the wheels in a bit more - better for aero.

It's hard to compare because most of our driving with the stock tires on the stock wheels was done when we lived at my in-laws old house, or when we were moving. The drive to work was 50 miles and mostly highway, and driving between houses was 70 miles and again mostly highway. We do have a couple months of living here, so running our current route, with the stock wheels and tires, before I put the winter tires on the stock rims in November '14. In the spring is when the stock tires got mounted to the MSR 013s. 

So I'd really have to put together a chart from my fuelly logs and see if they're comparable, but this can be done.


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## jcihos (Jun 9, 2013)

As others have said find a cheap set of Alloys or Steelies (I found a set for $200 on CL with Blizzaks on them) and run those during the winter. About the only negative is having to store 1 set of wheels year round.


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