I am looking to get some used rims for my snow tires. I do not need the rims to match. Does anyone with experience in these matters know if having mixed wheel types would jeopardize safety?
The wheels for your winter tires don’t have to match what’s on the car, but they should match each other.
I would not mix steel and alloy side-to-side on the same axle, except in an emergency.
Aren’t you going to use four winter tires? I hope so.
Buy four steel rims for your four winter tires.
Some junk yards and used tire retailers have steel rims at reasonable prices, and they will have four that match.
Yep, I was planning to use four, new, matching snow tires.
Thus far the prices from the folks who have all four are not as reasonable as the folks who have just two at a time. But, as it turns out, even if the four wheels do not from the same car, they are all steel. No alloys have made it to the salvage yards.
Thanks for the input. I am going to try to find four used steel rims. That sounds like the safest and cheapest bet short of just buying 4 brand new rims.
Cheers, Chris
I suggest checking tirerack.com for their prices on winter tires and steel rims. The cost shipped included the tires mounted/balanced to the rims at no charge. The steel rims I believe are only $50/each usually if available in your size.
There may be. If your car doesn’t come with steel wheels, your tires might be farther apart or closer together and not track properly. I would like to think that there would be no difference but I don’t trust car makers anymore. I haven’t heard of a problem, so I have to make them up.
Whether steel or alloy, the critical characteristics of the wheels should be the same. Those are the lgg pattern, the diameter, the rim widthn and the offset. The offset is the characteristic that determines your track width.
www.carbibles.com has a good primer on this subject. I recommend a visit.