Winter tires on the ES350 - downsizing? What do you do for your ES350 winter tires?

[lowrideraz]

Originally Posted by My 1st SUV

I just ordered 4 Michelin Pilot PA3 tires for winter driving. I was going to install them on my OEM wheels and then switch back next summer.

Is it true that switching between summer and winter tires on the same wheels is bad for the tire? Or is switching so expensive that after several years, you are better off buying new wheels for summer?

Both, plus you take the very real chance of your wheels getting marred during tire unmount and remount. Dedicated wheels are really the way to go, and as I have advised above, IMHO, it should be 16s for winter.

Lou

[LexusPia]

Originally Posted by CDN_Drew

I'm receiving lots of suggestions to downsize the stock 215/55R17 tires to 215/60R16 for winter use. The two tires are almost identical in size, but the 16" wheel has more sidewall, more flex, and "should" have better grip? Not to mention they're cheaper even with 16" steelies. Anyone have an opinion on this?

What do you do for your ES350 for winter tires?

I agree with others that the recommended way to go for you is downsize to 16" and on dedicated rims. Your current all-season 215/55/17s have almost identical outside diameter as say the Blizzak 215/60/16s (26.4" vs 26.2"). Not only that, once you balance your dedicated rims and tires, you are done whereas if you mount the snow tires on your existing rims (more money on the 17s than 16s), you have to rebalance the tires and rims each time you put them on and each time you remove them to put your regular all seasons on. Not sure what your local dealer or tire shop charges but here most charge $23 to $27 per tire for mounting and balancing which means each year you'll be spending $200 just to mount and balance your tires not to mention the wear and tear on your exisiting rims for going thru all that exercise. In fact my neighbor has a GS3 and he thought he was saving some money by not using dedicated rims for the snow tires until the tire shop took a small chunk out of his rim and somehow cracked it during the mounting or unmounting process. Of course the shop said they weren't liable for their mistake (they told him to read the fine print on the work order he had signed). Well, after that incident he bought himself a set of used dedicated rims.

You'll be saving money on the long run if you get dedicated rims while preserving your existing rims. Good luck!

[CDN_Drew]

Just to follow up, I did end up getting Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 from Tire Rack for $88 each in 215/60R16 and mounting them on Toyota steel take-offs from a Camry that I got on eBay for $35 each incl shipping. Not bad.