Do steel 18 inch rims exist for snow tire mounting?
 

Boy Howdy,everybody!

Just got my wife a stone stock 2012 Mazdaspeed 3.
I read somewhere that snow tires are a must for areas of the country that indeed get snow/ice.We get snow/ice semi-often.

I like being practical and where I live winter temps go through cycles where we have days where the temp goes over 40 degrees,into the high 40's.

I know driving on snow tires in temps over 40 degrees tends to quickly shorten the life of these tires.

So I'd like to know if I can get some cheap steel wheels and mount the snow tires on them and do quick swap outs during those days when we have no snow and temps above 40 degrees.

Do such wheels exist and where would I find them?

Thanks,

Nik

I got 17" wheels for my winter tires. A little more rubber goes a long way in my neck of the woods come snow time

16" steelies will fit and 16" tires are way cheaper.

Pretty sure they don't make 18 inch steel wheels that fit ms3. Or at least if they do I haven't seen them. Why go 18 inch steel wheel when you can go smaller and save a bunch of money on cheaper tires? You could practically get a set of wheels and tires 17 inch for the cost of the 18 tires alone.

For a winter setup, you want smaller diameter wheels anyway since having taller narrow tires help them cut through the snow on the road. At least, that what's I read before.

You won't see negative effects on the wear of the tires until it is consistently above 50-60 degrees. Even at heightened temps the increased wear isn't going to be dramatic. I doubt a few thousand miles operated at a higher temp would drastically impact the total life of the snow tires at all.

As for size I would get the tallest and narrowest tire that fits, most go with 205/60/16 for snow tire size, myself included.

This^ exact size I run. Makes me a tank

I run 205/60/16 in the winter as well on some cheap 16" rims I grabbed from tire rack... They plow right through anything, I had no issues over the winter even with the wet, slushy, slippery snow we get.