Buy winter tires & rims, or just tires?

I have my 1st Bimmer on the way (on the Tai Shan right now!), and will need a set of snow tires since I'm in the DC area.

My question is... Should I just buy a set of tires, or should i order tires and rims?

I have 17s on my car right now, and unless there are major reasons to get another set, i'd rather not drop another $600. Any advice?

How much does it cost to have tires swapped and balanced on rims? Is it bad for the tires to be taken on and off a set of rims each year? Is it bad for the rims?

What do you all do?

Thanks.

You want tires and rims for a few reasons...

1. 17" low profile tires are difficult to mount. The more often you do it, the more likely you'll eventually have the rim damaged/mangled.

2. Frequent mounting/dismounting of the tires is bad for the tire if you keep on reusing them.

3. Swapping every spring and every fall would require a trip to the dealer if you just got tires.

It's usually about $100 to swap 4 tires onto a rim. So in 3 yrs, you would spend $600 in visits to the dealer, vs. doing it yourself at the cost of 1-2 hrs of your time on a weekend.

Exactly.

These are the reasons many use an extra set. Often the price of mounting and dismounting each season, and your time spent/wasted at the local shop can make the package worth the extra $.

You can view our available packages for winter here :

http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BN4&...nter/index.jsp

Originally Posted by Gary@Tirerack

Exactly.

These are the reasons many use an extra set. Often the price of mounting and dismounting each season, and your time spent/wasted at the local shop can make the package worth the extra $.

You can view our available packages for winter here :

http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BN4&...nter/index.jsp

Gary - I just recieved my wheels and tires (went with your recommendation), but I made an appointment to have my dealer install them Not sure if this is a question for you, or for readers at large, but what would I need to install the tires myself? They come mounted and balanced. Do I just need an impact wrench?

No smart alec comments about needing a jack or anything like that. Obviously, I need to be able to lift the car. I mean BESIDES that...

Originally Posted by kneebiters

No smart alec comments about needing a jack or anything like that. Obviously, I need to be able to lift the car. I mean BESIDES that...

You need a jack.

You need a torque wrench (~$80-$100 from Sears). It will let you torque the bolts to the proper amount (which I believe is 88 lb-ft) when you put the wheels on.

For what it's worth, get a real floor jack. The emergency jack in the trunk is barely adequate for emergencies (one look and you'll see why).

Originally Posted by alee

For what it's worth, get a real floor jack. The emergency jack in the trunk is barely adequate for emergencies (one look and you'll see why).

Agree.

We also sell torque wrenches for $29.95. Sounds cheap, but I've used the same one I bought here for five years on many, many changeovers and still works great !

It can be as easy as it sounds, simply jack up the car, unbolt old wheels, bolt on new ones. Torque lugs, adjust air pressures and you're good to go. Should not take much more than 1-2 hours.