Hi everyone,
After 6 years without a car, I bought a second-hand electric Skoda Elroq (235/50 R20).
I’m looking for “mustachian” tips about tires: where to buy, what’s really important, and what’s unnecessary spending?
I have 20" tires now, but the car can fit 19". Can I use 19" rims for winter tires? I don’t care about looks, just safety and economy.
I’m new to cars in Switzerland, so I want to avoid getting ripped off. Thanks!
I’m in Lausanne.
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Salut à tous,
Après 6 ans sans voiture, j’ai acheté une Skoda Elroq électrique d’occasion (235/50 R20).
Je cherche des astuces “mustachiennes” à propos des pneus : où acheter, ce qui est vraiment important et ce qui est de l’argent jeté par les fenêtres ?
J’ai actuellement des pneus en 20", mais la voiture peut aussi être équipée en 19". Puis-je mettre des jantes 19" pour les pneus hiver ?
Je me fiche du look, je veux juste quelque chose de sûr et économique.
Je ne connais pas grand-chose aux voitures ni au marché suisse, donc j’aimerais éviter de me faire arnaquer. Merci !
Je suis sur Lausanne
It should be possible to use winter tires on 19’’ tim like I expect 235/55 or 235/50 R19. The load index has to match, the speed index can be lower than the requirement of the car but only for winter tires. The rim of high dimension give a feeling of precision because you feel “on track” in a curve. In difficult condition (snow or rain) you get a slight advantage with smaller rim and it is less bumpy ride.
Try reifendirekt.ch,
I got a few of mine there over the years.
Then you only need to have a garage willing to install tires they don’t sell to you.
Yes you can.
(I use 18" and 16")
- buy tires not in high season
- go to a small shop on the countryside, in my experience they can be competitve when you compare the total cost also with reifendirekt. (idk if reifendirekt offers delivery with tired mounted if you order also rims - if yes this would probably be a good option
I just ordered new winter tires and got them delivered to a small garage. As usual at the start they had no time before middle of December, but when I said only to mount the rim and no mounting on the car they could do it right away. I brought the tires the morning the tires arrived and it was done in the early afternoon for 40 EUR. Obviously I had to do the change afterwards.
I just ordered my tires from 123pneus and it’s definitely a company to avoid. I had the tires delivered directly to the garage, but even though I ordered and paid for four, they only delivered two.
Their customer service is disastrous. After reading the reviews on Trustpilot, I realized I could have avoided this whole situation, as many people have had the same experience.
Note to myself 
:
Tires are not something to save money on. Buying good-quality tires from someone you can trust and having them installed on time can save lives.
Also check the manufacturing date of the tires. They may be selling older stock as new. This is critical for safety, as the rubber loses elasticity over time even if the tire has never been used.
And from a rider’s perspective, this is a basic rule: the tires are the only point of contact with the road, so cutting corners on quality to save a few francs is never an option.
Tires are one of these parts where garages make a lot money. Tires are 100% something where you can save money on. This is possible without risiking your life
It is very well known that companies like reifendirekt or similar send up to three years old tires as factory new. This might be important for someone who does only few thousands km/year - I think tires are end of life with +/- 10 years (this will depend if the car is always parked outside in south spain or in a garage in switzerland).
But you can also safe money by changing the brand or by finding a dealership which makes reasonable prices. In my experience you can make good deals with small / private garages on the countryside if you go out of season. p. ex. if you need new summer tires shop around in february and let the put on rims already in february.
If they go to an extreme, you write them and replace with newer ones.
For me up to 2 years is OK (since I typically replace them every 5 or so).
PS now it seems you can pay slightly more and they “guarantee 202x DOT code”.
They wont do it since they specify this on their website.
I also think that storage conditions are important here. When TCS sais, the up to 10 years is OK, they are talking if 10 years in use. I think UV rays, salt in winter etc use a tire more compared to dry and dark warehouse. I would understand this limits like the date on your milk (use best bevor xy —> take a look and judge)
This year I bought a Tesla Model 3 Performance, which has the following summer tyre specs: 235/35R20 & 275/30R20. The official 19" winter wheels were 5000 CHF. So instead I bought winter tyres for the summer wheels, they were 300 CHF per piece, 1200 CHF in total. Tyre change costs 40 CHF per tyre instead of 20 CHF per wheel, so 160 CHF in total vs 80. Still, I think it was a good decision. I very much like the summer wheels.
Conclusion: Owning a sports car with big rims is not cheap. 
Haven’t all-season tires become good enough (and Swiss winters mild enough) to just use those and never having to worry about (and pay for) changing tires again?
That is my take. As long as you are living in the lowlands in Switzerland (and are able to sit out the snow storm by taking an alternative….)
Yeah, that’s what I heard. But Tesla gives you summer tyres, so i’d need to sell them or sth…
Plus, i couldnt find any all season tyres in my dimensions.
Aren’t all season tires bad in all seasons 
Indeed, I think thats a valid option.
How do you store the tires? one one top of another like with rims?
Other thought could be buy rims from another brand +/- 1000chf an do the change yourself. You should be good after 6-7 changes.
In this case buy a solid jack like this kind of: https://hauptner.ch/rangierwagenheber-grh-2-5-510-l/A83019801
It is faster, safer and does not hurt your car compared to the ones in the emergency kit (if you have one in your car)
Apparently not anymore:
TCS review (German)
Breaking distances: Driving somewhat slower should make up for slightly longer breaking distances in normal weather conditions.
Performance on ice and snow: Then the safety difference remaining is on ice or snow, so exposure varies by driving habits.
Non safety differences: slightly faster wear, slightly more noise.
Honestly, no idea. I did it at BestDrive and paid for storage of tires. I think they just stack them up. But yeah, this option only makes sense if you have very expensive rims and don’t want to have crappy looking rims during winter
This would be tricky, as the Tesla Performance rims are different for front and rear. I looked and couldn’t find any 3rd party options. And tbh I’d rather go with what Tesla officially recommends, than drive on some cheaper rims. The wheel + rims is after all the only part of the car that actually is in contact with the tarmac.
I park in an underground garage in a block, no space for tyres, no space for making any self-service. I just went with convenience. I’d rather spend a few hours working at the PC, than to tinker with the car and potentially break something.
The ability or not to make more money by spending more time at work makes quite a difference in these considerations.
At my company it’s quite vague, there might be a slight correlation between overtime and bonus / promotions but it’s not certain so my basement is full of tools and whenever I believe I can succeed in doing something, I try to do it myself.
Great for work life (i.e. other work) balance.