xsi123

Will be taking delivery of a 2014 Cayman Base in February. It will come with the base 18" Cayman wheels. This will be a 24 or 36 months lease and will be a daily driver car. Since I live North East, winter tires is a must.

I am reading this forum like crazy in the last 15-20 days to try and make a decision but I would appreciate some advice especially since this will be a leased car with no intention of buying it at the end of the lease.

Here are some option I am thinking:

1) Buy winter tires and use the same wheels that come with the car to mount/unmount them every 6 months at a local tire store. By doing this a) I save some money on wheels and b) I don't have to deal with buying TPMS etc. The down side is that I am not sure what the damage on the tires/wheels will be when you mount/unmount them so many times (4 times if I lease for 24 months and 6 times if I lease for 36 months). At the same time, since the car will be here February, I will have to do this change 2 more extra times (one at arrival in the middle of winter and one more time at the end of the lease, when I give the car back)

2) Buy winter tires and a set of wheels. Two issues(?) here: a) I am not sure if investing in $1000+ wheels that will be used in a leased car is a good idea and b) I can not find any wheels I like (or looking close to the OEM wheels (that I like) at a "reasonable"(?) price). I could always try to sell these at the end of the lease or even use them in the next leased car but I am not sure. One more down side on this, is that I will have to invest in TPMS sensors as well. Also, if I go with this option, I might as well invest in a floor jack and a torque wrench and do the changes my self (?)

So, what do you think? What do you normally do on a leased car? Do you approach it differently?

(I posted the same Q on a different forum without any reply yet. Maybe it is a stupid question. Who knows...)

Thanks

PasPar2

Buy a winter wheel/tire/sensor set, sell them when the lease is up.

FrenchToast

You could do the tire swap each year. Someone who knows what they are doing in mounting tires shouldn't damage the wheels, especially considering the new machines don't touch the wheel rim anymore. However, the weights need to removed every time and reapplied, and the goo removed. Unless you want wheel-weight goo everywhere. But yes, a careless tire mounter can easily scuff the hub, rim or anywhere else pretty easily.

If you get aftermarket wheels, you need to make sure you also get correct length and seat lug bolts. (And of course thread type). And you need to make sure the wheels are hubcentric.

Swapping tires all the time is a PITA, but perhaps not if you aren't going to have the car for long.

Or, - perhaps get an AWD car for the winter, throw the snows on that?

Take care,

BIG smoke

Buy winter tires and rims and tpms before you take delivery of the car. Have them put on the car for pick up. No point totaling your new ride in the first hundred feet.
You could be driving a base Malibu rental.
Call the tire rack (or other site sponsor) and have them shipped to your dealer for installation for delivery in Feb.
Only a fool wears tennis shoes all year.

W211

I just swap tires, and make sure the shop has the Hunter Road Force Balancer:

http://www.hunter.com/balancer/roadforce/