Wheels for all year round (other than stock)

mweavr23

Member
:
2009 Mazdaspeed3
I live in Chicago and with the winters here, I want to be able to get wheels that can survive the winter, but look good in the summer as well. I dont want to deal with the hassle of changing wheels every winter and spring. I would love to get a set of RPF1s (or something similar), but I am just wondering if anyone knows how the salt would affect the finish. I clean my car religiously all year round so I am good about cleaning the salt off, but I am also worried about it eating through the finish. I guess one thing I dont know is how stock wheels differ from aftermarket wheels when it comes to the finish of the wheel. Does anyone know the difference? Are the stock wheels not painted silver like the RPF1s are?
 
the stockers are usually finished in a coating that is less pretty, and more durable than aftermarket wheels.

if you got a set of wheels powdercoated, you should be fine... but what about switching wheels for summer/winter is a "hassle"... it takes like half an hour TOPS twice a year.
 
It would probably be easyier to switch the wheels out rather than worrying about the salt issue. Then you would only worry that your Summer wheels will be stolen!!
 
Its not that it is a huge hassle to change them. It is just that I dont really have a place to do it myself and I dont really have a place to store the extra rims and tires as well. I am not worried about my wheels being stolen with where I live though. Thanks for the info though.
 
Ummm... I ran no season tires for about 3 months... never again- RPF1s in summer with star specs and 16 inch MZ3 wheels in winter with hankook icebears.
 
If Chicago is actually anything like they show on "Wrecked", I'd never compromise on winter tires. I have steel 16" Mazda wheels and Michelin Primacy on all 4. The car is awesome in the crap weather with that setup. They're frickin' lighter than the stock summer tires and 18" rims, too, har har, you can feel the drop in unsprung weight right away.
 

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