swapping tires with rims: good idea / bad idea?

[BennyM]

I bought some blizzaks mounted on basket-weaves from a 535i owner. Now that I'm pretty sure it's not going to snow again (although, you never know in MN), I need to put my summer RE950s back on. BUT, the basket-weaves look sooooo much better IMO than the bottle-caps. I heard that taking tires off of rims damages the beads? or some tire structure and, hence, why people have separate sets of whole wheels for each season. I am considering having someone swap my summers with the basketweaves and the winters to the bottles....but only if you guys assure me that doing this JUSY ONCE won't cause serious damage to my tires. Thanks.

[Rick L]

Everytime you take the tire off the rim, you're taking a chance that the tire become demaged. I believe the damage is rare but it does happen. Just make sure you don't take them off more than once. Sidewalls are very soft and damage easily.



I bought some blizzaks mounted on basket-weaves from a 535i owner. Now that I'm pretty sure it's not going to snow again (although, you never know in MN), I need to put my summer RE950s back on. BUT, the basket-weaves look sooooo much better IMO than the bottle-caps. I heard that taking tires off of rims damages the beads? or some tire structure and, hence, why people have separate sets of whole wheels for each season. I am considering having someone swap my summers with the basketweaves and the winters to the bottles....but only if you guys assure me that doing this JUSY ONCE won't cause serious damage to my tires. Thanks.

[David Chen]

Having moved a set of Michelins between three different rims and still getting over 45K out of them, I can't say there's been any damage due to frequent mounting/dismounting cycles. Of course, the biggest factor is the monkey behind the tire changer.

[big6dad]

it should not be a problem...good choice in the swap....did the same myself. The "discs" are much easier to clean in the winter. Go for it

[BennyM]

it should not be a problem...good choice in the swap....did the same myself. The "discs" are much easier to clean in the winter. Go for it