The following is a guest post from a Tesla North reader based in British Columbia, Canada
Winter is coming. Well, that’s what people kept telling me after my wife purchased her first Tesla Model Y Long Range.
Living on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, down in the Lower Mainland, our winters are relatively mild. You could make do with all seasons but when you really need winter tires the most, you don’t have them.
That being said, we decided to get dedicated winter tires for our Model Y, given the fact the car is much heavier than a traditional gas car, plus we wanted the peace of mind knowing we would never get stranded if a sudden snowfall comes down. The weather has been getting crazier each year it seems. Global warming?
Tesla has some stock winter tire options but they are currently sold out for Model 3 and Model Y. You can save a tonne of money if you decide to shop with a third party.
Here’s what Tesla offers right now (but out of stock):
With this in mind, we started researching online to find out where the best place was to buy winter tires, to basically replace our 20-inch Induction wheels. After research on Facebook groups and the web, we settled on Michelin’s Pilot Alpin PA4 winter tires in 255/45/R19 ($329 CAD each).
These are top-rated non-studded performance winter tires, approved by Porsche, and also highly recommended by Consumer Reports. There’s also a $70 rebate right now as well (we were able to submit it online by attaching our receipt).
Instead of dealing with the hassle of mounting and un-mounting tires onto our 20-inch Inductions, we opted for 19-inch wheels to go with 19-inch tires. People online said you get better range and with 19-inch sizing, you get more options for wheels and tires.
We opted for Replica R241 Satin Black wheels, in 19 x 8.5, 5 x 114.3, 64.1, 40 offset (at $265 CAD each).
These wheels look great and will closely mimic the design of Tesla’s Induction wheels for winter, and look much better than steelies. At 8.5 inches in width, the rim doesn’t stick out like the 9-inch width Inductions. This will save us from getting curb rash (don’t tell my wife this).
Where the heck did we buy our winter tires and wheels in Canada for our Tesla Model Y? There are numerous online retailers but one stood out for its competitive pricing, and that was PMCtire.com. No, this is not a paid advertisement as we spent our own money here.
PMC Tire is based out of Quebec and shipped all four tires mounted and balanced on the wheels. Mounting and balancing is free of charge. Shipping was also free via FedEx. Our order came within a week and was packed securely with bubble wrap and cardboard protecting the rims. Everything arrived in excellent shape.
Now, you’ll also need Tesla tire pressure monitoring sensors (TPMS). We bought ours through Tesla, at $95 each. They can be found at Tesla service centres and we got ours from coordinating with Tesla mobile service. TPMS are also available from PMCTire but there’s a markup at $125 each. It’s up to you to decide if you have the time and hassle to get TPMS from Tesla.
All in all, we still need to get these bad boys installed onto our Tesla Model Y. You could buy a similar set of winters for the Model 3 as well, all you need to do is follow the car configurator on PMCTire’s website and it will show you what wheels and tires will fit. All we need now is a black lug nut cap kit from Amazon and we’ll be all set for whatever winter brings us.
We’re looking forward to driving safely in the wintertime, even if there’s no snow. Traditional tires start to get dicey at 7 degrees Celsius (44 F), so when it gets cold, it’s better to switch to dedicated winters so you can be prepared in inclement weather. With our work commute, we can now ride safely in our Model Y.
It was definitely an investment upfront (about $3070 after tax and Tesla TPMS), but long term I think we’ll be happy with our choice. We’ll follow up next time once we get these mounted and our Induction wheels stored for the winter.
