# Snow tires for Model Y Performance



## LK10 (3 mo ago)

Wondering what people are doing for snow tires on the MYP. I’m considering ordering one instead of a Long Range due to the much shorter delivery time. I need to coordinate this with the end of lease on my current car. Seems that snow tires are hard to find, and pretty expensive, for the 21 inch wheels. Any suggestions from owners who have experience with this already would be appreciated. Thanks


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## Luvtordrive (7 mo ago)

I’m a new MYP owner (4 months ) so haven’t had experience with the snow yet. My car came with Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires. I am thinking these will be fine for our winters in the NY/ NJ area. Where are you at that you think you will need snow tires before you get the car?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

LK10 said:


> Seems that snow tires are hard to find, and pretty expensive, for the 21 inch wheels.


I strongly suggest that you use the 21" OEM wheels only for summer or all-season tires, and instead invest in a set of 19" wheels for your snow tires.

I found the Pirelli Sottozero 3 snow tires in the correct sizes for your 21" wheels at Tire Rack (front, rear) for a total of $2164.

You can get the 19" wheels with snow tires and TPMS sensors direct from Tesla for $2750 (link). Or you could get a set of FastEV EV01 wheels ($1740) and a set of Vredestein snow tires ($965) for about the same price.

It's a little more up-front cost, but there are a lot of benefits with having separate wheels.

Your next set of replacement snow tires will be ~$1000 instead of ~$2164, recouping the extra up-front cost.
You don't need to remount and rebalance tires twice a year - just swap wheels.
Avoids the extra risk of scratching your wheels by the tire shop when they remount tires twice a year.
The taller sidewall will help avoid wheel damage if you hit a bad pothole.
It's much faster just swapping wheels. It's easy enough to do yourself with just a jack, lug wrench, and torque wrench.


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## metalfaceplates (10 mo ago)

garsh said:


> I strongly suggest that you use the 21" OEM wheels only for summer or all-season tires, and instead invest in a set of 19" wheels for your snow tires.
> 
> I found the Pirelli Sottozero 3 snow tires in the correct sizes for your 21" wheels at Tire Rack (front, rear) for a total of $2164.
> 
> ...


THIS IS A GREAT POST AND RESPONSE! I myself own a 2021 Model Y Long Range. It just turned 1 year old in the middle of September. I drove it all last winter in Northwestern PA and we get a TON of snow up here. I purchased 18" rims and snow tires for it, and they FIT!!! 

Here is the exact rims I bought:


https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-wheels/mb-wheels-crux/p/66924?exactmatch=true



Here are the exact tires I bought:


https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/bridgestone-blizzak-ws90/p/40868?exactmatch=true



Total price paid: $1,293.17 on Nov 3, 2021. Prices may have gone up since then! I also purchased a set of 4 Tesla OEM valve stems with sensors.

There is no setting in the car for 18" wheels. Only 19" for my stock geminis. I just keep it on the 19" setting and it works out perfectly.

There is barely room for the calipers to clear, but you can still fit a pencil in there with enough clearance and it is just fine. 18" snow tires are so much cheaper and safer than 19s!!!

Let me know if you have any questions. Ill help ya out.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

metalfaceplates said:


> I purchased 18" rims and snow tires for it, and they FIT!!!


I'm not sure if he still feels the same way, but our resident wheel & tire guru has cautioned Model Y owners against going lower than 19" wheels for the Model Y. Maybe he'll chime in to let us know if his views have changed at all since he originally made these posts.



Mad Hungarian said:


> At this stage of the game I'm not a huge fan of running 18" winters on the Model Y, as it isn't an OE approved size.
> Having worked directly with multiple OEMs on accessory wheel programs over the years I can tell you that they vary dramatically in what they are willing to allow. Some are happy with diameters outside their OE range as long as other critical specs such as load ratings and offsets are respected, others however are completely draconian about going any smaller than what the vehicle's lowest trim version is equipped with. This usually stems from the fact that they haven't done emergency avoidance or rollover tests with the smaller wheel and taller tire, so they aren't keen to take on the liability.
> Now I have not yet seen anything one way or another from Tesla on the matter for the Y, but it is the first time they've built a vehicle which can downsize beyond the OE size range and it is apparent that they can be extraordinarily finicky about such stuff when they want to be. So before you pull the trigger on an 18" setup I would talk to your local service department and make sure they won't give you any grief over it.
> Maybe I'm being uncharacteristically paranoid, but I really don't want anyone to have any issues with the Mother Ship!





Mad Hungarian said:


> Now as to why we didn't bother making an 18" with the required load for Y? The main reason that the most folks want an 18" option for winter minus sizing, but there are zero winter tires available in the ideal 18" size to match performance characteristics, which would be 255/50R18. Now, you could in theory run a 235/55R18, but we're now getting into a very grey zone as Tesla doesn't offer anything on the Y in that diameter or section width. This in turn means that if this likely much wobblier tire doesn't play well with the ABS, Traction Control, Electronic Stability Control or Regen, the big T is under no obligation to fix it like they did with the regen problem on early Model 3s running soft winter tires in the OE size.
> 
> Bottom line: If you can find an 18" wheel with all the right specs - most importantly a sufficient load rating - to match your trim of Model Y you can definitely fit it. But if the 18" tire selected causes ABS/TC/ESC/Regen side effects, you may well be on your own to deal with it.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

Unless a miracle occurs, trying to coordinate a lease end with the acquisition of a Tesla is a fools errand. 
Be ready to have two or no cars for a few months.


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

Luvtordrive said:


> I’m a new MYP owner (4 months ) so haven’t had experience with the snow yet. My car came with Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires. I am thinking these will be fine for our winters in the NY/ NJ area. Where are you at that you think you will need snow tires before you get the car?


I'm in Colorado. I'm definitely a fan of snow tires in the winter.


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

garsh said:


> I'm not sure if he still feels the same way, but our resident wheel & tire guru has cautioned Model Y owners against going lower than 19" wheels for the Model Y. Maybe he'll chime in to let us know if his views have changed at all since he originally made these posts.


Thanks!


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

garsh said:


> I strongly suggest that you use the 21" OEM wheels only for summer or all-season tires, and instead invest in a set of 19" wheels for your snow tires.
> 
> I found the Pirelli Sottozero 3 snow tires in the correct sizes for your 21" wheels at Tire Rack (front, rear) for a total of $2164.
> 
> ...


Thanks very much! Do you think there'd be a significant difference in performance between 19" and 20" wheels and tires?


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

metalfaceplates said:


> THIS IS A GREAT POST AND RESPONSE! I myself own a 2021 Model Y Long Range. It just turned 1 year old in the middle of September. I drove it all last winter in Northwestern PA and we get a TON of snow up here. I purchased 18" rims and snow tires for it, and they FIT!!!
> 
> Here is the exact rims I bought:
> 
> ...


Thanks very much!


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## T Sportline (Jul 27, 2018)

Gang - we are loaded with Model Y snow tire packages, have a look here - happy to answer any questions relating 








Tesla Model Y Wheel and Winter Tire Package


Tesla Model Y Aftermarket Wheel and Winter Tire Package. 19", and 20" Tesla TST, TSS, and Forged Wheels for Tesla Model Y by T Sportline. Shop turbine style wheel and winter tire package, arachnid style wheel and winter tire package, and forged wheel and winter tire package for your Tesla Model Y.




tsportline.com


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

T Sportline said:


> Gang - we are loaded with Model Y snow tire packages, have a look here - happy to answer any questions relating
> 
> 
> 
> ...





T Sportline said:


> Gang - we are loaded with Model Y snow tire packages, have a look here - happy to answer any questions relating
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks. I'll take a look!


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

LK10 said:


> Thanks very much! Do you think there'd be a significant difference in performance between 19" and 20" wheels and tires?


No. Larger wheels are mainly for looks. They're also heavier. You can still purchase performance summer tires for the smaller diameter wheels.


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## LK10 (3 mo ago)

garsh said:


> No. Larger wheels are mainly for looks. They're also heavier. You can still purchase performance summer tires for the smaller diameter wheels.


Thanks


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## Mad Hungarian (May 20, 2016)

garsh said:


> I'm not sure if he still feels the same way, but our resident wheel & tire guru has cautioned Model Y owners against going lower than 19" wheels for the Model Y. Maybe he'll chime in to let us know if his views have changed at all since he originally made these posts.


Nope, my thinking on this is basically still the same. The very good news is so far I haven't heard of any ABS/TC/ESC/Regen issues caused by the taller, softer 18" tires, which after what we went through with lower speed rated winter tires screwing up regen on early M3s was really my main concern. We got through that OK, with the Mothership fiddling around with code to finally fix it, because the problem was occurring with OE size tires. But that's clearly not the case here and I'm pretty sure if it did Tesla would tell us to take a hike due to it not being a validated diameter.
I do know folks running 18" on the Y have commented on a noticeable degradation in steering feel and overall transient response, so I still think this really only makes sense if you live in a really extreme winter weather region or are doing a lot of trail & off-road work.
To each their own then on what tradeoffs best suits their use case.


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## Herewego (Sep 21, 2018)

I just bout the 18" from From TSportline the Overland Adventure Wheel And Tire Package. I havne't been in any snow yet but in the rain, handles great and the ride is way better than the stock 21" for smoothness. As far as the look, looks great with 18". It raised it about .5 inch and tires/rims look nice


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## T Sportline (Jul 27, 2018)

Herewego said:


> I just bout the 18" from From TSportline the Overland Adventure Wheel And Tire Package. I havne't been in any snow yet but in the rain, handles great and the ride is way better than the stock 21" for smoothness. As far as the look, looks great with 18". It raised it about .5 inch and tires/rims look nice


Thanks for the order!


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## yumski (1 mo ago)

Herewego said:


> I just bout the 18" from From TSportline the Overland Adventure Wheel And Tire Package. I havne't been in any snow yet but in the rain, handles great and the ride is way better than the stock 21" for smoothness. As far as the look, looks great with 18". It raised it about .5 inch and tires/rims look nice



Hi Herewego
Do you expect the Overland tire package to be good in the snow (and sand). I looked at those. Didn't know if they would be good in snow. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place but I couldn't find anything but Continental All Season at T Sportline to use in snow. Don'y know if these would be any better than the Michelin all season on the stock Tesla Model Y performance which is what I drive. Tire rack seems to have very few snow tires left also. Maybe they'll get additional deliveries.


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## T Sportline (Jul 27, 2018)

yumski said:


> Hi Herewego
> Do you expect the Overland tire package to be good in the snow (and sand). I looked at those. Didn't know if they would be good in snow. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place but I couldn't find anything but Continental All Season at T Sportline to use in snow. Don'y know if these would be any better than the Michelin all season on the stock Tesla Model Y performance which is what I drive. Tire rack seems to have very few snow tires left also. Maybe they'll get additional deliveries.


The T Sportline Overland package with WildPeak tires is excellent for snow, those are 3 peak snow tires.


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## Rub"Y" (4 mo ago)

SIL went with Michelin X-Ice on rims with sensors for his "Y".


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## skinnytoo (29 d ago)

Hey guys, new to the forum and Telsa. Just picked up a MYP. Living in Michigan, I am looking at some winter tires. Do you think spending the extra money with T Sportsline is worth it? I have priced wheels and tires with a couple local shops, they are 30%-40% less. Both places indicate they will be like factory OEM. I'm just not familiar with T Sportsline. Thanks in advance for any insight.


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