Taking Delivery With Winter Tires

Good question.
I think if they were/are going to have that as an option, they should have it in the design studio.
Keep us posted.

I ordered the winter wheel set and the DS had the wheels swapped prior to me picking it up, but I still have the OE wheels/tires as well.

scruzloose33 said:

I ordered my MS with 19" wheels because I intend to get aftermarket wheels for the summer. Has anyone had luck getting Tesla to deliver the 19s with the winter tires instead of the all seasons? My DS said he has never heard of this request and doesn't think it would be allowed. I have been waiting three days for him to contact Fremont, but my car is already in production and I don't want him to drag his feet and miss the opportunity. Should I call Fremont directly (if that is even possible) or is this request really not an option? I could have sworn I read that others have done this, but I can no longer find the threads of how they did it.

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Just my opinion...you'd be better off getting snows elsewhere. Nokian haakas are wonderful in the snow (there a whole thread on snow tires) the pirellis that Tessa's has (in my opinion) are not very good. At least if you plan to drive in snow.

i also don't think you should call the factory direct. Even if your car is in production putting different wheels on is very easy and not something that they can't change out quickly offline if need be.

I've never heard of an owner taking delivery with winter tires without actually purchasing the winter tire package (extra set of wheels and tires) from Tesla.
I expect you'll be able to resell your all seasons for a reasonable price ...

It is opportune that you asked this winter tire question. I will be taking delivery at the end of March 2016 and also would like winter tires from the factory.
Keep us posted as to what you find out.

Also, Alsashley79 has some sage advice. I know the Nokian HaaKa's are one of the best winter tire sets going. I ran them on my 2004 Crossfire and they do really grip.

Here is what I am going to do when my S arrives.... I will probably immediately have a set of Nokian Haaka's ordered and
mounted by my local tire shop that carries Nokian. Then I will buy a set of Tsportline 19" dark cyclones and have the OEM tires mounted on them after ordering from my local SC, a set of 4 dark stemmed tire sensors, 4 dark center caps and 20 dark lugs. This is the best I can figure out IF your request is not granted.

In this method, I will have 2 sets of rims and tires, one for summer and another for winter. I have the room to store the extra set.
I am still pretty handy with a wrench and franky changing tires is not that hard a task if you have the tools.

scruzloose33 said:

It was actually a sales rep from the Tesla showroom that suggested this as an option. It isn't the end of the world if it isn't possible, but I thought it may be easier to sell them with the winter tires. Maybe enough people run the 19s with all seasons to not make much of a difference.

How much do unused stock 19s with all seasons and TPMS sensors sell for nowadays? Anyone interested in making an offer? I am in Chicago, but I can probably use the packaging from my aftermarket wheels to ship anywhere.

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So if I'm understanding right, you only want to end up with one set of wheels which will be aftermarket. I presume you'll dismount your summers and mount your winters each season? If so, why not just keep the 19s and mount snows on them for your winter wheel set. So much easier to do it that way. You can then just sell the all seasons that come stock.

My price point is 2 years old now and getting a set of take off 19s was a bit more difficult ... and the price from Tesla at the time was absurdly high. Anyway, in 2013 I paid $1,190 for 19" OEM with the Goodyear all seasons, not including TPMS or shipping.

It's not worth the hassle to do this. The winter tires that Tesla offers in the U.S. are far worse compared to aftermarket winter tires that you can get, relative to the stock all seasons vs aftermarket. For winter tires, I strongly recommend something like the Nokian Hakka R2's.


If it were me, I would just take delivery with the stock tires and figure out how to sell them. That might cost you a couple of hundred dollars in the resale, but is it much less hassle and you will have the good summer and winter tires that you desire.

I requested this to no avail. I would've had to buy an extra set of tires and they would've switched them at delivery, but I couldn't avoid getting those tires I wouldn't need

scruzloose33 said:

Thanks for the info. The actual goal was to end up with one set of 20" aftermarket wheels with all season tires that I use all year. I intend to sell the 19" stock wheels and the tires (and, potentially, the TPMS sensors). The reason for wanting winter tires at delivery is I thought it might be easier to sell them to someone who purchased 21" wheels and wanted 19" winter wheels, but didn't want to pay $2500 from the Tesla shop. The added benefit would be that if I couldn't sell them for a decent price, I would keep them as my winter set without having to replace the tires.

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Yeah. Just take delivery of the all seasons and resell the wheels and rubber together. It's the way most take-off wheels are sold. And people buying an extra set of OEM wheels will want to put on better snows than what Tesla would provide anyway.

AT3 said:

I ordered the winter wheel set and the DS had the wheels swapped prior to me picking it up, but I still have the OE wheels/tires as well.

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I ordered my car with 19" wheels, and had the SC pull the OE tires and mount winter tires. I will be putting the OE tires on Craig's list.