why are people changing the wheels and tires for the winter. is the winter bad for the wheels or what?

 

No, not bad for the wheels, more like bad in general. Most of us live where we get frequent snow and the roads get bad so we needed winter tires. It's not good to continuously take the same tires off and on the same rims, so it's better to have a spare set of wheels dedicated for snow tires. For me I wanted smaller rims, 18s were a lil big and I didn't like the thought of winter driving on low profile tires. Plus a pot hole on 18" low profiles could much more easily damage a rim than a 16" tire.

 

The stock tires on the SS/SC are "summer" performance tires. The tire design,material compound,profile, does not work well in winter (snow and ice) driving. Living in the south this probably does not factor into your everyday life.

Dam I miss living in North Carolina during the winter !

 

another good reason is if you look at prices for 18" snow tires they cost almost as much as 16" or 17" with wheels, plus it makes it a do-it-yourself job changing the tires.

I put $99 17"s wraped in Blizzak LM22s on my SS/SC for $1000 it would have been $800 for the 18" LM22s alone, so for another $200 I got a set of rims and saved on having to pay for tire mounting and balancing twice a year. Add to that the bonus of not having low profile tires and expensive rims to get messed up with potholes hidden by snow and it's a no brainer.