Sell 21" alloys, or keep for summer?

[richardp]

Recently acquired a second hand Enyaq (80 / 2021 / 25k miles), all very nice, except it has 21" Betria Anthracite wheels which are very costly for tyre changes (as mentioned many times on this forum). I _think_ it's still on it's first set of tyres

• In case it's relevant, the sizes are listed as: 8.5Jx21" 235/45 R21 100T/EU front and 9Jx21" 255/40 R21 102T/EU rear

It seems we have three options:
1. Keep the 21" wheels
2. Sell the 21" wheels (ebay/here?) and buy new/used 19" wheels
3. Use the 21" wheels with summer tyres and buy new/used 19" wheels for winter

Assuming
(a) I have storage for the winter/summer tyres
(b) I have a young family that I want to keep safe in winter
(c) long term cost effectiveness is very important

What would you recommend?

[Goaty]

Out of interest, it’s not black, is it? WV71….

[Ken3966]

You will significantly reduce the value if buyers expect 20” or 21” and it has non standard 19”.

Surely you will only change the tyres once or so during normal ownership use, (apologies if you are a high mileage user), won’t buying new wheels cost more than the extra cost to change?

If you really want winter tyres I would buy 19” wheels and winter tyres. 4 to 5 months less use each year on summer tyres and you can sell them separately once car is gone.

I did the same some 7 years ago and used them on a Yeti and then a Karoq for 6 winters and then sold them this year as too small for Enyaq. Still loads of tread left!

[richardp]

Out of interest, it’s not black, is it? WV71….

No, only that 4th digit matches

[richardp]

You will significantly reduce the value if buyers expect 20” or 21” and it has non standard 19”.

Surely you will only change the tyres once or so during normal ownership use, (apologies if you are a high mileage user), won’t buying new wheels cost more than the extra cost to change?

If you really want winter tyres I would buy 19” wheels and winter tyres. 4 to 5 months less use each year on summer tyres and you can sell them separately once car is gone.

I did the same some 7 years ago and used them on a Yeti and then a Karoq for 6 winters and then sold them this year as too small for Enyaq. Still loads of tread left!

We usually buy at 3 years old and then drive for how long the car will last, or if circumstances change. So I'm hoping this car will last well over 100k miles and more than a decade of ownership, but we'll have to wait and see.

19" seems to be on average about £100 cheaper per tyre than 21", so I'm hoping it might pay off if we actually keep the car long enough

[Goaty]

Out of interest, it’s not black, is it? WV71….

No, only that 4th digit matches

Not my old one then - that went back last month on around 25~26k.

I had to change the tyres on my Betria’s after 17,000 and that was after driving it sensibly. It suffered from inner edge wear.

[C2atb]

Very lucky to be 25k on original tyres with those wheels . A lot including me had rear inner edges destroyed well before then . Just keep them on and see how they are for you in winter . Unless you live in a a very harsh winter country

[richardp]

Very lucky to be 25k on original tyres with those wheels . A lot including me had rear inner edges destroyed well before then . Just keep them on and see how they are for you in winter . Unless you live in a a very harsh winter country

We live in the Northumberland, UK, so not very harsh. I'm not really thinking about snow performance, rather simply the better performance in wet weather when it's cold (e.g. sub 5 degrees)

Maybe I'm wrong and they are not actually the originals. They are Pirelli Scorpions, attached.

RearRight

RearLeft

FrontRight

FrontLeft

[Pea]

If you drive up to about 20k per year you could buy only all season tyres. But go for quality here, select one of the top brands. Problem solved.

[richardp]

If you drive up to about 20k per year you could buy only all season tyres. But go for quality here, select one of the top brands. Problem solved.

I agree in principle, but then makes the cost effectiveness problem bigger; "top brand" + "21inch wheels" = "big money"

The median from https://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/255-40-21 is about £250 per tyre, so that means shelling out £1000 every 20k miles, hence adding 5p/mile whereas I'm more used to around 1.5p/mile for tyres. I think dropping to 19 inch wheels will lead to around 3p/mile. So the ROI after 100k miles is about £2000. If I buy new 19s and selling these 21s, maybe I'll breakeven if lucky, therefore is £2000 long term return for no investment

Or maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong?