New winter wheels or work on old ones?

An aftermarket steel wheel for Gen3 or Gen4 size are ~$50 each. You may find cheaper ones if you look for used, but usually if they have to ship them, you won't be saving much. If your winter tires need to be replaced soon, you can price tires and wheels as a set. Most on-line tire place have free mounting and balancing. Sometimes alloy wheels on sale are cheaper than steely. Check Discount Tires online, I bought my alloy wheels and Michelin Xice snow tires as set for less than $500 total including installation hardware, mounting, balancing and shipping.

Edit: Whoops, I see you are in Canada. I am not sure Discount Tires will ship to Canada. You may have to source on-line or local tire shops for your local.

 

Yeah maybe just recycle the old rims and get new.

Before putting them on: wax them. And every time they come off, wash and wax them. Don't scrape any curbs, be careful not to chew them up with impact tools. Also, pick up a gloss-black touch-up paint. Then they will last, longer than you want, lol.

I got these for $70 apiece, new, through a CDN dealership in 2010:

Corolla 15" black steel rims p/n: 42611-02471

As part of a snow tire install package. I'd suspect there wasn't much mark-up on the rim, most of the profit was on the tires.

 

Hey you are in Ontario like me just outside the GTA.

If you plan on buying new black steel wheels, I would suggest buying new steel wheels when you decide to replace your winter tires. Some tire shops offer winter tire packages which include both hubcentric wheel and winter tire and install/mount/balance is free. Popular examples in the GTA include Tires23 and SimplyTire. Buy it in the fall and you can combine it with a tire rebate from the manufacturer.

It is pretty hard for the steel wheel to rust to the point that it is no longer useable. I don't know how much rust you have or the condition of your wheel but you would have to evaluate whether it is still safe. In my case, I simply sanded off some of the rust and repainted the steel wheels using rust primer and 2-3 coats of black glossy rust paint spray such as Rustoleum. The new paint would slow down the rust from spreading further. There are youtube videos of people doing this. The painting process was easy but it was quite a bit of more work than I expected.

Other people, like my co-worker simply drives on the rust wheel. It just looks ugly.

 

Yeah simplest might be to recycle those, get new. Again: a lot of dealership offer packages in early fall, with a steel rim (usually 100 compatible) plus snow tires. I get the sense they're making a decent profit on the tires, selling the rims close to their cost. The Corolla rims I mentioned are one option: maybe that's what Toyota dealerships in your area would use?

 

How old are the tires, and how much tread depth remains?

I was kinda assuming you got them in 2010, but maybe they're younger? If they've got 7~8 32ths tread depth still they're good for a season or two. The cut-off for effective snow traction is maybe 6/32".

Age is a factor too: tires gradually dry out, and cracking can get pronounced around 9~10 years. Varies a lot though.

 

It hinges on the remaining "life" in those snow tires I think. If it's borderline, and considering the rusty rims, consider:

1. Purchase replacement rims in advance.
2. Wax the bejeesus out of them.
3. Purchase replacement snow tires, and bring along the new rims as well.
4. Have them dismount the old tire, and mount new tires on the new rims.

They'll very likely do that for no extra charge, compared to regular tire swap on the same rims. They'll also for sure keep the old tires no charge. Every time you buy tires there's an enviromental levy tacked on, to pay for this. At least there is in BC, I'm assuming guess, but I'd suspect Ontario is similar.

They'll probably be willing to dispose of the rims as well, though not sure. If not, there's very likely local places you can drop them off. In Greater Van one outfit I know of is called Happy Stan. They'll take items like old lawn mowers, barbecues, tire rims, basically anything with lots of scrap metal, as long as it's not too difficult to deal with.

Should be something similar in your neighbourhood. I wouldn't doubt there's even some outfit that collect rims specifically, has the resources to refurbish them: acid bath or something, prime and repaint.

I think one clue to your rims condition is your mention of "storage". Your $80 probably gets you just that. They get taken off, filthy/salty, and sit, for eight months...

If you can manage to DIY storage, have a house with driveway, garden hose etcetera, consider storing them at your place. If you wash and wax them, apply touch-up paint as needed, they'll never get in bad shape.

 

Maybe.

Rims can probably be fitted into the rear and passenger seat foot wells. or just atop the wheels in the hatch, with some carpet scrap spacers. Here I am, on the way to Costco last fall, getting the OEM rims reshod:


(Plenty of room still, lol.)

 

You can order a set of wheels with whatever tires you want right from tire rack. Will mount and balance them and ship them to your house..

I also like Discount Tire.. if you have those in your area.
About $45 per tire for regular all seasons. with the warranty which is pretty good .
You will still need new wheels... Though.

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Tirerack shipping and duty (and the exchange rate) to Canada makes it not that attractive so far.