Summer rims and tires

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biffidum

Active member
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
30
Location
Niagara
Let me start by saying that I did attempt to search the forum for info... but my sub-par search skills turned up little useful info.

I purchased a used set of snowflake Kia rims from a regular Kia for summer time use (245/40R18). Admittedly the tires are a wider (9" wide) than the stock EV rims (8") and they are substantially heavier... my thinking was that since they were from a Kia Soul, that they should be fine for my EV. When I went in for a service they flagged the rims as not stock... and huffed and puffed... I asked them to recommend some rims and they never got back to me.

Here is my dilemma;
1) I want to buy some after market rims that are lighter and narrower with lower rolling resistance tires (my summer range is 118km with wide heavy snowflake wheels - the same as my factory rims with snow tires in the WINTER)
2) The rims need to tickle my motorhead spot ...sorry no EV rims :(
3) I don't want to void my warranty as I am at 100,000km and my battery is slowly deteriorating... don't want to miss that battery replacement if needed... the battery will likely live past the warranty before getting below 70% capacity :( Unless I hammer it for the next 6 months (stupid idea)
4) I have been looking at l7x7 Sparco Assetto rims and 205/55R17 Kumho Majesty tires. This pair puts me only 0.2" out total diameter and has the same width as stock tires (205/60R16)... 1/3 of the weight!

Ok, what are your thoughts? Warranty issues? Wheel tire combos people have tried?

sample image of snowflakes on an older Soul:
2294-2012-kia-soul.jpg
 
Considering you're past the 5-year/100,000km Powertrain Warranty that covers the axles, and drive-shafts, you're free to do as you please.

As far as I know the 8-year/150,000km EV Components warranty is completely unrelated.

Going to a lighter set-up should be overall better all around, so a new wheel and tire set is probably a safe bet.

Cheers.
 
My EV Soul came with 215/55 all season tires on 17" rims.

For winter driving, I swapped these out with 235/45 winter tires on 18" rims which I already had. These were from a non-EV Kia Soul. These are low-profile tires on a larger wheel, so gave the exact same tire height - but they are 3/4" wider.

This gave great traction and offered noticeable improvement in handling - but I did notice worse "mileage" with the heavier wheels.

I also had to live with a constant TPMS warning light since the winter tires didn't have them and it would have been expensive to swap the TPMS sensors.
 
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