I went down to my parkade the other day (friday) to change out my summer tires because the weather forecast has finally predicted sucky weather. I had a giggle upon arriving however as there were 2 other people changing their tires already. All 3 of us with both front doors open and loud music playing :)

It made me wonder however, is changing my own tires worthwhile? or am I wasting time? So, here we go once again into cost/benefit math.

Cost of Paying Someone

Quotes range from $10 - $20 per tire at a shop if you have your winter tires on a second set of rims and all they have to do is swap them out. Double to triple it if you don't.
So we are talking $40 to $80 twice a year.

Cost of Putting on Your Own Tires

• Torque Wrench: $99.99
• Tire Iron: $0.00 (never loosen nuts with a torque wrench)
• Jack: $0.00 (comes with car)
• Socket: $8.99 (3/4" x 1/2" drive, deep)
• Time: 1hr = $20.00 (double to triple minimum wage)

Total: $128.98 = ~$130.00

Well the results are in. If you change your tires twice a year (spring and fall), it's going to take you about 1.5 years to break even. As in; yup I'm saving quite a bundle.

What about the money spent on rims?

Fair enough, lets do it. As stated above, it'll be $20 - $40 per tire if you don't own rims. So we are talking $80 to $160 twice a year to avoid buying rims.

Lets say rims are super outrageously priced at $200.00 per tire (they are normally about $75 to $125 including install). So we are talking about saving over $800 up front.

not buying rims or tools = $80 x 2 x # of years

buying rims, but not tools = $800 + $40 x 2 x # of years

buying rims and tools = $800 + $110 + $20 x 2 x # of years

Direct Comparison

Alright, apples to apples time. Starting at year 1, how much money are we spending and which option is cheapest? (green = cheap, red = expensive)
The equation is simple. Previous year/initial cost plus current year cost.

Patterns! I like patterns!
So if you're only going to own your car for 8 years, it's cheaper to skip spare rims. If you own your car for more than 11 years, you'll end up loosing money.
If you own your car and buy rims, your losing the race until year 12 when you start enjoying your long term investment strategy.
If you own your car, buy rims and tools, you're losing the race in the first 2 years, not winning until year 8.5, and then you're laughing your way to the bank.

Finally, this chart is a worst case scenario...No-one pays $200 per rim. So you can chop 3-4 years off the payback periods.

But I don't Know How To Do It / Can't Do It Myself

Understandable, trying to do anything in crutches was stupidly hard, I usually gave up and asked for help. I can't imagine the constant challenges of long term injuries and diseases.
Answer: Pay a teenager/neighbor/child something like $20/a 6 pack/dinner/cookies to do it for you. Besides, that gives you an hour to chat or do some other chore.

I mean, seriously, do you really need to pay $40-$80 twice a year to do this:

1. Loosen bolts with tire iron
2. Jack tire off ground
3. Take off bolts and tire
4. Put on new tire and hand tighten bolts
5. Lower car until tire doesn't spin
6. Set tourque wrench
7. Tighten bolts 1/2 way
8. Lower car the rest of the way
9. Tighten bolts fully
10. Double check all bolts
11. Drive 20-50km (1 day to work and back)
12. Check bolts again.