Tesla Model 3 18-Inch UP-05 Wheel and Winter Tire Package

A Winter Set You Will Actually Want to Look At

There is an unspoken rule about winter wheels, which is that they are supposed to be ugly. Steel wheels, black plastic covers, whatever the shop had cheapest. The logic makes sense on the surface. Winter is hard on wheels, so why put nice ones out there.

The UP-05 18-Inch Wheel and Winter Tire Package rejects that premise. Your Model 3 spends around five months of the year on this set. That is close to half of every year that you look at the car in your driveway, park it at the office, and pull it into a restaurant lot. A winter set should be a set you like.

The UP-05 was designed by Sasha Selipanov, whose work defines the look of some of the most significant hypercars of the last decade, and his signature appears on every wheel. It merges elegance with aggression rather than choosing between them, and forged from 6061-T6 aluminum at as little as 19 pounds per wheel, it is lighter than most of the OEM wheels it replaces.

Fits Every Tesla Model 3, and 18 Inches Is the Right Winter Diameter

This package fits all Tesla Model 3 years and trims, including cars delivered on 18-, 19-, or 20-inch factory wheels.

If your car normally wears 19s or 20s, coming down to 18 for winter is a deliberate upgrade rather than a step backward. Winter roads punish low-profile tires. The 245/45R18 fitment here puts noticeably more rubber between the rim and the pavement, and that sidewall absorbs the impacts that define winter driving: frozen potholes, plow ridges, frost heave, and the general deterioration of pavement that will not be addressed until later in the year. A shorter sidewall transmits those impacts into the wheel. A taller one absorbs them.

Smaller diameter also means a narrower contact patch relative to a 20-inch setup, and in snow that helps. A tire that concentrates the car’s weight over less area cuts down toward the pavement rather than floating on top of packed snow.

Forged Strength Where Winter Actually Tests It

The UP-05 is forged, not cast. That distinction is the entire reason it belongs on a winter set. Forging compresses and aligns the grain structure of the aluminum under enormous pressure, producing a wheel that deforms before it fractures. A cast wheel, made by pouring molten aluminum into a mold, has no such grain alignment and is far more likely to crack when it takes a sharp impact.

Winter is nothing but sharp impacts. Every pothole that opened up during the last freeze-thaw cycle, every curb hidden under a snowbank, every expansion joint that has heaved an inch out of alignment. The forged construction is what stands between those impacts and a wheel replacement in the middle of the season.

The wheels were validated through track testing to confirm they withstand the harshest conditions for both track use and daily commuting, and they are engineered to work with Tesla’s OEM center caps, lug nuts, and TPMS sensors.

Square Fitment Means You Can Rotate

The 18×9 +20 fitment is square, with the same wheel and tire at every corner. Rotate front to rear on schedule and wear spreads evenly across all four tires.

For a winter set this is a bigger deal than it sounds. Winter tires are expensive, they only work for part of the year, and their useful life is measured in seasons rather than miles. Anything that stretches a set from three winters to four is real money. Rotation is the simplest way to get there, and square fitment is what makes it possible.

Tire Options for the UP-05 18-Inch Wheel and Winter Tire Package

Two winter tires are available, and they solve different problems. Every package includes four UP-05 forged wheels, four tires, four TPMS sensors, and mount and balance labor.

Vredestein Wintrac Pro Wheel and Winter Tire Package

Includes:

• 4 UP-05 18×9 +20 forged wheels in Gloss Black, Satin Black, Satin Bronze, or Satin Titanium
• 4 Vredestein Wintrac Pro winter tires in 245/45R18
• 4 TPMS sensors
• Mount and balance labor

Best for: Drivers in climates where winter means cold and wet more often than it means deep snow. The Wintrac Pro is an ultra-high-performance winter tire built for larger-diameter wheels, and it holds onto the dry grip, wet braking, and steering precision that make a Model 3 enjoyable to drive. Choose this if your winter is mostly cleared roads with occasional snow events, and you want the car to still feel sharp on the cold, dry days that make up most of the season.

Michelin X-Ice Snow Wheel and Winter Tire Package

Includes:

• 4 UP-05 18×9 +20 forged wheels in Gloss Black, Satin Black, Satin Bronze, or Satin Titanium
• 4 Michelin X-Ice Snow winter tires in 245/45R18
• 4 TPMS sensors
• Mount and balance labor

Best for: Drivers who face real ice and sustained deep cold. The X-Ice Snow is a studless ice and snow specialist built around a full silica compound that stays flexible in severe cold, with a rigid polymer inclusion in the tread for additional grip. Michelin claims ice braking distances up to 2.7 meters shorter than a leading competitor. If your commute includes black ice, packed snow that never fully clears, or long stretches below freezing, this is the more capable tire.

The Long-Term Case

The economics of a second wheel set are straightforward once you run them out. Seasonal mounting and balancing on two sets of tires costs real money every year and does cumulative damage to tire beads and wheel finishes. Running one set of all-seasons through both seasons wears them faster and gives you worse grip at both ends of the temperature range.

A dedicated winter set on its own forged wheels eliminates the mounting cycle, keeps your summer wheels out of the salt, extends the life of both tire sets, and gives you a car that is meaningfully safer in the conditions where it matters most.