Time for another of those "Hot Tips" to help you take care of your car and car-accessories! If you're one of those car owners who really enjoy dressing up your car, then you probably have spent some "serious" money on some fancy wheels on which to mount some even more-expensive tires. Right?

Now that winter is really coming on strong, especially in the northern climate, it's time to consider how to care for those expensive wheels and tires. I personally took the "easy way out" and bought some Good-Quality Mud & Snow Rated tires and put them on a cheap set of factory steel wheels. The Fancy Wheels and tires are in the garage till spring.

If you're wondering how you'll spring for a set of steel wheels, especially with many of them starting at prices like $70 each, and up... check your local junk yard. I gave my local yard a call and found four nice used wheels for $20 each. They were dirty and not all the same color... but a trip to the car wash and a few quarters later, they were clean as new. Next stop, Wal-Mart for a can of spray paint that I found in the Auto Department... and this stuff is intended for painting car wheels. Oh yes, one other necessity may be a roll of Masking Tape? Then just set the wheels on some newspaper and gently spray them (don't over-do-it) until the colors all match.

Then find some tires that will get you safely through the winter and have them mounted on your "like new" rims.

With this accomplished, you can now swap to the "winter gear" and safely store your High-Priced tires and wheels until the Spring Thaw. If you're like many of us "car nuts", you probably have tires on your car that really are not all that safe on Ice and Snow anyway... so this is really nothing more than "cheap insurance!"