Steve and Never Enough:

1.) How much faster would they wear out? Given that new wheels aren't cheap, how fast would you be at breakeven? I have no idea and I'm no tire expert.

2.) Could you under inflate the tires a bit to at least help with the issue? Maybe it would even help soften the ride a bit - or would that be a problematic thing to do?

Let's do a quick little breakdown just to get an idea of the money we're talking about. I'm using simple numbers here to make the math easy. In reality, these numbers are probably off, but I don't know how much or which way.

For example, if you paid say $1K for 4 new wheels, and $800 for a new set of tires. Due to the center wear, they wear out 20% faster, so let's say 20k miles rather than 25k miles.

Compare at 100k miles:

If you bought new wheels and replaced the tires every 25K you would spend $1,000 + (4 x $800), or $4,200.

If you bought new tires only, every 20k miles, you would spend 5 x $800 or $4,000.

Of course, all of these assumptions [could / should / will be] wildly inaccurate. This also doesn't include any labor or other parts costs, etc., extra gas or maintenance, if it's your daily driver or weekend ride, and how long you plan to keep it.