Second set of wheels for snow tires and TPMS Sensors

You don't need the tpms on the extra rims, the whole concept is just a sink hole for money and hassle.

When I got snow tires for ours, I ended up getting them mounted on black steel Corolla rims, through a Toyota dealership. Even though our car came with the 17" low profile tires, I went back to 15" for the snows. They asked if I wanted TPMS installed on the snows, I think while shaking their heads, LOL.

The only downside is a little light comes on in the dash, the tpms warning. It's very unobtrusive.

FWIW, here's what I used:

Corolla steel rim, part no: 42611-02471-SW
steel rim lug nuts: 90942-01007

Even they weren't sure at the outset if it was compatible, but they thought it would be. In light of this, and since they're price wasn't that far above Costco's, I let them do the whole package (used Michelin X-Ice, in 195/65R15).

The steel rims were $70 each (likely inflated Canadian price). We'd just purchased the car, and winter was coming (yeah right, I don't think it snowed once that year).

The lug nuts weren't strictly necessary; I believe the OEM chromed nuts would work, but look a little awkward on plain steel rims. The above mentioned nuts are just galvanized, open-ended utilitarian nuts. Using them will at least preserve the OEMs.

When I approached the parts department of the dealership we bought from, they were telling me the Prius was a "flagship" vehicle, and no steel rim was avialable. I canvassed a few other dealerships, and one of them came through with this Corolla rim solution.

Anyway, this is all immaterial if you go with your second gen rims, assuming they're compatible. Just more info/options.

 

Quick question- do you run snow tires on all 4 wheels- or just the front 2 on the Prius.
I've had 4wd cars/SUV's for so long now (23+ years) I forgot the procedure for snow tires

 

Thanks!
This winter I'll still have access to my Honda CR-V for snow days, but my daughter gets that car next year (after completing driver ed. etc..) and I'll have to use the Prius year round after that. I'm a bit concerned about snow after so many years with 4WD/AWD vehicles.

 

Local tire dealers told me that new government regulations prohibit them from installing wheels without TPMS on any car that has that feature as standard.

 

I believe they are selling you baloney with your tires. There are tire dealers out there that will install wheels without TPMS. I had no problem finding one.

 

This was the line at the corporate tire stores I frequent, Discount Tire & Belle Tire. I know government regs changed in this area and who knows, maybe the corporations are playing stretching the regs to upsell or cover themselves legally.

 

Not sure if it's different in Michigan but I live in Edmonton, Canada and the Costco here has no problem installing the wheels without TPMS. In fact, the lady at Costco even mentioned that some of their customers tape a little bit of black tape on the display to cover up the yellow TPMS light that turns on. =P
But yes, pretty much all the tire dealers in Edmonton wanted to have the TPMS installed as well. That's why I'm getting my tires changed at Costco. =)

 

Use black duct tape to cover the tpms light till you go back to summer rubber.

 

I run 15" steelies w/o TPMS sensors during the wintertime. I learn to just ignore the light. It will flash for a bit, then stay on solid for the duration of the trip.

 

Belle Tire replaced all 4 of my TPMS sensors on my summer wheels and the light is now out. We'll see if it lasts the rest of the fall before the winter wheels / tires go on at the end of November.

 

There is a 5 min hack to disable the light. Do a search and you will find it.

 

All 4 wheels.

 

Toyota is pretty silent on recommendations:

-- tire size?
-- speed rating (Q, R, S, T?)
-- winter wheel part numbers?
-- winter inflation pressures?
-- factory winter tire packages offered by Toyota?

I am unaware of any of the above.

Also, I don't believe that Prius TPMS system is"self learning" when sensors are changed.

You're really on your own.

 

All this is heavily documented on other threads.

Every time you change your rims with a different TPMS sensor you need to take it to the dealer so they can match the sensors with the car. It only holds one set of 4 rims in memory. This means twice a year you need to pay the dealer. You can buy special tools to get around this but they are not cheap.

The 5 minute wire hack is the best solution.

 

Tire Pressure Monitoring is a nice safety feature to have. It alerted me to an industrial staple in my sidewall and got to a Les Schwab Tire Center for a free fix vs. disabled on the road. Especially true in winter driving.

I'm just changing the tires, using the same rims and avoiding costs of additional wheels and the TPMS issue.

 

to disable it or to fool it? I went through the threads and didn't see a way to disable.? Could you be so kind to point us?

[edit] - found the information here. Thanks Judgeless