Snow Tires Questions

It may depends on shops, but if you plan to have winter tires on separate set of rims wihtout TPMS, make sure you can install them yourself. Since functional TPMS is required by law in US, due to liability issue, shop will not install tires without TPMS onto newer cars. They may even give you hard time mouting tires on rims without TPMS. Dealing With the Legalities of TPMS: ‘Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse’ - Service - Modern Tire Dealer

 

Thanks for that. What a depressing read though. I really think they'd get more bees with honey: reduce the associated costs, and increase the ease for the car owner, to add extra sensors, whatever. The current situation is an expensive, frustrating debacle.

 

So do we understand the Prime's TPMS abilities? Search was failing me today...
Has it been confirmed that the limit is 4 sensors or is 8 viable or a Prime?
I may be willing to pay someone to program another set once but not at each tire change.

OR, has there been a confirmed method for me to reprogram the TPMS pairing? I remember reading about processes that involve a laptop, Windows XP and some questionable versions of techstream but I never gathered enough energy to crack that nut.
Maybe it's time to look more closely at that approach if our limit remains four.

 

Expensive, yes. I have a quote from Tirerack for a set of four Xice mounted and balanced onto steel rims with TPMS shipped to my front door at $885.80. If alloy rims, then at least $200 more. And I still have to install them either myself or pay someone to do it for me. With Tirerack, I can order the tires mounted and balanced without TPMS, then I can install the tires myself, but if I ever have to take my car for a service while having winter tires on my car, I may get in trouble not having working TPMS. On my Gen3, I put Xice on the same OEM rims. Yes, I had to take the car to a shop for tire changes twice a year, but my local tire shop did mounting and installing tires for free for life of tires purchased there. The cost of tires and initial installation was all I had to pay. So, that is what I may do for my new Prime too.

 

I have not checked for PRIME yet, but if Toyota did not change from Gen3, which is very likely, then ECU takes only 4 TPMS. You can program ECU yourself, but only with OBDII divise. I heard you can do it with Techstream if you already own one that works, but the cheapest TPMS re-learn via OBDII devise is ATEC Quickset ATEQ Quickset light TPMS reset tool It sell for ~$130 at amazon or other retailers. However, I have found installing aftermarket clonable TPMS (such as Schrader EZ sensor
Schrader EZ-sensor
) with copied original OEM TPMS IDs are easier and less expensive, though I have not done this since I didn't buy separate rims for the winter tires.

 

Fantastic suggestions. Many thanks.
I have snow tires with existing sensors that I have never bothered programming into my 2010 prius
AND, I need a new set of snows for the prime since the tires I had on the 2004 prius I traded were well past their useful life.
Sounds like I should put the EZ sensors in those rims when I make the swap.

 

Good, real snow tires are the most important factor in getting around in snow. I’ve driven in snow with 2wd and snow tires where people with 4wd and all-season tires couldn’t make it. If you live in snow country, it’s highly recommended.

Never used the Michelin. Mostly bought Blizzaks. I always get a 2nd set of rims and switch them myself. Snow tires will wear very quickly in warm weather. Gas mileage will likely be less due to the soft compound and aggressive tread pattern.

 

Our 15" Michelin X-Ice2, on Corolla steel rims, are neck-and-neck for mpg with our 17" Michelin Pilot MXM4, on the porker OEM rims.

Not sure who that compliments lol.

 

Here in the Pacific NW I've been using Michelin X-ice winter tires on my 2006 for about 8 years. My mileage hovers just about 50mpg when the weather is dry... not too far off the low to mid 50s I average with the Energy Saver A/S tires I use the rest of the year! They perform very well in rain, slush, snow and ice and are far superior to the all-season tires when things start getting frosty, especially if you have any hilly areas to contend with. However, I find I still have to use chains two or three times each year, so it's wise to have a pair in the trunk for when those unexpected snow/ice storms catch you out on the road.

Having them mounted on spare rims definitely made swapping them out much quicker and easier, just needed a decent set of wheel covers to cover the ugly black rims (which is when I found that spare Toyota wheel covers are fairly expensive). And as others have mentioned, I also had to have pressure sensors installed as most of the tire shops convenient to me seem to require them

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