Replacing 17" tire with 15"

@CA Guy - sorry, I hadn't thought of snow - hadn't considered that - which I've never seen, let alone driven on.

 

I think major advantage of 15" tires compared to 17" is cost of tire for ongoing replacement. For the same brand, 17" are probably ~30% or more. Of course, if you have to buy a new set of rims, the cost advantage may not pay off unless you do very frequent tire change like I do. Our rural roads chip seal surface are so hard on rubber, even tires with 80k+ tread warranty, I can get only 40k out of a set of new tires at best.

 

My last couple cars had low profile aluminum wheels. They definitely handle better on the twisty roads, due to less side wall flex. Some folks think they look better: rice boys, Mexicans and blacks. However, the ride quality is lower the stiffer the sidewalls are. It's simple physics.

Also, being aluminum, after a few winters, the aluminum will eventually corrode and you'll develop a rim leak.

When I found out my Two had the 15" wheels, I was happy. On my type of driving in the Chicago suburbs, the more compliant ride is appreciated much more than the better handling would be. My preference would have been for STEEL 15" wheels, so I don't eventually have to deal with a stupid rim leak. I think they know that since they're steel, they have to do a better job of sealing and painting them, so they don't become a rusty mess.

Best wheels I ever had were on my '98 Civic CX. They were stamped steel, but with really nice metallic silver paint, so they didn't need hub caps either. It was really cheap to replace it when I dented one.

I had a friend one time who found low profile steel wheels for his Subaru WRX. He put those on with winter tires, then switched back to the low profile alloy wheels with summer tires in the warmer weather. Pretty smart.

I didn't know about the tire pressure difference. I guess the low profile tires are already stiffer to begin with, and therefore don't need as much air pressure.

I can't see any reason why your insurance or warranty would be affected by replacing the OEM wheels/tires with OTHER OEM wheels.

 

On that - I'm not sure. But in a culture where insurance will try to get out of paying - as will warranty - I suggested the best idea is to ask first.

Not wait till after it happens. If - as you've explained, they say that the original 17" [to quote you] "definitely handle better" - insurance could walk away from a crash and the OP would be paying not just for their own repairs, but the other 3 cars involved.

I agree with you - the 15" with ECO tyres don't grip particularly well, particularly in the wet. If I were going to keep mine long term, I'd be replacing the tyres with performance 15" Michelin/Continental tyres.

 

If the Prius were ONLY sold with 17" wheels, I'd agree. But it is sold with 15" too, so we could make the case easily enough.

I don't think the 15" wheel tires don't stick, it's just that they roll sideways, making corners seem a bit wallowy. Not sure about in snow yet...

 

I switch between 17" Michelin Pilot and 15" XIce and the only difference I notice is cushier ride with the latter; the cornering feels about the same, but I never really push it.

 

Wheels on my B-52 are bigger than your grand piano wheels.

 

But I think mine are going to be a bigger job to polish ...

 

From past discussions here in PC, these have clearly been British Commonwealth issues, not U.S.A. issues.

I'm counting on them fitting, when I finally move up to a Prime. Everything I've noticed so far indicates that I can use my second-set Gen3 wheels on my (hoped-for) Prime.

But since numerous car owners want to upsize, it shouldn't be difficult to find someone to swap wheels with. Advertise here on PC, on craigslist, etc. My second set of wheels are from a local PiP owner who upsized and was selling the OEM set.

By law, essentially all U.S. market cars have had some version of TPMS for more than a decade.

 

I picked up a set of those too, very nice looking rims.
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I'm on my 3rd Prius. The other 2 had 15" tires. They wore out faster than my 2017 with 17" tires. The 2017 also gets much better mileage than the 2011, and 2015 models I had. Stay with the 17's!

 

Oh, common. If you compare the same 2017 Prius with 15" tires vs with 17" tires, I bet you get better mileage with 15" tires.

 

I'm going to put 16 inch wheels on our 2011 Prius three later, maybe in the summer, when the tread wears down on the 15 inch stock wheels.

They are only 16.5 pounds per rim, so I'm hoping we won't lose much in mpg, maybe 1 or 2 mpg. We'll see.

Pic is a test fitting with original old/bad tires that came with the rims.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

These are the factory 15" wheels without the wheel covers. Any 5 x 100mm Toyota wheel will work. The wheels are hubcentric (meaning they centre themselves on the hub). Just make sure you use the correct lug nuts for the wheel and you are good to go.

 

It all boils down to what one wants to invest in regarding rim size. Bigger rim, but lighter weight, stock rim softer ride, etc. I use to do the rim thing. After experiencing all kinds of financial fun with rims 18" and bigger, my last set was 17". That was the sweet spot. Meaning less stress fractures in the rims and less air leakage. I still like the look of rims. Just been thru them all and done with throwning down money to keep them looking pretty. But boy, rims do look snazzy and also do help in the "performance" arena!