Your mileage data does not prove the tires are LRR as claimed. I thought you were offering a report with the rolling resistance measured by an independent organization.
AGAIN!!! p313, where did you get the steel rims? Do they have some other application but also fit the Prius? How much did you pay for them? 15", 16" please reply...
I've been looking myself (for steel rims/alloys) for the winter. Fortunately I got a killer deal on 15" stockers. But I looked all over various regional craigslist sites (in fact I missed an offer for FREE 14" steelies). Also tirerack and discounttiredirect will have tire/steel wheel packages. Also try ebay for used alloys/steelies. Your basically looking for something that is 5x100. Junk yards are also fine, guy down the street @ Mansfield Used Auto Parts in CT said he'd try different wheels and do all 4 for 100 out the door. Good Luck!!!
First I went to a nearby tire chain and they wanted a fortune. I found Dunlop snows used one season on steel rims from someone who totaled a Mazda Miata, through the Bargain News (Bargainnews.com) It covers NY, Mass, CT. They fit exactly. But the suggestions from AdamKPL are all good ones, too. Now is the time to start looking as it may take a month or two if you go this route, versus a tire dealer or TireRack.com.
Bridgestone Blizzak (a classic) and the Michelin Ice Guard & the Yokohama Ice Guards are my favorites in the winter, they stay soft & grippy even at extreme low temps, all season tires are for lazy people, by buying a set of winter tires & rims it enables you to wear your summer tires down to the bone, getting every dollar out of them, and winter tires seem to last me 5 or 6 winters. I've never tried those nokkian snow tires, but you gotta figure that coming from norway they must be damn good on the ice & snow. My mpg took a big hit this winter, I used the 195/65r15 blizzaks on heavy steel wheels that was my Matrix winter set, so I took a dive to 42mpg, now I'm back up to 57mpg. My new job will allow me to give the 195/65r15 snow tires on steel wheels to my sister for her Corolla, and I'll get a set of 185/65r15 blizzaks on aluminum wheels, my goal this upcoming winter is 48mpg. Stay away from performance winter tires such as Micheline pilot alpine or Dunlop Wintersport. I'm sure they're great for AWD Audis and Subarus, but our FWD Prius needs a non-performance winter tire. Here is the moto I live by: RWD + snow tires = FWD winter performance (still need a few bags of sand in the trunk) FWD + snow tires = AWD winter performance AWD + snow tires = 4x4 winter performance 4x4 + snow tires = Bradley Tank winter performance the only downside to snow tires is that tire rot can be a real problem for people driving less than 10K miles a year. Because your rubber may rot out before you even have a chance to wear them down, which forces you to replace the summer tires even with half their tread remaining.
Good points. As far as the nokian hakkapeliitta, I've read both here and outside of PriusChat that they are probably the best winter tires out there, kinda pricey imo, ~140 each for stock 15" size vs. 50s-70s for Blizzaks. The one thing that I personally don't like with snow tires is that here in Connecticut the weather changes all the time (Mark Twain wrote, "if you dont like the weather in New England wait 5 minutes)...but sometimes we'll get a foot of snow 30ish, next day 5 degrees, and then next day 55 - 65 which makes driving on snows not so enjoyable and they wear like crazy.
If you look at the difference in Average MPG for the winter months, you will see a marked difference in performance between the three different tires. The Michelin MXV4+ tires are LRR rated tires in some "official" charts and the Nokian WRs get better MPG in all conditions. I contacted Nokian technical support several months ago and they do claim (unofficially) LRR status for some of their tire models. If my unbiased, independent data doesn't convince you, then buy whatever you want and be happy with the result. JeffD - engineering professor
If you're talking serious ice / steep curvy hilly road areas, well in those areas just go down to your local Big 'O' type tire store & they'll hook you up w/ plain ol' crappy steel wheels 'on the cheep'. That's where we got ours. We have studs mounded on them (stud season just ended in the flathead valley about a month ago). Most states don't allow them, but if not, any good pair of hearty snow tires will do. If the price sounds unafordable to you, they'll at least recomend a couple sizes & you can call your local pick-a-part where you can find a salvaged set for probably 20%-25% less.
Your unbiased, unverified, unrepeatable, unscientific, uncontrolled, useless data, you mean. Nokian can subject their tires to testing as reported here: http://www.greenseal.org/resources/reports/CGR_tire_rollingresistance.pdf and here: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/SR286Rolling_Resistance_Data.pdf and until they do, it's all puffery. Brian: Clinical Laboratory Scientist specializing in quality control and statistical analysis. Oh and System Engineer with 15 years experience. Oh and Systems Performance Engineer with 5 years experience.
