I will be picking up a 2010 Prius IV (15" tires). Is anyone aware of any body or wheel-well differences between the IV and the V? My real questions is if I buy a set of 17" rims and mount winter tires (Any version of All-season M+S tires) would there be any clearance problems? I'm in the Denver area where, on average, we get eight to ten snow storms during the Winter that drop four to eight inches of powder snow and a couple of Spring storms of heavy wet snow. I figure if we get a Spring blizzard of 10+ inches, I'm just staying home. So I'm thinking about the Prius handling less then 6" of snow or packed ice and snow. Thanks, TK
Just make sure the outside diameter of the tire is the same as the 15" setup and the offset is correct and you should be fine. You could use TireRack.com to see what will fit your car as well. I think they have a "upsize" utility.
The OEM 17" tire size is 215/45-17 and has a tire diam of 24.6". The OEM tires that come on a Prius with 15" wheels is 195/65-15 and has a tire diam of 25". Your speedometer will read a bit low (1.2mph) using the OEM 17" tire size but they should fit with no clearance issues. The only snow tire I found in 215/45-17 was a Blizzak LM-25
Diameter is just part of it. You still have to worry about width and rubbing. Additionally, the model V's with the wider 17" wheels have a completely different steering ratio. Also if the V turns sharper (I'm not completely sure of this) than the other models then you indeed may have some rubbing issues. May not be a big deal, but it needs to be considered. There are lots of threads discussing this.
If you have two sets of wheels and tires, one summer one winter, you may have TPMS problems. Unfortunately I think you can only have four sensors programed in at a time, not sure but I think that's how the Gen2 was. That means you will need a dealer to reprogram the TPMS twice a year and I doubt they will do it free. The other option is to cover the alarm light with tape or just ignore it.
Another thread discussion convinced me that 15" wheels/tires are more stable in snowy/icy conditions. You might want to search that info out. Perhaps somebody can come u with that thread.
I was thinking about the same thing, but I think I'll wait for winter and see how I like the handling with the factory tires, then decide whether to get winter tires.
If you follow the formula and choose the correct tire size, you should not have any rubbing issues whatsoever.
