GET YOUR DEDICATED SNOW TIRES NOW !!!

I’d have to agree with @Salamander_King. My Gen 2 15” Prius snows and wheels fit my PiP which is a Gen 3 and now are on my Prius Prime. I wore out the Michelin X-Ice and went to Nokian Hakapelitta but still on the original wheels.


iPad ? Pro

 

Corolla (older ones at least), Matrix, Prius gen's 2 thru 4, rims all on the same page? Slight tweak of tire size from gen 2 to 3, but that's about it?

The tirerack rims will for sure fit too.

 

Looking at this site. Toyota Corolla - Specs of wheel sizes, tires, PCD, Offset and Rims - Wheel-Size.com The Corolla switched from 4x100 bolt pattern to 5x100 bolt pattern around 2002 model. Some newer Corolla rims have smaller ET, so I don't know if they are a perfect fit for PRIME or not.

 

I also checked Matrix rims Toyota Matrix - Specs of wheel sizes, tires, PCD, Offset and Rims - Wheel-Size.com According to the site, the Matrix line never had 15 inch rims OEM on any years. Post-2010, some trims with bigger engine came with bigger wheels and different bolt pattern 5x114.3.

 

If you bring your car with working TPMS to the shop to have wheels and tires installed onto your car, you may not have a choice but to have them install TPMS either buy a new set or use ones taken off from summer tires. By law, they are required not to disable functioning parts on your car according to the “make inoperative” provision of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (49 USC 30122(b)). You may get by this requirement if you just bring rims to the shop and ask them to mount and balance tires on them and you do the installation.

 

The road in my neighborhood is still packed with snow and ice. I took my 4runner out and was surprised how slippery it was. I almost lost control trying to do a test stop from around 15mph. The tires have only about 4-5/32 of tread left, but I was surprised how bad it was. I know tread depth is helpful on soft snow, but this was basically hard packed ice and snow, so I don't think the tread was filling up. I guess the tread blocks and sipes are effectively stiffer with less rubber. When I got back I checked the tire pressure, and it was 26, which is way too low (should be 32). I don't drive it much, and it's gotten cold since I last checked, so it's not like I've been driving around on low tires. I added air, but by that time it was in the garage so it was too much work to take it back out. I have winter tires for it, but I don't feel like putting them on unless I plan to drive it somewhere.

I also took the Prius out. The tires were at around 33, so they needed air. It was slippery, but stopping was well controlled and quicker than the 4runner. The ABS is very noisy on slippery surfaces. It's more of a grinding noise than the clunking I'm used to in older cars. I added air up to 36/35 and drove the same loop again. It was hard to tell, but it was maybe slightly slipperier. It's pretty subjective.

Anyway, I'll still to the recommended pressure plus a few PSI of margin so it doesn't fall below the recommendation.

 

The traction control decided not to cooperate this morning, or maybe it was just that slippery. I was trying to pull out of my neighborhood (ice) onto the plowed road. I got excessive wheel spin and had a hard time getting going. If I'm already rolling the traction control is pretty good at braking the slipping wheel to send power to the other wheel. But from a stop it just lets it spin, which I think is an oversight.

 

@m8547 what tires have you got on the Prius?

 

Blizzak WS80

 

Just got back from Discount Tire where they replaced a defective pressure sensor they installed 2 years ago. They told me that some of the lot of sensors is good and some are defective. The replacement sensor was free, but they wanted me to pay $10 for the labor. They didn't get it. I got the sensor installed. If one more sensor fails, I'll have a heart-to-heart with the shop manager to get them all replaced.

 

New guy here! Just got myself a 2013 Prius Persona Series to replace my aging 2001 Subaru Forester as my daily, absolutely love the car. I live in the Mid Atlantic area so first thing I did was start my search for a winter setup which led me here. I found a super cheap option on ebay for remolds. Not sure how folks feel about remolds, but they are supposed to be as good as new tires and better than retreads (my buddy had retreads M/T's on his truck with no issues). I ordered these and will see how it goes, doesn't hurt to try for $45 a tire for a few months a year.

I can't post links yet, but you can search "4 New Insa Turbo Winter Grip 195/65R15 91T Winter Tires" on ebay.

 

That is only if there is snow/ice on the road surface? How about 99% of times when there is no snow/ice on the road surface during winter season?

 

More often than not, I've found that in heavy rain my snows are as good as, perhaps even better than my summers, but (as they say) YMMV! Overall I think that I'd sooner have ChuggyPig be wearing snow-shoes rather than summer sneakers here in the New England winters even when it's not snowing!

 

…and the unnecessary stress on the beads when the tyres are re-mounted, and re-balanced each time - it's far easier to swap wheels rather than re-mount/re-balance tyres! (IMNSHO)

 

Yeah, that's why I like Michelin Xice, but not any snow tires. After having studded snow on my first and less known studdless snow on my second, I bought Michelin Xice Xi3 for my previous Gen 3. The difference was night and day. I dreaded driving with snow tires before that, but with Xice, my car actually is more comfortable than the OEM AS that replaced and without noticeable hit on mpg.

I use to take my car to a local shop to swap snow/AS twice a year on same rims for my first three sets of snow mainly for saving money. Many of local tire shops, at least in my neighborhood, offer FREE winter change over if the tires are purchased there. With free change over, it was much cheaper than buying set of rims and tools you may need to swap tires DIY. If you want to keep functional OEM TPMS, the saving is even bigger. But, it's true that is hard on the tires. I often got leak after winter change over that required additional visits to the shop.

But the biggest benefit of separate rims and DIY swapping is that you can do it without making appointment. Often people wait until the very first winter storm of the season is forecasted. Then the shops are swamped with tire change appointments, and you risk not getting the job done on time.

 

About "remolded tires," the maker, TreadWright says, "...a remolded tire is the closest retread you can get to a brand new tire. During the building process, a remolded retread tire is wrapped with unvulcanized industrial grade rubber to the crown and shoulder of each tire...."
TreadWright Tires - Our Products

So, these are a form of recapped tires. They may work out OK. TreadWright puts new rubber around a used casing and molds it. They make two types of winter tires, either studdable lug tread or "kedge grip" rubber with walnut shell and glass particles in the rubber. It does not say if they use the modern winter rubber compounds that stay soft when very cold.

I'll stick with Xice or Blizzak or another top tire I know and trust.

 

My last set of Xice cost me ~$250 installed. A set of Xice before that also cost me about the same. Knowing I can get reputable name brand very competent, quiet, long tread lasting snows at that price range, I just can not see any benefit of buying $190 remolded tires.