Winter tires?

Not sure if the link will work, but tirerack.com certainly thinks 205/65/16s are viable for the Prius, suggesting them for cars with either the 17" or 19" treatements

https://www.tirerack.com/snow/WinterPackageMain.jsp?autoMake=Toyota&autoModel=Prius&autoYear=2023&autoModClar=195%2F50-19

 

The edit time limit is 12 hours, imposed several years ago.

If you are in the middle of an edit as that limit runs out, it will fail. BTDT. And the edit clock doesn't pause when the website goes down, which it has often done recently. BTDT too.

 

Speaking with Michelin today, they confirmed 195/60/17 winter tires will be going into production.

didn't say WHEN; but that I should check back with them in a few weeks.

 

I have never had dedicated winter tires, so have a novice question. I get why using separate rims is the way to go. My question about your comment, if your car came with 19" rims, your suggestion of 17" rims, is that to swap all 4 tires? Or can you use 17" winter tires on the front (front wheel drive) and leave the 19" the car came with on the back? Thing I am considering is getting a set of winter tires, and using whatever season tire not on the car as a spare tire set. Thanks.

 

Even if you could get away with mixing rim sizes (I'm not sure), you wouldn't get away with mixing tyre types.

 

If you are contemplating using winter tires on only the front axle, that is not recommended. Matter of fact, most reputable tire shops will not install winter tires on only one axle.

 

Yeah...it's complicated. In a bad way.

Different amounts of grip on the two axles is a bad thing.

TBH depending on where you live it may not make sense to get dedicated winter tires. If you do, pay for a set of rims too, even just steel ones. Pulling tires on and off one set of rims is rough on everything- the tires, the rims...your wallet... An extra set of rims lets you preserve your nice factory alloy rims by not running them in salt, snow and slush.

Problem is the Gen5 Prime has less than common tire sizes; the selection's improving but it's not great (yet).

What does look like it would work is 205/65/16 snows, on 16" rims. These items are reasonably available.

Alternatively....You might be better off replacing the stock tires with a set of all weather tires. Michelin Cross Climate for example. Different from all seasons, in that they are MUCH better in winter (cold, snowy conditions) than conventional all season tires. And you can sell the all seasons that came on the car to defray some of the costs.

But again, may not be much available in the necessary sizes.

 

Addendum- i figure I'm going to carry a tire from the winter or all season set in the other season. The difference in diameter won't matter for a short distance...

 

For 17", there's plenty at 215/55, a couple at 205/60, and it looks like the Pirelli Ice Zero Asimmetrico might be the first 195/60 Nordic available in the US. The Michelin X-Ice Snow should follow - it's already in Europe.

It is indeed a bit complicated these days. Tyres can now be broken down into 6 classes, so there's not even just 1 fundamental type of snow tyre. You now have:

* Summer tyres
* American all-season tyres
* All-weather tyres
* Standard winter tyres
* Nordic winter tyres
* Studded winter tyres

With the last 4 being snow capable.

Here's a guide comparing the six types, all from one manufacturer:

Recognising the six types might help you make sense of tyre catalogues, and exactly why brands have so many variations, and sell different types in different countries.

What you want totally depends on your climate. Here, I would use studded or Nordic 5-6 months of the year. In other places you'd not get enough use of those, and you'd be better off with standard winter tyres or all-weather tyres. I've not really investigated availability of either of those.

BTW, I said above I was looking at 17" winter rims, and saying that Finland was lax on rim size. Turns out that Nokian tyres site I quoted is wrong (and it's not just a translation error). You need a change inspection if changing rim diameter by more than an inch, not width. So unless Toyota have said somewhere in the paperwork that the 17" wheels for the base trim are okay for cars shipped with 19", I might have some admin to do to use 17" winter rims.

 

Yeah that’s the way to go. Using snow tires on just the driven wheels fell out of favour way back, in the eighties.

 

In addition to other problems of mixing different tire types and sizes, any significant difference in effective wheel rolling circumference (which is not the same physical circumference you can measure with a tape) will drive the ABS, traction, skid and stability controls batty and trigger a dashboard warning. They will not operate as well as they should. They are programmed to accept ordinary differences in tire wear, but not larger mismatches.

 

Just received a set of Michelin CrossClimate2 205/50-17 and a set of MSW Type 48 17x7.5 +45. Awaiting Toyota TPMS which may take a week or two. I'll post a picture once I get them installed.

 

Not sure how it is with Prius but most cars here have a reset button to relearn tire/odometry settings. I even have to use that if tire pressure changes alot due to big changes in weather.

 

That's with a set of the same tire model. They are all under going the same amount of wear and pressure changes from temperature. Replace two of those tires with ones of a different manufacturer, model, or even the same with different level of wear, and the wheel spin sensors can detect the different wheel rpms between them. Outside the acceptable range, and that will flag a warning light. Possibly leading to the car disabling the ABS, traction control, and other systems relying on those sensors' input.

The reset button here is just to change the pressure readings TPMS will warn about.

 

Has 205/65R16 been mentioned? Probably. OD around 26.5"

See both Michelin Defender 2 and X-Ice Snow come in this size.

With a Prius v, Camry or RAV4 16" rim??

 

I went with Enkei J10 wheels in a 7x17” 38 et. Cost was cheapest at 1010 tire in Canada. I like Enkei as a brand and these weigh 18.5 pounds. Will most likely go with 205/55/17 Continental Viking 7 or perhaps Michelin. Might also go with 215/5517. On the fence in terms of sizing. I’d prefer the narrower ones, but you lose a bit of ground clearance. Should accelerate slightly faster on these rims than the 19” on my car.

 

I have been a bit late in the season sometimes swapping winter tires on my AWD Subaru and I can guarantee you it is night and day. I have pushed another Subaru out of snow with “all season” tires. Rubber is softer on winter tires which grips snow and ice better

 

Legality aside is there any warranty concerns with fitting non-original spec tires? I’ve called several local dealers as well as Toyota and everyone says, wow thats a weird size (SE is 195/60/R17) but the options open up with 205 and 215. And to add to another posters comment, if you go with a wider tire the weight is distributed over a larger surface so may tend to float on snow, but a wider surface may grab more sand and non icy pavement. So ideal tire width depends on conditions.

 

This is what I am leaning toward going with, likely the Michelin x-Ice at Costco. Unless there is a better consensus pick on sizing, but I have had good experience with Michelins so they are my preference. I already picked up some 16” steel rims.

 

I have thought of this too, however my only concern is the extra space I would be sacrificing for the full wheel size, as I would generally be doing this when travelling, so being as compact as possible to preserve cargo space would be helpful. Also, keep in mind that if you are using a snow tire like the X-ice, they are directional, so there is a 50% chance you would run the tire the wrong way in an emergency… . Though I am sure it is not a big deal for an emergency and short distance. A bigger concern would be the different in size vs the other wheels.