Winter Tires and Steelies

[priusrippa]

Hello all prius people! My girlfriend and I just ordered a 2008 prius and we are pumped! We were going to get a honda fit but decided that we "only live once" and should get the car we really want!

We live in the Canadian Rockies where there is often a sheet of ice over the road or a random 30 cm (12inch) dump of snow at any given time. Our beautiful silver pine mica prius is set to arrive in December which intiates the desire to shop for snow tires now!

In Canada we are finally getting 16 wheels on our prius'! Yeah! We are also not getting ripped off quite as bad as before relative to our American brothers and sisters who simply pay less for their priuses.

I have a few options when it comes to winter tires and I'm eger to hear what others think. First off I am considering getting p195 65 r15 sized tires and a set of 15 inch steel rims. The tires are cheaper in this size and slightly narrower, which means they should work better in deeper snow. Does anyone think I'm crazy to go with this tire size rather than p195 55 r16 (stock size) size? Will the highway handling be signifigantly less secure? What about putting 15 inch wheels on...is that any type of problem?

I see a lot of people running steelies on their priuses in Canada. Is there any major reason not too? I am sure fuel economy and braking suffers a bit with more unsprung weight but steelies are cheap and durable.

I have bridgestone blizzakk ws-50's on our Subaru, and they have been amazing for 3 winters now. Does anyone else vouch for a different winter tire? Nokian's sound good all round but I think the blizzaks really are great on ice and I'm skeptical of the ice performance of some of the other tires. The only thing I don't like about them is there a little on the heavy side!

So please let me know what you think of my tire choices!

I think this forum will keep me sane while I anxiously await our new vehicle...thanks in advance!

[onerpm]

I run the ws50 blizzaks on my prius, so can't help you much. Couldn't find any cheap steelies when I bought 'em (Tirerack.com was out, and local stores wanted too much), so I went with Sport edition alloys instead (tirerack sells them, but my local guy matched, so I went local to get free semi-annual swaps). They were fairly cheap. Downside is that they might corrode. I like having the good-looking wheels on, though, because I run the snows for 5 months here in MN.

rpm

[vizardknight]

I just got a 2007 Prius and so I have not experienced any winter driving as of yet, but I ran into
a 2005 owner that said that the Prius and snow covered uphill driving don't mix.
He stated that the traction control system will not let the wheels spin at all.
Growing up in NW Ohio, I am very familar with snow driving and can see how this could be a very
big problem. If there is not a way to turn off the traction control, I would be looking into a set of
chains for your new snow tires as well considering where you live...

Anyone have any snow covered up hill road driving experience in the Prius??


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mountainprius_rider @ Sep 14 2007, 07:56 AM) [snapback]512450[/snapback]</div>

Hello all prius people! My girlfriend and I just ordered a 2008 prius and we are pumped! We were going to get a honda fit but decided that we "only live once" and should get the car we really want!

We live in the Canadian Rockies where there is often a sheet of ice over the road or a random 30 cm (12inch) dump of snow at any given time. Our beautiful silver pine mica prius is set to arrive in December which intiates the desire to shop for snow tires now!

In Canada we are finally getting 16 wheels on our prius'! Yeah! We are also not getting ripped off quite as bad as before relative to our American brothers and sisters who simply pay less for their priuses.

I have a few options when it comes to winter tires and I'm eger to hear what others think. First off I am considering getting p195 65 r15 sized tires and a set of 15 inch steel rims. The tires are cheaper in this size and slightly narrower, which means they should work better in deeper snow. Does anyone think I'm crazy to go with this tire size rather than p195 55 r16 (stock size) size? Will the highway handling be signifigantly less secure? What about putting 15 inch wheels on...is that any type of problem?

I see a lot of people running steelies on their priuses in Canada. Is there any major reason not too? I am sure fuel economy and braking suffers a bit with more unsprung weight but steelies are cheap and durable.

I have bridgestone blizzakk ws-50's on our Subaru, and they have been amazing for 3 winters now. Does anyone else vouch for a different winter tire? Nokian's sound good all round but I think the blizzaks really are great on ice and I'm skeptical of the ice performance of some of the other tires. The only thing I don't like about them is there a little on the heavy side!

So please let me know what you think of my tire choices!

I think this forum will keep me sane while I anxiously await our new vehicle...thanks in advance!
[/b]

[aapopper]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vizardknight @ Sep 14 2007, 06:59 PM) [snapback]512759[/snapback]</div>

Anyone have any snow covered up hill road driving experience in the Prius??
[/b]

I'm in total agreement with the comments of the 2005 owner. My brother and I both have 2005s. He and I both are most disappointed with the snow and ice performance due to the overly agressive traction control. In my opinion, my car is downright dangerous on snow and/or ice. This coming winter I'll be using tire chains every time I venture out in bad weather. Check out www.lacledechain.com , pricey but easy to install and remove.

This thread will now be taken over by those who will say I don't know how to drive in the ice/snow and that their Prius is the best vehicle they've ever driven on ice and snow. So be it. I'm only recounting my and my brother's experience.

PS: I've even had TC kick in and stop any forward progress on a loosely packed gravel driveway.

[Tideland Prius]

You might want to go with 195/60R15 to closely match the revs of your stock 16s.

The Nokian line is also pretty good. A search of those brings up a forum of Volvo XC90 owners using them. It's a Finnish company so I think they know something about snow and ice.

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mountainprius_rider @ Sep 14 2007, 07:56 AM) [snapback]512450[/snapback]</div>

I have bridgestone blizzakk ws-50's on our Subaru, and they have been amazing for 3 winters now. Does anyone else vouch for a different winter tire? Nokian's sound good all round but I think the blizzaks really are great on ice and I'm skeptical of the ice performance of some of the other tires. The only thing I don't like about them is there a little on the heavy side![/b]

I've used the WS-50 in the past, but IMHO it's a poor value for a winter tire. Remember that only about 50% of the tread depth is the "special" winter compound. I picked up Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus studless tires for my FJ, and for about 12% more than a comparable Bridgestone winter tire, I have somewhat better performance on ice with a FULL DEPTH compound

For the Prius I picked up a set of Goodyear Nordic studded tires last fall. Although very noisy on dry pavement, I'm VERY impressed with the snow and especially ice traction. Several years ago I was in Norway on a business trip and spotted Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 - or was it 400? - studded tires on a car. They are a very aggressive winter tire, especially studded.

I'm actually shocked that Canadian Tire could introduce something that actually works. The stars must have aligned that day. The Goodyear EU site has the intro and a nice flash presentation, click on "Profile"

http://eu.goodyear.com/home_en/tires/repos...p?page=benefits

I like using steelies in winter, to keep the aluminum wheels away from road salt. Spray silicone stuff on the wheels before you install them, or a commercial product like Fluid Film, to keep rust away. Make sure to pick up proper conical lugnuts, the Toyota lugnuts will keep loosining up. I got my conical lugnuts at Napa, and was very surprised the same size works on my FJ as well

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(redryder @ Sep 14 2007, 09:28 PM) [snapback]512849[/snapback]</div>

PS: I've even had TC kick in and stop any forward progress on a loosely packed gravel driveway.
[/b]

My first summer with my Prius, I went with a few guys from the office out to a fishing camp for a few days of relaxation and fun. Until my Prius got stuck on a steep gravel hill and my co-worker with a Lexus RX330 had to tow me up using the emergency towing hook.

The other co-worker with the VW Golf tdi and stick shift had no trouble going up the gravel hill. He even had to stop halfway up when I ground to a halt. He just popped the clutch again, briefly spun, and zipped around me

[mabelair]

Hey! Welcome to the waiting for a Prius club. I placed an order in the first week of this month with an estimated delivery date of December 15! We can keep each other company in the Green With Envy section. :-)

Welcome!

MAB

[focus022]

I just bought a 07 package 5 and did not know this about winter driving. Thanks for the valuable information. I will purchase studded tires. do I need 4. can I use the stock rims?
My wife drives the vehicle/

.

Thanks,

Tony

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(focus022 @ Sep 26 2007, 09:20 PM) [snapback]518270[/snapback]</div>

I just bought a 07 package 5 and did not know this about winter driving. [/b]

Some of the 04 cars - like mine - and the 05's had the aggressive traction control problem. I've heard that issue has been resolved for the newer Prius cars