Winter Tires? or Nokian WR year round?

[Reid]

I am a new owner of a 08 package 2 Prius. I actually sold my 98 Landcruiser to purchase the Prius. Mileage is great, avg 51 MPG with only 1000 miles on the Prius. I need advise on winter tires. Should I purchase the Nokian WR and just leave them on year round or should I purchase another tire, perhaps Bridgestone, and swap out the tires each year on orginal rims, or buy tires and wheels to swap out each year. What do most of you do who live in Northern New England? Thanks for you time and advise.

[eurosteve]

I'm going to switch to the Nokians - as a year-round tire. When I calculated the cost of swapping out the tires each season, it didn't make financial sense to me. I guess if you buy another set of rims, after the initial investment, if you make the swap yourself each season, perhaps that pays off in the long run. But I would need to pay someone and I think it would be cheaper and easier to leave the Nokians on all the time.

I was trying to decide between the WR's and the WR g2's. I've used the WR's before on several other vehicles. A recent post here indicated that the WR's are being discontinued. So that's causing me to lean toward the g2's.

[jdenenberg]

I am currently using the WRs year around. After one year and 31,000 miles they are now about to go into their second winter with sufficient tread and they have performed well in all respects throughout the four seasons. Their only drawback is some road noise which would be somewhat reduced (as would the snow traction, I believe) with the WRg2s. Either will give great MPG.

Note that with the TPMS in newer Prii, using a second set of rims requires you to ignore the "low pressure" indicator. You can pay about $500 for a second set of TPMS sensors, but you will then need to have the dealer re-register the sensors on each swap.

JeffD

[David Beale]

Not in New England, but I also use the WRs all year round. Just got one year on them. As Jeff says, they are a little noisier than the Integrities, but they work very well in all conditions.

I would get the WRG2. The rubber compound is more advanced, and that alone should compensate for the loss of the aggressive tread (G2 is 1/2 WR tread and 1/2 "summer" tread, made in high tech. rubber). They should be quieter and stickier, especially on ice, compared to the WR.

This way you don't have to mess with the tires, storage, extra rims, TPMS, etc. All you do is rotate them at every oil change.

The bonus is when the weather is nice in the winter, because you will have them mounted on the stock light weight rims, you will get good mileage. When the weather is NOT nice you will have traction!

[Tideland Prius]

Not to mention if you're running on dry asphalt, you won't wear out the WR as fast as you would on winter tyres.

[jayman]

Well, I'm a bit old fashioned and still prefer a modern aggressive studded winter tire for winter driving. I've had great luck with the Goodyear Nordic, sold at Canadian Tire. This is actually the Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 tire:

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

If you click on Profile, a Flash movie loads about the tire. Goodyear does not directly sell the Ultra Grip 500 in North America.

This tire provides awesome snow traction, and at -25 C and colder deicing salt doesn't work. So icy intersections can stay icy for a long time in winter. On ice, these tires are great, providing better traction than the studless Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus I have on my FJ as a winter tire

Downside is noise on dry pavement due to the very aggressive soft tread compound. Another downside is an average 5-7 mpg loss in fuel economy, again due to the aggressive soft tread compound.

I won't use any other winter car tire in winter conditions

[Silver 2008]

I am running the G2s year round. If I run snows in winter and another tire in summer, it will cost $30 in the spring and $30 in the fall to change them out. That's $60 a year. If the tires last three years, that's $180 over the life of the tires. That's half a new set. That's why I run G2s year round.

P.S. I can get 50 plus in town on the G2s. I do better with them than I did with the Integritys. The G2s just cost more.

Mike

[dspguy]

I switched to the Nokian G2's last fall, I've been using them year round. I live in the Boston area, no problems at all. Great on snow/ice, wet pavement, and dry. I wouldn't bother playing the switching game.

[rpg51]

I'm trying to figure out what to do as well. I have been in the habit of buying a set of steel wheels and good snow tires for my vehicles. But I am beginning to think that this Prius may be so bad in the snow that I'll end up leaving it at home when the roads are bad. I had a rather disconcerting experience the other day. I was just barely able to drive up a steep dirt road with wet leaves. It was as if there was a governor on the engine. I could not get any power to the wheels. Very wierd, and worrisome given the kind of weather we have here in the winter in the Upper Valley. Anyone elso have this issue with their Prius or is there something wrong with mine? Its an 08 package 2.

[eurosteve]

What you experienced is pretty common with the Prius. I have a steep gravel driveway, and last winter there were many snowy days that I had a real problem driving up it. A few days I had to leave the car at the bottom of the driveway. The approach that worked was to get a running start so I had momentum going up. If there is any slippage, the Prius stops - something to do with not over rev'ing the motors. I'm hoping that winter tires - probably the WR G2's - will make a big difference. The stock Integrity tire was bad in snow.