Extra rims for snows?

[ValerieG]

we want to buy a set of rims (2) for snow tires. The salesman suggested tirerack. Anyone used them? Suggestions?
Thanks
Valerie

[narf]

I bought a set of 4 tires mounted on 15" steel wheels for my Prius from Tirerack.com. I've dealt with them for years, good company.

You can use 15s even if you have a touring, and for snows the narrower the better. I'd strongly suggest getting matching snows all around, otherwise you may find the back of your car trying to come around on you while cornering on slick ice.

[walterm]

Originally Posted by ValerieG

we want to buy a set of rims (2) for snow tires. The salesman suggested tirerack. Anyone used them? Suggestions?
Thanks
Valerie

No matter where you get them from, save yourself some money both in up-front costs and annual expense and do not get wheels with the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) sensors. Your car can only store codes for 4 sensors, so every time you change you'd have to go to the dealer and pay them to reprogram the computer for the change in wheels (it's not something you can do without Toyota's specific computer interface unit).

You may notice after a while the 'low tire pressure' warning light comes on, a piece of black tape will cover it up if it annoys you.

[hill]

We bought the cheepest steel wheels that Big 'O' sells for a set of Big 'O' studded snow tires. Hey, shloggin' thru the slushy muddy muck & ice & snow, who cares about style when the skum covers up what ever is underneith anyway.

[aminorjourney]

All this talk of snow makes me sad. I'm the Anti-snow. Where-ever I've been in the last ten years it's not snowed. I go on vacation and immediately it starts snowing at home. I've even spent two Christmases in the states and still no snow when they normally had loads!

Invite me over and I am absolutely sure you'll never have to worry about even buying snow tires.

[craigk]

Look for someone who replaced their stock rims. I found a used set of Prius rims on this site for way less than dealer cost (I bought all 4 for the price of 1 at dealer-thank you kind PC member) and put on Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi's (highly recommend). You are guaranteed to have them fit and they weigh less than steels. I agree, don't buy the TPMS sensors, my car didn't even realize they were gone until one long road trip, probably because my regular set was nearby in the garage.

Snow Tire Review - Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi

[dwreed3rd]

Originally Posted by narf

I bought a set of 4 tires mounted on 15" steel wheels for my Prius from Tirerack.com. I've dealt with them for years, good company.

You can use 15s even if you have a touring, and for snows the narrower the better. I'd strongly suggest getting matching snows all around, otherwise you may find the back of your car trying to come around on you while cornering on slick ice.

From Pennsylvania originally and don't understand the narrower the better advise. Are you going for traction or MPG?
BTW, that's what I had. I actually had 2 extra sets on rims. This is back when the steel studs were legal under certain conditions. I was a Customer Service Rep wiith IBM and had to get around in all weather. Had my regular tires, non-studded snowtires for winter, and studded for forecasts of severe conditions. Had a floor jack, star wrench, could change tires in 15-20min.

[Stefx]

Narrower tires in snow perform better as they "slice" or "split" the snow and reach the pavement.

With wider tires, snow is stuck under the tire, can't evacuate on the sides and you're driving on a cushion of slippery snow.

When I had my WRX, I was in a Subaru club owner... we got together and rented the Mecaglisse winter racing track and hired a private winter rally pilot for lessons.
race car driving school – summer and winter quebec, Canada

The Pilot instructor did confirm that narrower tires are better for winter driving.

[qbee42]

For low traction situations, narrow tires are always better as long as there is a better road surface under the low traction material. Dune buggies and such use wide tires to float on the surface of the sand, but you aren't going to be able to do this on snow with a normal car. There just isn't enough room for the tractor tires you would need for all of the weight. It's the same reason tracked vehicles exist. A track distributes the weight over a large surface area.

With narrow snow tires, you cut down through the snow and grip the underlying road. You get better traction, and less rolling resistance, since you plow less snow with the tires.

Tom

[dwreed3rd]

I agree that if the snow conditions are such that the tires can cut through the snow to the road surface and the roads are fairly level a narrow tire would work, but then you wouldn't need a snow tread either, if the tire was on the road surface. I'm used to conditions in rural Pennsylvania, not recently in these mild winters, when it could be days or weeks before you would see a road surface except on the major arteries. Snow banks on both sides of the road higher than the car. All weather were O.K. from spring to fall, or occasional snowfall; but you really needed a good knobby wide tread to get around the back roads, up and down the hills. Still a number of dirt roads in Pennsylvania countryside. I remember a number of times that you weren't allowed on the on the road w/o chains. Couple hundred pounds on sand in the back didn't hurt either. I know, not today with front wheel drive. I realize you don't want to run knobby snow yires on a front wheel drive unless it's a mud buggy, but wider is more traction. Whether on the snow or on the road surface, the more rubber that makes contact the better contact. I don't see where the small window in which a slight difference in the width of the tire would make the difference between the tire penetrating the snow to the road surface or not, could possibly outweigh the benefit of the additional traction. Two of my cars were VW beetles in the '60's, trust me the wider snowtreads got me around much better than the narrow regular ones. I know, because somethimes I put off changing to the snowtreads too long in the fall. I don't know who your expect was, but he obiously is not experienced with driving in a good PA winter, were you can be on anything from dirt, to mud, to ice, to snow, to ice under dnow, to, oh! yea!, the road surface, or is it black ice?