Snow tires or what?

As long as you can afford it, I would recommend getting the second set of wheels. It is what I do. As you mentioned, there are extra costs incurred if you have two sets of tires and only one set of wheels having to swap them around every fall/spring. There's always risk of damaging a tire while mounting/demounting too. I wouldn't say it's a great risk, but if the person doing the work is careless, it doesn't take much effort to rip a chunk out of the bead on the tire and suddenly you have to get a new tire. If you are able to swap tires/wheels yourself in the spring/fall, then you can do it on your own time and not have to pay a shop to it.

If you go with the common black aftermarket steel wheels, you may also want to consider getting some hub caps (unless you like the look of standard black wheels). If your new set of wheels are aluminum, then you won't need to worry about that. Either way, you'll probably need new lug nuts too as the Toyota lug nuts are specific to OEM wheels only.

We use (LOTS of) salt on our roads here, so what I actually ended up doing is mounting the new snow tires on the stock Prius wheels (I don't care much for the stock wheel's look anyway). I bought new alloy wheels for the "summer" tires. I figured if I'm going to spend money on wheels, I might as well put it into ones that won't see the effects of road salt.

 

I also second the notion to get new wheels. They will pay for themselves in a few seasons vs paying to have them remounted.
I had the Toyo's on my Subaru (which are awd). I can't speak for the traction in terms of acceleration, but stopping and turning were GREAT. I would highly recommend them. In fact, the only reason I still don't have them is I ended up with a new Subaru and they wouldn't fit, other wise I'd still have them.

On the Prius we run Gislaved tires, these are amazing, I live up a 2 mile long hill and have had NO problem climbing it in the snow, even when I had to stop and start again.
I would also suggest the Nokian's, they are also an amazing tire.
You WILL notice the differance with the proper tire on the car.

PS, don't waste the money on a aluminum rim for the winter. The salt will eat at it anyway so just go with a black steel wheel. They'll be white with salt anyways. Unless you want to go the route like the above poster which is using the stock wheel and buying nicer ones for the summer.

 

There's likely a Toyota 15" Corolla steel rim that will work for you. Check with Toyota parts/service.

 

Alloy wheels aren't intended for frequent remounting. If you switch back and forth between summer and winter tires, you will quickly find yourself buying new alloy wheels - might as well put the money into steel winter rims now and avoid the problem entirely.

Tom

 

Since you intend to buy a new set of wheels, I suggest that you buy 15" wheels which allows you to fit 185/65R15 winter tires. This provides you a greater selection of tires at lower prices. Also, the narrower 15" tires will give you better snow traction.

 

Get the Nokians. Seriously. I have a second set of rims for summer use. Here's an option: Get them mounted on your stock wheels now, and buy a second set of stock rims off someone before you have to switch over to summer tires.

 

It sounds like you plan to buy from Les Schwab so you can ask what 15" steel wheels they can fit to your car. As an alternative, since you want to buy both wheels and tires you may find that Tirerack.com will offer an attractive package that will meet your needs. The tires will be mounted and balanced so you'll just have to install them when your roads turn snowy.

Regarding mpg hit for steel vs aluminum, I personally would not be concerned about that, considering the cost difference on the wheels.

 

We've got 2010 Touring, purchased in Canada, comes stock with 215/45R17 on alloys, but went with 15" black steel Toyota Corolla rims (p/n: 42611-02471) and 195/65R15 snow tires. The OD of that 15" tire is actually slightly greater than stock.

Also needed different nuts for the steel rims. Didn't get the Tire Pressure Monitors, which just means a little warning light goes on on the dash.

The parts department of dealership we purchased from was adamant that Prius alloys were the only solution, either 15" or 17". In desperation I carpet emailed every dealership in town, and one came through with the suggestion of Corolla rims. Worked out fine.

 

Can you elaborate on this?

 

Yep works fine!
I run Corolla steel wheels on our 06 for the winter.

Basically he means that your chances of damaging a wheel are higher because of the machine/person that takes the tire off.
You are also breaking the bead on the tire (that holds it to the wheel) everytime you change the tire, so eventually that bead can fail because the tire is really only ment to be taken off of the wheel when the tires life is done...not every 6 months.

Really, for what it costs to swap tires 2 times a year you can buy a set of wheels and make that cost back up in a short amount of time.
If you have the means, you can also change your wheels yourself rather then paying someone to do it.

 

How does this affect alloy vs. steel?

 

Prius 06 did a good job with his explanation. I will add just a bit more: Alloy rims are softer than steel, and tend to suffer more mechanical damage from the process of breaking beads and mounting. Also, while alloy rims don't rust, they do suffer from corrosion. Scratches introduced from mounting provide a starting point for corrosion around the beads. Once this happens, small leaks develop. While the bead area can be resurfaced, each iteration takes a little more material off of the rim.

In short, alloy rims were designed for weight and beauty, not ultimate durability.

Tom

 

I should probably mention I worked in a tire shop for several years and have my own tire machine (and balancer).

 

"Filoform corrosion"

Almost all automotive alloy wheels have a clear coat layer.

It's well known that alloy rims are softer than steel rims, and can suffer from frequent tire mounting. Some of the newest fanciest machines do a good job

TCX575 Tire Changer

But it really depends on the skill - and care or lack thereof - of the operator. It has been my experience that most tire shop employees do not give one rats nice person and I have badly scratched alloy rims to prove it

With winter salt, i prefer steel rims anyway. I can spray both sides of the rim with Fluid Film before mounting and don't have rust issues

Around here if used all year round once aluminum rims are +6 years old they look pretty bad

 

Outside Diameter or how tall the tire is

Eg for my FJ Cruiser it came with P265 70 17 tires from the factory, about 31.7 inches OD

The correct "minus size" is P265 75 16 as it also has an OD of 31.7 inches

I can't go smaller due to the brake rotors