Need studded snow tire advice

I live in Maine. Every year a layer of ice forms on our pavement, which everyone calls 'black ice' because it is invisible and super slick. To stay on the road, even when the car is parked it needs studded tires. Or else a car will slide off the pavement.

Also most of the rivers and lakes here freeze over in winter, so the culture is to drive across the ice.

The tire stores here all offer studds on winter tires.

You can buy summer tires and winter tires, and then have a shop pull the tires off your rims and replace with the other set of tires every six months. But each time a mechanic pulls rubber off the rim, it weakens the sidewalls and risks the tire going bad right there in his hands.

It is much better to simply buy two sets of rims. One dedicated to only summer tires, and one set dedicated to only winter tires.

that is what we have for each of our cars. Four summer tires & rims and four winter tires & rims.

You said that you drive a 2014 Prius (3rd gen). I suggest that you google the traction control disable procedure, and write it down. I keep it written on a 3X5 card, one copy in each vehicle. So whenever the traction control system decides to act up, I can follow the procedure and disable it. No big deal [unless you lost the 3X5 card].

I do not have any "little silver button beneath steering column (underneath dash)". I suspect it is to reset your TPMS.

 

IIRC Toyota advises against driving 3rd gen with traction control disabled.

 

I am sure they would say that.

I have been stuck in my driveway, a few times. Without the ability to disable traction control, I would have had to wait for Spring to move my vehicle again.

I do not know if 'driving' is any better or worse, but when I am stuck and I need to move at 1 mph this feature certainly helps.

 

They say something about transaxle damage.

 

There have been major changes in this through various Prius vintages. In the first variants, the actual function was just a system to prevent shock loading damage to the transaxle, and "traction control" was just a 'lipstick' name on a pig. It did cause many people to get stuck in partially slippery conditions.

But this was followed by several improved versions that did provide some degrees of useful traction control function. By my vintage, it was getting reasonably respectable, with various online videos showing it pulling up icy driveways that were simply a no-go on older versions. Though it never reached the same level that some folks have become used to on other vehicles.

Regardless of generation, tire grip is critical, so if this is an issue in your location, get the best winter tires you can find. When the tires aren't slipping, traction control isn't triggered.