Winter tires?

You sound like me. lol

I had my spare tire ready to go almost a month before the car was delivered(and it still hasn't gone inside the car yet. )

 

Still not seeing any winter tires available for the 19" rims. I hope to have a Prius before winter hits but it looks like it will be a winter on the "all-seasons".

 

I know of 1 real and 2 possible winter tyres available in the original 195/50R19 size in Europe.

Yokohama BluEarth Winter is available.

The Michelin X-Ice Snow and Yokohama Ice Guard Studless both have entries for that size in the European Energy Labelling database, newly added in April and May this year, presumably due to the Prius. But I can't find them actually available yet.

Michelin, Yokohama and Pirelli are the people who can do 195/60R17 winter tyres.

No-one can do studded tyres in either original size, and I've found nothing even close for 19". There are 205/60R17 and 215/55R17 options that would do.

Edit: Actually, I'm now wondering if I actually saw the Yokohama 19" available. Can't find it now. But it is there in the Energy Labelling database, added November 2022.

 

There are several brands that have winter tire available for size 225/45R19. They should fit according to Rim & Tire Size Calculator. Custom Offsets - Wheel-Size.com.

Personally, I would go with a 17" rim and winter tire set as there are more tire options available.

 

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 EV(studless) and 10 EV(studded) in 215/50 R19.
Width: +20mm
Diameter/Circumference: +3%

Not a fantastic match, but on the edge of OK.

Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta R5 EV - Pure Safety / Nokian Tires
Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 10 EV - Next-generation safety / Nokian Tires

 

Far enough out to be illegal in France, as I read this week on a French forum. I can't remember the precise number, but diameter had to be within something like 1.5% of the range of OEM sizes.

Not that I'm considering 19", or in France

 

Ahh. No hard and fast regulations in the US as far as I'm aware, but I've read +/-20mm and +/-3% are right on the edge of safe for you and the car. Any more than that and you risk the suspension being off enough to create uneven tire wear.

The 10 EV is my backup plan if the stock Toyos and the AWD turn out to be terrible this winter. I effectively live in a Nordic climate without the mountains. Latitude is actually close to the same as Odessa, but my region has no large bodies of water nearby to moderate the temps, so the average winter temps are closer to Inari.

 

I'm likely to end up with Hakkapeliitta 10s in 215/55R17. Currently it's the winter wheel choice I'm uncertain about...

 

costco canada is now showing pirelli winter tires in 195/60/17

 

I picked up some one season old 215/50/18 Michelin X-Ice Snows on Scion TC wheels to run this winter. Offset, center bore and tire size work and fit.

 

Is your plan to use separate rims? That’s really the way to go, as opposed to swapping tires on stock rims every fall and spring. If so, I’d use 17” rims (and tires) for the snow tire application.

I’ve read here there’s even 16” Toyota rim that’s compatible. Perhaps Camry, Prius v? Snow tire selection in that size might be even better.

It doesn’t matter that your car (presumably) came with 19” rims.

another plus of separate rims, you can acquire the rim/tire combo well in advance of winter weather. Attached pic is from August 5th, I was replacing our 13 year old winter tires, doing a rim upgrade as well, through Costco. (Missed looping through one strong-point, on right side, survived.)

PSA regarding winter tire purchase: many such tires are directional, ie the tread is such that one direction of rotation is optimal, and the sidewall has a directional arrow.

If the tire shop has mounted tires on loose rims, when you lay the wheel/tire combos face up, you should be seeing two directional arrows pointing clockwise, and two counterclockwise. The latter former would be mounted on right side of vehicle, and so on.
If the tire shop has mounted wheel/tire combos on the vehicle, all of the directional arrows should be pointing towards front of vehicle, when at the top of rotation.

when purchasing a tire installation, it’s very worthwhile to confirm they’ve managed to accomplish this, before driving away.

FWIW, the last couple of times I purchased directional tires through Costco, they managed to screw it up. Both times.

 

I know some people here were considering a set of steel wheels for their winter tires. It's been brought up that other markets have access to a stock steel 17" wheel. On the plus side, if you buy those wheels, you know they're guaranteed to fit. On the negative side, the stock tire size for those wheels is still the 195/60/17 that's so tough to deal with.

Anyway, KMO just posted a Mexican review in one of the spare tire threads that I think shows for the first time the steel wheels and wheel covers.

 

I also have the part numbers for those, because I am vaguely considering them. Even if I couldn't find 195-width tyres now, I still want 6.5"-width wheels to make dropping to 195 viable in the future when availability improves, without ending up with overly-exposed rims to be scuffed. You could go up to 215-width on the 6.5 fine.

Anyway, the wheels are 42611-47641, which I see for $178.23 MSRP on the US parts site, and the caps are 42602-47310, $91.43.

The only winter wheel + tyre quote I have from my dealer at the minute is over €3,000 - he was a bit vague but I think that was for a set of original PHEV 19" wheels plus Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10EV 215/50 R19. And I think that's a bit too big diameter, myself. That size is available presumably for the Volkswagen ID.3 - and that's a real outlier size for the Nokian studdeds, nothing else below 235 at 19".

 

Pirelli is showing a 195/60/17 winter tire in Canada.

https://tires.costco.ca/SearchResultsBySize?lang=en-ca&Width=195&Aspect=60&Rim=17

I would assume it will be available in Europe also?

 

Yes, they're available. There's a few choices for non-studded 195/60 R17 winter tyres (Nordic or European).

But I'm making my life difficult by not being content with non-studded tyres.

It seems that Nordic friction tyres have improved a lot in recent years, and can match now studded on snow, but they still can't grip ice the same way.

 

Costco also has several snow tire choices in 205/65R16, which seems to be a closer match to the diameter of 19” OEM.

The tire is of course a bit wider which is not ideal, but is a much more common size and should be a reasonable compromise, and should be a bit less expensive than 17’s. I am pretty sure the 16’s would fit and clear the calipers? The dealer thinks it will, but not sure if that was validated with the technical guys…

 

Costco- through c-wheels.ca from the costco website- offers a bit of a deal on a 16" alloy rim:

 

I guess i like the idea of the 195/60/17's as it's the original size on the SE trim level.

 

This is going to sound argumentative but, do winter tires REALLY matter???

I mean... I've lived in Kansas all my life. Been through some really $@&$ winters. I've never even thought of going through the hassle of changing my tires.

Now, going from RWD to FWD is a massive improvement. FWD to AWD a little more (but not worth the cost IMO). Special tires though???

 

That was how I went in November of 2010, when we bought new. One dealership "thought" 15" Corolla steel rims would work, would need to try them to confirm. I let them do the install (with Michelin X-Ice), and it went well. Just retired that set (yes, after 13 winters), have nicer rims (from Prius Plug-In) and fresh Michelin X-Ice ready to go on.

Mazda's pretty good in this regard, every fall they offer compatible steel rim and snow tire packages available, complete with nice centre caps covering the hub openings. And TPMS sensors, which after the initial introduction are automatically recognized when you swap, no further dealer intervention needed. About $1500 CDN, plus taxes.

Toyota? Clueless...

PSA: if you get directional snow tires, before you drive off, verify the direction arrows are all going the correct direction. If they're on the car, on both sides, when the arrow's at the top of the tire, it should be pointing to the front. If loose rims, when face up you should have two arrows going clockwise, and two counterclockwise. When DIY installing for first time, the clocwise ones go on right side.

Addendum: OMG, my memory is flakey; just realized I wrote a lot of the same stuff, a few posts up the page. Ah well...