snow tire advice fifth gen

Can not speak to GEN 5, but on my GEN III (4) I just have a set of 15" take-offs. Winters tires set up on separate steels wheels with no TPMS.

If I had the GEN III (5) with the larger wheels, I would have still have gone with the 15" for the winter's because there are more options on tires. Driving in the snow is not about pretty and eecking out 1 or 2 mpg.

 

There's no clear choice; all have pros and cons depending on what exactly you want, how much you drive, and what your winter conditions are.


Scenario 1: You drive less than 15k miles a year, you only drive in well maintained cities and highways, and your winters aren't terribly bad(no lake effect snow, mountainous roads, or severe ice in a hilly area).
- In this case, I might suggest riding out this winter and then getting a set of Michelin CrossClimate 3 next year when they become available. They give you about 85-90% of the performance of a dedicated winter tire, but you can also run them year round. Don't have to bother with swapping. They'll likely be available sometime next summer/fall in either stock size or something close enough to work.

Scenario 2: You need a dedicated winter tire due to conditions, or you put enough miles on per year to justify them. Looks are important, so you would need a set of alloy wheels for winter use. You also don't have extremely snowy winters with regular totals of 8"+, or lots of ice storms.
- In this case, I'd lean toward getting a set of Michelin X-Ice Snow in the stock size and have them swapped. It's not ideal, but a nice set of alloy wheels could run you $1k-$2k, and that would buy you several years of swapping tires. The X-Ice Snow is not the absolute best winter tire, but it's very acceptable for most situations and it's available in the stock 19" size.

Scenario 3: Same as above except you don't care about looks and a steel wheel is just fine.
- In this case I'd suggest a second set of wheels and you swap them. You should be able to easily find 17" or 18" steel wheels that are 6.5"-7" wide, have a 5x114.3 bolt pattern, 60mm hub(or larger and use a hubcentric ring), and +40 offset for under $100 each. In that case, you'll probably break even in under three years. Plus it's much better for your OEM alloy wheels because the garage doesn't have to rip off wheel weights twice a year when they mount and balance each set of tires(assuming they do a proper job). This way you can also choose whatever winter tire you want. There are better choices than the X-Ice Snow, especially if you get a lot of snow or ice every winter. Continental VikingContact 8 for best all around, Blizzak WS90 for best deep snow, or Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 for best glare ice.


There's no one good answer.



My situation:
I've run X-Ice Snows for the last two winters. I don't get lots of extreme snow or ice, so they're more than good enough for me. I swapped them on my original wheels for the first winter, but I was able to get a second set of alloys from a user on here that switched to 17" and just wanted to get the old wheels/tires out of their garage. So now I have two complete sets: OE Toyos on a set of 19" Prime wheels for summer, and X-Ice Snows on my original Limited wheels for winter. I plan to continue this rotation until the Toyos are worn down enough to justify switching to CrossClimate 3s.

 

You don't say where you are or what winter conditions you normally run into... Winter tires are needed in my area usually November to March.

I'm on the edge of the snow belt and am using michelin x-ice on dedicated 16" aluminum wheels. Good traction on black ice, good fuel economy, quiet, handles well in wet/dry/snow, good ride. Not as good in deep snow (ie. > 12" or 30cm deep) and heavy thick slush. I do mostly country highway driving. Roads here get plowed and salted too frequently and are susceptible to black ice on fresh dumps, especially in town areas with high traffic.

If you regularly drive in un-plowed deep snow and slush I'd go with Bridgestone Blizzak's. Go narrower tire for better bite. Soft vague handling on wet/dry and poorer fuel economy is the trade off. I'd go with these for roads that don't get plowed regularly and you need to plow through deep drifts. A Prius isn't a particularly good choice for regularly driving in these conditions as it's a small light car and too low to the ground.