It’s time for new shoes. In the past I’ve kept two sets of tires, one summer and one winter. I’ve moved to an area that only has a few weeks of freezing weather in the winter and temps are too warm for true snow tires 10 months out of the year. This past year I just ran the summer tires through the winter and things got tricky in Jan-Feb a few times. Can you guys recommend some cheap tires that work well in snow/slush but won’t wear out in temps above 50 degrees?
Move to a part of the country which doesn't have cold winters? But seriously, it is miserably hard to shop for Prius tires if one wants LRR ones because, unlike in Europe, there is no requirement to disclose those numbers and consequently they are largely unavailable. (I even tried contacting manufacturers directly and they would not provide that information.) General Altimax RT45 were installed on our 2007 a while ago, replacing Ecopia 422s. I always found the Ecopia's to be marginal in the wet (we don't get snow in S. California, we do get torrential rains) and I wanted better grip in those situations. After many months I think I may see a slight drop in MPG at low speeds but negligible change at highways speeds. That would be consistent with the RT45's having more rolling resistance than the Ecopias (drag at high speeds is mostly from the air). Other than this possible drop in efficiency, these tires have been fine so far.
