Are snow tires really needed for prius winter driving?

The tires that came with my 2007 Prius (I can't recall what brand any longer) were horrible on snow or ice but after switching them out for Michelin all-seasons the car handles much better, although I did lose about 2 mpg. I've always had good all-season tires and never had to buy snow tires for any of my cars, even when I lived in Colorado.

 

I do not think living in FL will require snow tires.

 

The original tires I had (GY Integrities) handled fine on the snow early in the season when they were still somewhat new. Being that here in Ohio we usually have about 5 - 6 months of Snow towards the end of the season they were ski's with 22,000+ miles on them even though there was easily 50 % tread left on them. A decent set of all-seasons have made enough improvements.

 

Can you do it with stock tires: Yes.
Will you be particularly happy doing it (especially after the tires wear down some): No

 

I still have the original Goodyear Integrity tires with >43K miles on them and two Canadian winters with them. No issues, but will have to check their condition before this winter season.

 

If you are ANYPLACE where you have ANY snow, get rid of the Goodyear Integrity's NOW! They are junk to begin with. I only got 30k when they were worn out. Toyota replaced them because of the bad wear. The one winter I had them it was awful. I live in upstate NY, we have snow. I now have a set of Yokohama Avids. They have 30k and are barely worn. Notice my last name...... still wouldn't use Goodyear Integrity's if I got em free. You with 2 Canadian winters are VERY much the exception

 

+1

There are tons of threads previously posted. Folks are all over the board on it. But hard core winter ice & snow plus the integrity's don't go together.

 

Even up here, there are plenty of folks who believe that "all season" tires really do work in drenched summer roads, -40 drifted over highways, and everything inbetween. They won't spend the approx $1,000 for dedicated wheels and studded tires for real winter conditions

But, they WILL complain when they spin out, smack a guardrail or tree, or another vehicle, pay a deductible, and be forced to rent a car to get to work while theirs is in the body shop

 

We have Primacy MXV4s and my wife drives (at least) weekly from Rochester (Fairport is a suburb) to south of Buffalo (in the "snow belt" there). No problem with sensible driving. Unless you deal a lot with snowed over back country roads, these tires are just fine (the Integreties were OK too for the first winter - replaced them just before the 2nd winter with the Primacys).

I note that the latest Consumer Reports rates this tire as Good for Snow Traction and Very Good for Ice Breaking (Hydroedge is only Fair for traction and Good for ice braking) & the Primacy is Excellent for (low) Rolling Resistance.

 

Much better with snow tires. If you live in an area with a lot of snow (I'm in Minnesota) you'll be very happy having them.

I have Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi snow tires.

 

Minnesota has one third to half the snow of Buffalo. Unless one regularly travels on unplowed roads, the Primacy tires are just fine.

 

Not so much the snow, but the ice. In the great frozen north, once the temps get much below -10 F, road salt stops working. Icy stretches of highway can stay icy for a LONG time. True, they can spread sand, but on a windy day it gets blown off, leaving the glare ice behind

Most "all season" tires lose most if not all of their limited ice traction in temps much below 0 F. Some lose that traction below +30 F.

I was glad I put the factory studded tires on this Friday, we had freezing rain then snow. Plenty of cars, pickups, semis in the ditch, but I was able to safely navigate back home



The reason why the pavement looks so shiny by the tire, is due to glare ice. It was almost impossible to walk around in sneakers

 

Hey Jayman,

You need studded sneakers!

 

Well, it WAS icy enough, that's for sure!

 

Yes

Actually, the freezing rain was far worse than the snow. I was invited to go moose hunting with a buddy near Dryden ON. The icy roads had the Trans Canada closed near the Ontario border due to a bad accident, so I turned back.

I needed to hike a leg at a rest stop between Whiteshell and the Lac Du Bonnet turn. I got out, and with my sneakers on, promptly went on my butt



From this angle, you can see how shiny the ice is, and if you zoom the photo, you can see the interesting stud pattern Nokian puts in at the factory



I stopped at a restaurant near the Lac Du Bonnet turnoff. Another accident had the westbound lanes closed for about an hour, so I had a second breakfast. The parking lot was full of semis, pickups, cars, and U-Hauls waiting things out for the roads to improve. Notice the shiny ice in the parking lot



Most of the drive back, I was the only vehicle on the road. The driving lane was icy enough to strap skates on



Hopefully, we only have one such event a year

 

I have a nearly-new 2009, and decided to buy snow tires (and a second set of rims, which I now have). My "logic" follows.

Key to my decision is that I intend to keep the car a minimum of five years, and probably longer.

If I stay with the OEM tires, they wear out in X years/miles.
If I buy snow tires -- and rotate between OEM all season tires and the snow tires -- the OEM tires wear out in something like 2X years/miles -- and the snow tires wear out at about the same point.

To take an example, if the OEM tires used continually wear out at 30,000 miles, then if rotated with snow tires, I'd wear out the OEMs (and the snows) sometime around 60,000 miles on the car ... and have the benefit of snow tires in the bad months.

I realize my explanation "rounded a lot of corners" -- for example, that the two sets of tires won't wear at the same rate etc., and may last longer (or shorter) than in my example. But the underlying idea seems reasonable to me.

Essentially, I can use snow tires "for free" because otherwise I'd go through ~two sets of all season tires in roughly the same period of time. I guess the main drawback is that I'm not rid of the OEMs as quickly as if I ran them continuously.

I grew up in Binghamton NY (much snow), then moved to Syracuse NY (more snow), then Cleveland, and then the Detroit area. Oh, yes, and spent all sorts of time in Buffalo. I respect snow and ice and prefer to have the "edge" snow tires can give, instead of having to put more effort into staying on the road with all-season OEMs or replacements. I just wish that Michigan allowed studded tires :-(