Snow tires and 15" vs 17" wheels

I can see no benefit to upsizing to 17's. More expensive, generally heavier, worse ride quality. Get the best 15" tires you can afford.

 

Our stock tires are 215/45R17, but for winter I switch to 195/65R15, on steel Corolla rims.

 

Generally, winter tires with skinnier width are recommended to bite through the snow to pavement and tires with taller sidewalls / smaller wheel size provide better ride quality.

 

Stick to 195/65 15s for Winter snow tires.

Look into General Arctic Altimax... had those on my Gen II (did not put studs in them) and were excellent for the price. Quiet for a snow tire and were perfect for unplowed snow on roads. Also did very well on dry roads. On the high end, Michelin X-ice Xi3... gets excellent ratings for ice grip without studs and is considered LRR, something not common for a snow tire, and good for Prius mpg. A good, but now more of an old school snow tire is the Pirelli Winter Carving Edge. I used these for several years and were great in really snowy conditions, but were not a very quiet tire in the dry, although it handled very well on pavement.

There are a multitude of snow tires that do well in most conditions, but will vary vastly in noise, comfort and road feel that they produce. Some of the better and more aggressive snow grip tires will roar down a dry road. I also try to put them on as late as I can get away with before the big snows come, and take them off as soon as the particular season allows. That usually allows me 3-5 seasons of service per set. My Winter car is running on an older generation Blizzak snow tire. I find them ok. Got a "close out" deal on them, but would really prefer a set of Arctic Altimax for lose snow grip.

Snow tire selection depends a lot on where you live, and how much you drive, since there are big differences in typical Winter road conditions in individual climate areas of the north. More frequent cold fluffy snow events, say, compared to a region where more frequent icing or wet snow driving conditions would present different driving problems. I had to count on Winter tires that would get me to work on unplowed roads at all times of the day and night.