Snows on Prime

Welcome.

Do it, they'll work fine.

Realize that many guys upgrade to a 17" wheel & tire package using a 215/45-17 which typically starts out life
at 24.6", after 10K, 20K, or 30K+ miles a 24.6" tire is well below your 185/65-15 snow tires which start out at 24.5" when new.


Rob43

 

How old are the snows, and what's the remaining tread depth? I'd be looking for excuses to get the proper size, and brand new snows.

 

The 185's are smaller in diameter, so your speedometer will read 2 mph less at 50mph, not a big deal, definitely use them.

 

It's actually 1 MPH at 50 (2%), I hear what you're saying & totally agree.


Rob43

 

Most tire manufacturers, and retailers recommend to replace winter tires at 6/32".

Winter Tread Depth at Tire Rack

 

It's Really time for new snow tires...

In your opening statement you commented that your current used snows were in "decent condition", but at 4 or 5/32's this set of snows are long dead. At best these old tires are mediocre/poor A/S tires now, I say this because the "Sipes" on your tires are gone; it's all the sipes in each tread block that really make a snow tire work as well as they do.

Buy a new set of 195/65-15 snow tires, realize that the cheapest Studless Ice & Snow tires are probably twice as good in snow/ice conditions when compared to a great A/S tire. Tire Rack currently has several 195/65-15 Studdable or Studless Ice & Snow tires for roughly ~$300 shipped.


Rob43

 

And since you've got only 4.8 inches of ground clearance as it is with stock tires, the 185 width given the other ratios would just lower the ground clearance more anyway.

Now go get yourself a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9s (I got mine on eBay) at the right width.

 

I have a 2003 Prius and have used snow tires for years—it literally has turned a turtle in snow to a snow fighting machine. I just ordered a 2019 Prime and I know it lacks a spare (is there a jack/lug wrench under the backseat?). How do Prime owners handle a flat (assuming the tire patch device/kit doesn’t work)? Is a tow the only option? Jack it up—leave it—take the tire and Uber to the tire repair/replacement store? I have a two ton jack to put on my snow tires—does the Prime have jack pressure points so that I can do it myself? Since I am waiting 6-8 weeks for a Prime Plus, I have these thoughts at night. Thanks.

 

There is a rear jack "tower" that is easy to see and hit from the rear. The front one is a lot harder to see and even a low profile floor jack may not fit under the car. When I do the seasonal swaps on our Prii I use the rear tower to do the back wheels and jack the sides individually for the front wheels.

And yes, if you get a flat that is not repairable on site, you've got to get the car to a tire shop or a replacement tire to the car. Some people carry a spare in the rear of the car sacrificing cargo space. I borrowed the one from my wife's '06 when we drove to New Brunswick a week and a half ago. Our phones don't work in Canada and there is a lot of lonely road up in the northern part of Maine and most of NB.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. Good idea on the spare.

 

Look into plug repair kits too.

Even though we have a spare (on our 3rd gen), I was tipped to give this a try. I had a small finishing nail embedded in tread, slightly less than an inch from the edge of tread, and pros would not do an outside/inside patch, deemed it too close to edge. They're probably right too: the round disc on the inside of that style of patch would likely ride up on the curve, not seat properly.

I got a nice BlackJack tire plug-repair kit, plug repaired from the outside only, added air, no problems. The tire was in use for another 6 years before I finally retired that set, mostly due to age, plenty of tread depth still but the rubber starting to crack.

I also plug-repaired one of our snow tires, after it caught a small bolt. About 5 years back. Again, no problems, still using it.

With plug-repairs it's much easier if you take the tire off, so you can straddle it, use your weight to push in the tools. And a spare is still a good idea too: it's often a lot more convenient to swap over to the spare, do the repair at your leisure, in a garage.

You can get cheap plug repair kits in a bubble pack for around $10, but I sprung for a higher end kit, with sturdier tools, good supply of plugs and lube, and comes with a nice solid case.

 

I bought the Blackjack plug kit, it came Monday. Hope to never need it. But I've paid my local mechanic to plug tires before. BOTH times it wasn't a fastener of any sort but a small sharp rock. Since I now have the ability to fix these myself, no one in the family will ever get a flat again BOTH times I screwed up I hit a curb with the sidewall. No repair possible.

I might look into the "piece of tubing" modification to the supplied pump/goo combo so I don't have to carry a regular 12V air pump AND the blackjack kit AND the supplied tire "repair" kit.

 

I got the $11 Panlong Bluetooth OBD2 OBDII Car Diagnostic Scanner Check Engine Light for Android - Compatible with Torque Pro, used it today with Dr Prius on my phone to deal with the obnoxious reverse beeper, clicked the box for the seatbelt reminder as well. Don't need that, our cars don't move if anyone is unbelted.

I also got the LEDs for the cargo area and the door lights. Much prefer the brighter white light. Didn't put them in the other fixtures that use that style bulb though, don't need the excess bright white light inside the cabin area.

 

I learned a lesson this weekend. One of the rear Blizzak snowtires on my 2020 Prime got a construction screw in it (likely from a new apartment building going up on my drive) and by the time I got home it was flat. I used the puncture kit and it seemed to hold even though the screw was deep inside the tire with about 1/2" showing on the outside of the tire. I called Toyota care and asked for service. They indicated that they could tow the car but that was it. So, I took off the tire (I wasn't sure that the repair would hold until my wife got home in her 2008 Prius) and substituted one of my passenger tires while the car sat in the driveway. I borrowed my wife's car and took it to a local Tires Plus store to get it repaired. When I told them I had used the patch kit, the staff member immediately said, "we cannot repair your tire." She claimed that the puncture repair kit fluid/sealant "destroys" the interior of the tire. So, I ended up buying a new Blizzak and having that one put on my rim. They wanted to recycle my new tire (only 3K miles on it) and I said no, I want it plus I wanted to make a claim to Tire Rack since I had purchased roadside hazard coverage on the new tires. It will be great if Tire Rack covers the loss. Worst case, I'll see if I can get the tire repaired and I'll purchase another wheel so that I have a winter spare. It turns out that having no spare is a hassle.

 

Sorry to hear the mishap. I bet you can repair the tire with regular plug. I have read somewhere that the sealant Toyota provide is easily washable. Yeah, the tire shop just did not want to do the messy clean-up. I have not had any flat on my PRIME. In fact, I have never had flat in any of my cars that required a spare except one time we had a flat on a run-flat tire almost 15 years ago. All the other flat I have experienced were just a slow leak that I could top off the air and drive to the nearest tire shop. But I do carry a full size spare in my PRIME behind front seat for a longer trip, just in case.

 

@MrHockey how close to the edge of the tread was the puncture? An inside/outside plug (typically done by tire shops now) becomes problematic if it's less than inch, not enough room for the inner disk of the patch. But an old-style outside-only plug repair (typically DIY now) may work.

And even if the issue is just a wall-of-refusal from the tire shops, try a old-style outside only plug repair.

Our car's sitting on snow tires right now, one of which I (old-style) plug repaired, 5 or 6 years back.

You can buy the cheap bubble pack Slime kits at Walmart for about $10, but treat yourself and get something like this?

Kits Archives - BlackJack Tire Supplies, Inc.

 

The construction screw is right in the middle of one of the tread channels. Not close to the edge at all.