wheels and snows

I've tried various studless snow tires, my favorites for traction are the Bridgestone Blizzak and Dunlop Graspic DS-2. However, I went back to a studded tire for maximum ice traction. I have a 2004 Prius and it has the hyper sensitive Traction control that can leave you helpless sometimes

I went to Canadian Tire and picked up 4 studded Goodyear Nordic directional snow tires. This is the same as the Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 sold in Europe:

Goodyear Eur-Winter Tire-UltraGrip 500

If you click on "Profile" a Flash movie loads that explains the tire. I highly recommend this tire to anybody needing serious winter traction, especially on icy roads.

On dry pavement the tires are quite noisy, that is a good compromise. In 185 65 15 size, the tire including studding, balancing and mounting was $122. I use cheap steel rims to save the alloys from road salt

I don't have TPMS. For those who run winter tires, they usually ignore the TPMS warning. My 2004 will constantly display the "snowflake" on the dash whenever the temp is +3 C or colder. So that yellow light stays on the entire winter

 

Try a search. Google shows this: [SIZE=-1]Results 1 - 10 of about 2,310 from priuschat.com for "snow tires"

Tom

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Just traded in my Prius, but I ran Blizzak Revos on Sport Edition wheels, no tire pressure sensors. They were wonderful.

rpm

 

Hey jayman, what sort mileage hit do you take from running studs? I've read a lot of threads about how such studless tires as the Blizzak will cause a roughly 5mpg reduction, but am curious about studs.

 

I was pretty careful to document the MFD indicated fuel economy the same day I put on the winter tires/wheels. In winter there are a lot of variables but comparing a drive at the same approximate temps and road conditions:

The Dunlop Graspic DS-2 appeared to offer the least MPG hit compared to the Michelin Harmony "all season" tires. No difference in city driving, on the highway at temps of -20 C, perhaps 2-5 MPG less

The Yokohama Ice Guard 10 appeared to be a much "looser" tire on the highway. In city driving, around 2 MPG less, on the highway 5-7 MPG less. I would not recommend this tire, the highway handling characteristics are weird

Studded Goodyear Nordic, AKA Goodyear Ultra Grip 500. Around 5 MPG less in city, 7-10 MPG less on the highway. Not sure if that is due to the studding or the very aggressive tread pattern

I feel the MPG loss is more than made up by finally having a decent winter car. I rarely use my FJ for commutting, just for trips out to the hobby farm. If my Prius didn't have the hyper sensitive Trac, I could perhaps get by with a less aggressive winter tire

I've been using winter tires in winter for +20 years. Some still feel an "all season" is perfectly ok for winter driving. CBC's Marketplace ran another story on winter tires this week

CBC.ca - Marketplace - Don't rent a car this February without winter tires. Oh, wait...