Dedicated Winter Tire / Rim Set-Ups

I usually like to buy oem steel wheels for winters. Just heard from a Toyota dealer that 16" and 17" steel rims are only available in black. 16" at $95/cdn and 17" at $110/cdn. Not used to hearing that as Rav4 can come in silver or black for steel oem rims for winter.

 

In 2006, I got Toyota 16" steelies from a tire place, with Mich X=ice installed and balanced for around $1200.00..They were Silver and matched my truck at the time... They are on this 2016 now and don't match... In the spring, they will become black, along with black chrome nuts and center hubs painted Inferno... Didn't have the time this fall to prep them for this year.. hehe

 

You commute to Midland.... That can be one of the worst places to ever drive in the winter, in Ontario, as you know.! You need snow tires, recovery gear and the survival stuff in the truck..! Don't forget to throw a mickey of RYE in the survival pack... I've quite a winter pack I put in truck for the winter...everything from candles to RYE..!!

 

You should be able to easily find a set of silver SR5 steel wheels for significantly less than that per wheel. Silver SR5 steel wheels are running as low as $150-200 USD near me for a complete set in decent shape.

 

They are just fine. My wife drove the truck with the stock OR tires every snow we had last year.


If OP had noted he was spending the whole winter up in, oh, Leadville - I'd have a very different recommendation for him. If he were up in the upper midwest (or worse, Canada or NE), same deal. Front range? I can personally think of better things for the money.

 

Any advice on why I should choose a 16 inch over 17 inch winter tire? Buying new rims would be $16 less for 16" and tires would be $80cdn less for 265/70/r16 instead of 265/65/17. Tires are michelin latitude x-ice2. The savings are about a $100. On my old car with low profile tires it made sense to drop from 17 to 16 to get a bit of height on the tire but at a 65 and 70 tire I am not sure it would make a difference but still looking for advice.

 

I went with 16" wheels & tires to save a bit of money like you mentioned, but also my Off-Road came with 16's so might as well match up summers & winters. I think both aspect ratio's and sizes would be just fine for winter tires though.
I would definitely recommend the Michelins, on pavement they are just as quiet as the AT Goodyear's, and having used them before on other vehicles, I know they work extremely well anything Old Man Winter can throw at you.

 

After our first heavy wet snow last week I discovered that my Tacoma wasn't near as good in that kind of snow as I was hoping.

With no weight in the back I was having a hard time going up slight inclines in the slippery, wet snow (about 4" of it) with my stock tires that have 10,000 km on them.

In 4x4 mode it obviously got around but still spun more than I anticipated (and I was driving a Ford Ranger 4x4 the past eight winters).

My studded shows are going on tomorrow.

 

We see a lot of snow packed and icy roads here in Colorado, so I'm running studded Cooper/Mastercraft Courser MSR 265/75/16 (E load rating) on my stock 2016 TRD OR wheels.

Haven't yet had them in snow/ice yet, but a very trustworthy local tire shop owner recommended them (he runs them on his truck) and they were much cheaper than BFG KOs.

 

I know the first thing she'll take in a divorce.

Talking to a BMW-mechanic friend of mine some years ago, discussing cost of ownership for the E46 M3:

Mechanic: I was this close to buying a brand new one. Maintenance costs were the only thing that pushed me away. Couldn't afford it in the long term.
Me: How much did your divorce run you?
Mechanic: ... fuck. Should have bought the M3.

 

I love reading guys justifying all-seasons as being "fine" if "you know how to drive." Just wait until another guy that "knows how to drive" hits a patch of ice, slides out right in front of you, and you realize you have no traction to do an emergency stop or swerve. See how far your skills get you, and what your insurance provider will tell you when they find out you've totalled the vehicle due to improper tires for the road conditions.

Stack the odds in your favour, or stay home.

 

Wish more people thought about that.
have you by any chance watched the new canada's worst driver? There's one girl on it that is so fucking ignorant I can't even watch it anymore.
They tell her how things she's doing will cause an accident and she says 'well i haven't been in one yet so that won't happen to me'
they make her do simulated test of swerving to avoid a collision and when she goes to fast and swerves the wrong way she says 'but see I was fine there was no one there'
Like no the red sign was supposed to be a in place as if there was another vehicle there, that you would have hit.

Just seeing people like that on the show and the 1000s of other drivers I see every day that can't drive worth a shit make me want to have snows. So in the event one of these idiots do something stupid I have a better chance of stopping in time or avoiding them.

 

For those thinking of TPMS
Was talking to a friend that works at a local Kaltire yesterday about it just wondering for either cloning sensors or whatever.
Was told that an aftermarket TPMS will cost about $45-50, a factory one cost about $65.
He told me just pay the extra and get the factory ones. Told me they had a new 3rd gen in last week for tires etc and tried using aftermarket sensors and couldn't get them to work with the truck. Save the hassle and just buy factory ones.

 

If your running all seasons, there is nothing your insurance company will say, not to mention is sounds like a no fault accident

 

depends where you live.
a few provinces have made it mandatory to have winter tires
and insurance companies give you a discount if you have them in the provinces that aren't mandatory.

If you're caught without them you're screwed

 

Exactly, it all depends on where you live and the laws there.

 

LOL. Okay then.

 

What's so funny?

 

I think @0210 point was for those here in canada where every province has a discount for insurance and a few provinces have mandatory winters
I wonder which ones actually do, since being on here it seems like almost all of them have mandatory snows except for my idiotic province lol.

But either way, for you guys in the south might not be a big deal depending on which state you're in but if you're here in canada every province gets snows. Really snow's aren't expensive. Sure the cheap ones aren't great but still better than an all season and you can get a full set for like $300. If you can't afford $300 for a safer set of tires not sure how you afford owning a vehicle. Or you can get winter rated all terrains.
Just grasp the fact I know people that run 245 40 18 on their car with a yokohama avid envigor tire, which is technically an all season rated tire, all year round. We spend 2-3 months a year where the temperature doesn't get higher than -15 celsius without the wind, and with the windchill its usually -25 to -35. We get a lot of icey conditions and usually anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow in the city, upwards of 12-18inch within an hour to hour and half drive of the city (where many live and commute to the city). One of the two major highways that head north that are the main ways into the city has about a 20km stretch where it deals with a bunch of blowing snow and white out conditions. With these conditions many still insist that it doesn't make a difference to have a set of winters. I've driven without winters and I've driven with them. Its a night and day difference.

 

Funny thing is I'd bet about 90% of those that say they don't need winters because they know how to drive are the idiots that are tailgating the fuck out of you when its a snow storm. The same idiots you see in the ditch on the side of the highway, same idiots that are causing accidents.