what size winter tires to get?

if i were you i would seriously look into getting a spare set of rims for them. its much easier to swap them around, less risk of damaging the rims. you should be able to get some cheap, cheap enough to make up for paying for mount balance 2 times a year

check tire places for steel wheels or even a junk yard, or right here on TW.com for someone selling some

 

That's a good tire with modern winter tire compound. Modern winter compound typically has a porous outer layer that sucks away the top layer of water on ice (the opposite principle of ice skates). Would've gotten these instead of Winterforce UV last winter except they weren't in stock.

In deep snow, no. However, if you live in the city and have to drive in a mix of snow, ice, slush and bare pavement throughout the season, the winter tires will perform better.

 

The winter tires are going on the factory rims and I'm getting some other rims and tires for summer.

 

ah i see. that will work out pretty good then

 

I can't use chains around here. Or studs. Boo.

 

I got the Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice WRT SUV 265/70/16 for the winter . Love them . And i work for goodyear so got a really good price with my discount . Even have them on spare alloy stock wheels with tpms sensors in them .

 

I went with Bridgestone 265/70-17s for the truck. Excellent tire that does better than any regular tire, but it probably would have been better to go with a skinnier tire than I did. Gets you where you want to go safely but easy to spin the tires if you get aggressive. Not enough contact patch pressure.

 

If you purchase an aftermarket set of rims to mount the snow tires on and do not want to spend the cash for extra TPMS sensors what happens?
Does the light come on in the dash and just stay on till you remount the stock rims?
Any way to get rid of the light coming on?

 

Yes, the light stays on if there are no sensors on your tires. Don't know how to get it off without installing the sensors Perhaps there is a fuse you can pull.

 

If you were going up Steven's Pass, or the like, chains are required, regardless of snow tires or not. In Vermont I wouldn't drive daily with chains in the winter. On our 4Runner, I use studded Nokian Hakka 5s. However in the Tacoma/Seattle area, there is not really that much snow in the low lands and the need for dedicated snows is pretty low, so carrying some chains for those times when needed is not a bad idea. I used to live outside of Seattle and drove a little rear wheel drive sports car and had no problems, I just threw some weight in the back when needed.