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Winter tire recommendations for RAV4 Prime XSE

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rav4 prime xse winter tires
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22K views 31 replies 16 participants last post by  MPCuse  
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#1 ·
Hello, I am new on the forum and wonder if any of you have some input on winter tires. I am told that I can go down from 235/55/R19 to 235/60R18 if want to save some money on the tires and wheels. I do not want to put those black regulars winter rims.
 
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#3 ·
If it's any help, I'm also in Canada, and I'm buying later this week, 17" aftermarket RTX Black Widow wheels with Michelin X-Ice North 4 (studded) tires P235/65R17 from 1010Tires.

Everything I've read says 17" can fit as long as they're not steel wheels. I also have the 19" and considered going to 18" but want to go even smaller for smoother ride and cheaper price.

The wheels I'm getting look as close to the OEM wheels as I could find:
Image
 
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#7 ·
dpostman said:
I also ordered Michelin X-Ice Snow North 4 (Factory studded) tires. I have an XSE with 19s but I'm going with 18" for my winter package. I chose 225/60R18 (OEM size for SE models).
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I did a lot of research and I would highly recommend you change that to 235/60R18, that way your speedometer will be a near perfect match. I have another thread here about that... it's frankly weird why they put 225 tires on the SE as that tire circumference doesn't match the tire circumference on the XSE models...
 
#5 · (Edited)
I've been a General Tire fan since I started using them over 10 years ago... Their Altimax Arctics are among the best bang-for-your-buck winter tire you can find - highly rated, studdable and very reasonably priced. They have directional tread patterns that really grab, but make sure your installer notices so you get them on the right way. General is owned by Continental, so it's not like they are some no-name brand. They are definitely worth consideration.

As for wheels - I bought a set of steelies for winter use... No sense messing up a nice set of wheels in the sand and salt, plus steelies handle potholes better.

PS - I've had great luck with the online retailer TireBuyer... They seem to beat everyone else by a few bucks and they come from the same distribution centers everyone else gets their tires from. If you buy from eBay or other discount places, be sure to check the date codes - I spotted a great deal on eBay, but noticed the tires were manufactured in 2018... Not super old, but tires do have a shelf life and that would take 3 years right off the bat.
 
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#8 ·
TomKatt said:
I've been a General Tire fan since I started using them over 10 years ago... Their Altimax Arctics are among the best bang-for-your-buck winter tire you can find - highly rated, studdable and very reasonably priced. They have directional tread patterns that really grab, but make sure your installer notices so you get them on the right way. General is owned by Continental, so it's not like they are some no-name brand. They are definitely worth consideration.
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I had General Altimax Arctic tires on my '12 Prius Plug-in. They were good snow tires but we have a lot of ice here the last few years, more than before. I prefer to actually change tires every time I buy new tires, at least for winter tires. I've had Yokohama IG, General Altimax Arctic, Toyo G3, and Pirelli Zero FR or something like that. The Yokohamas were great, as were the Generals, and Toyos. I just want to try something new.
 
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#10 ·
The Toyo G3’s are studded, on the kids Yaris. I’m well aware of the noise, we’ve gone through two winters on them. I looked at the tires the other day and the studs appear to have embedded in the tire a bit more than new, I noticed one missing too. Worst case is I can’t take it and remove them and go for studless.
 
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#11 ·
You're dealing with hard-packed snow and ice presumably? If just generic that doesn't turn into ice you might consider using Michelin's CrossClimate II which is purported to do well in snow and wet utilizing an innovative siping design and softer rubber compound, but don't employ studs, and are essentially a very good all-season tire. When the originals go I will probably go with those. I live in the Denver Colorado area. If hardpack and ice isn't common you can't use chains on the 19" tires so perhaps studs it is.
 
D
#12 ·
When these OEM tires wear out, those Cross Climate II are what I'd be going with unless something better comes out by then. Since I'll be going with studded winter tires, I'll be comfortable in shortening my winter tire season and keep the Cross Climates on a bit later in the fall and earlier in the spring. These parts have lots of side roads with hard packed snow that turns to ice. I've always run studded tires on my cars and my wife prefers studless on her cars, but I work in a hospital and she in schools ;), So guess who HAS to go into work no matter what the roads are like.:rolleyes:

dp
 
D
#18 ·
21Prime said:
I just put on my Michelin X-Ice North 4 tires yesterday. They are studded... just awaiting snow & ice to truly test them now...
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I just put mine on as well. I find my Jeep Wrangler on studded GY Duratacs did a better job of "Concealing" the stud road noise ;)

This R4P is so quiet that the studs are quite noticeable. This is not a complaint as I totally knew what I was getting. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised with the handling, but I have not had the occasion to really test them yet.

Once these OEM Yokos are spent, I'll replace with something like the Cross Climates and push back the winter tire installation later in the fall and remove ealier in spring.

dp
 
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#19 ·
For anyone with experience in hard packed snow do you find R4P is hard to control, i.e. w/o studded tires? I lived in Wyoming at 7500' for 3y, now Colorado near Denver and snow does not stay on the ground long typically, and in our Subaru Forest we didn't have studded tires just didn't make sense for these kinds of conditions. In fact as students at Univ of Wyoming in Laramie we used to drive back to California for Xmas in my '64 Chevy II with RWD, but we carried chains, though only used them rarely. We were even in a total blizzard at one point just drove at sane speeds on I-80 and somehow managed to survive. What's got me slightly concerned is the XSE doesn't accommodate chains, so going into the mountains during winter on roads that often are cleared quickly, but driveways and short private roads on slopes that aren't cleared quickly might be dicey. I wonder if it's easy to control tire spin w/ a light foot? Also, what settings should I be in to have the best success? As I say studs just wouldn't work well for 99.5% of our wintertime use as we don't go into the mountains very often.
 
H
#20 ·
235/55/R19 to 235/60R18 is a good diameter match, as you surely know.
Some might consider 235/65/R17 for a close (1%) match.

We live in Southern NH, regular winter trips to the white mountains expects (Cannon mountain)
For our Black SE with stock 225/60R18 we opted for black steel wheels 17x7
Non-studded CONTINENTAL VIKING CONTACT 7 225/65R17T

One of my inputs was this article: Test World 2020: Winter Tire Test R16 - TiresVote.com
For sizing I checked with: https://tire-calc.com/comparison/225-60-r18-and-225-65-r17/

Universal - Autel rubber TPMSS - which I still have to integrate
The tire place had some trouble programming them as supposedly they had not yet update their software and it did not know a 2020/11 built car.
Package internet 'deal' as Town Faire tires for $899 with $70 rebate from Continental still to be submitted = $829
Paid $100 for the 4 sensors - minor negotiation.

hth,
Hein
 
#23 ·
I just put a set of Blizzak DM-V2 winter tires on the 18" OEM rims with the TPMS sensors the stock tires came with. They don't have the original size in stock so we went with what they had - 245/60/18. They did fit my Prime SE, but just barely. $1080 out of the door installed with road hazard at Discount Tire. They will swap my stock tires back in the spring for $60.
 
S
#25 ·
I bought 17" rims off craigslist for $60 (Alloy - I think they were Infinity) with similar offset and hub-centric rings and had Blizzak DM-V2 installed (Did the same for my 2013 R4).
Haven't decided yet whether to buy TPMS sensors (I plan to replace OEM tires with CC2s and sell the winter wheels when OEMs wear out).
I also like the flexibility of being ably to swap summer/winter in my garage instead of scheduling it with a shop. It allows me to minimize the time the winter tires are on the car to limit excessive wear in warmer weather.
 
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