Winter Tires recommendation

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Hi all, thanks for sharing your experience.

My vehicle is a 2015 Toyota Sienna. I've quoted with the dealer since they said they'll price match on tires, but the total cost is almost $2000, that's including all the sensors and labour.

My question now is, I'm pretty sure I have sensors with the all-seasons that the van came with. Now, can I put on steelies with winter tires and no sensors? or that's going to screw up everything when I swap out the winters back to the original rims and all seasons?
*asking because that's how I did with my previous vehicles, but they were all at least 10 yrs old and didn't have to deal with sensors :)
** trying to save as much money as I can and be hassle free as best as I can because of the new addition to the family (my daughter is almost 2 months old)
 
EC2010 said:
Hi all, thanks for sharing your experience.

My vehicle is a 2015 Toyota Sienna. I've quoted with the dealer since they said they'll price match on tires, but the total cost is almost $2000, that's including all the sensors and labour.

My question now is, I'm pretty sure I have sensors with the all-seasons that the van came with. Now, can I put on steelies with winter tires and no sensors? or that's going to screw up everything when I swap out the winters back to the original rims and all seasons?
*asking because that's how I did with my previous vehicles, but they were all at least 10 yrs old and didn't have to deal with sensors :)
** trying to save as much money as I can and be hassle free as best as I can because of the new addition to the family (my daughter is almost 2 months old)
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You cab skip the sensors and save $90. Just have to live with a light on on your dash for the winter
 
I just went to Kal Tire and didn't shop around for my wife's car. Under $1000 (all in) for very good Nokian winter tires w/ no charge tire swaps each spring/fall for the life of the tires and some other no charge stuff which I forget.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Kijiji. Know the size, bolt pattern and offset and see what's out there. People wreck or trade-in cars during the summer then sell their winters off cheap. Last year paid $250 for new condition 16" Honda steels with winter tires for the Accord.
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Huge x2.


I paid $250 for a nearly new set of snow tires on steel rims from my wife's old Chrysler 300 a few years ago – got three years out of them and sold them with the car, there was probably one more winter left in them. Guy had them sitting in his garage after he sold the car and he just wanted to get rid of them.

Went shopping back in August on Kijiji for a set of snow tires for her new Volt and found a set of four with 90% tread for $200. just going to get the mounted on the alloys for simplicity sake this year, will look for a set of steel rims and TPMS modules next spring/summer.

Buying used is definitely the way to go I agree, Just make sure if they are already mounted that the rims are compatible – bolt pattern, hub size, offset etc.
 
shanekingsley said:
I just went to Kal Tire and didn't shop around for my wife's car. Under $1000 (all in) for very good Nokian winter tires w/ no charge tire swaps each spring/fall for the life of the tires and some other no charge stuff which I forget.
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That's not bad. Nokians are probably the best tire you could buy for winter. What size and did that include rims/wheels?
 
Kijiji all the way.

A few years ago was looking for alloy rims for the wife's suv so I could put snows on them.

Found a guy selling alloys with winter tires and thought got nothing to lose. As long as the rims are good if the tires suck I'll replace em as it's really the rims I'm after.

Shockingly I got 3 seasons out of the winters and they were great!
 
dieselxx said:
That's not bad. Nokians are probably the best tire you could buy for winter. What size and did that include rims/wheels?
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Can't remember the tire size for sure - might be 195/65/15 (Honda Civic). And it came with rims too. I wanted to go the Kijiji route which we did for her last car, but this was for her new car and she writes off the expense anyways, so it was no big deal. The whole experience was really fast and painless. Even going in this year to get the summer tires swapped on was super fast and painless.
 
2k for rims and tires sounds expensive....I just got dealer installed rims and Michelin X Ice tires for $1290 installed on an SUV before tax.
 
http://www.milestonetires.com/

I run the evergreen all seasons and a set of snows on my wife's 2007 escape limited, great tires with low road noise. Pricing is very competitive . I paid just over $900 for a set of 235/70/16 all seasons and a set of snow tires and had them mounted myself for $120.
 
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I've dealt with Joe at CEO Tire in Scarborough for years.
Always gives great pricing and can source just about anything you want, or in any price budget.
 
jc100 said:
2k for rims and tires sounds expensive....I just got dealer installed rims and Michelin X Ice tires for $1290 installed on an SUV before tax.
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I believe the quote also included OEM tire pressure sensors, which can really add to the cost. I used Dorman brand off Amazon for my Jeep, they were 1/4 the price of OEM ones.
 
DJM said:
I believe the quote also included OEM tire pressure sensors, which can really add to the cost. I used Dorman brand off Amazon for my Jeep, they were 1/4 the price of OEM ones.
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I just deal with the blinking light for the pressure sensors, my old ones wee broken years ago by one of the tire installers. I just price matched Costco for our other vehicle with our local Ford dealership and after 2 mins they said OK, we can do that. 790 ish for Michelin X ice ii's and then installation on the rims is a little more expensive with the dealership but this way I can just drive in, get them changed, have the all seasons stored and drive away without having to deal with the stampede at Costco. $70 rebate on that price too from Michelin until Dec 3rd. This is just for tires though, I already have the rims for this vehicle.
 
BTW, Costco has an excellent wheel fitment guide. It lists all compatible wheel fitments with the various makes and models.

I helped a buddy at work use it to find a winter wheel set on Kijiji from a Mazda but will also fit his Hyundai.
 
jc100 said:
Just check you have the correct offset and hub pattern for the rims and also remember to save money you can size down the tires and rims with some vehicles. The Honda I'm getting comes with 18" all seasons but I can put 17" winters and rims on it.
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FWIW I bought a set of used tires and rims for my Hyundai and the car they came off was supposed to take the same rim as mine. The steelies went on OK but a bit snug. I never thought about it until I tried taking them off. They were press fit.

When I took them off I had to fabricate a puller. When they let go they shot about three feet across the garage. They'll be ground out before the next install.

Since my wife's car was on the hoist for other work we had the snows put on yesterday. I hate the noise.
 
FWIW I think the Costco rims are kinda shabby. After balancing I've never seen so much weight added to a wheel before
 
TwistedKestrel said:
FWIW I think the Costco rims are kinda shabby. After balancing I've never seen so much weight added to a wheel before
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They are definitely made to a price point and I remember one being rejected years ago due to it being dented on delivery, but Ive had two sets of them and aside from a bit of rust they have been fine. I was tempted this year to give their alloy replica wheels a try instead but I didn't want to pay twice as much for some bling.
 
The last couple sets of steel wheels I purchased from Costco were made in Quebec. No issues other than they start to surface rust after a couple seasons. A can of Tremclad brings them back.
 
It's almost certainly the tire that was badly out of balance, not the rim. As for being dented on delivery, again, almost certainly freight/shipping damage, didn't come from the factory that way
 
Many steel wheels are warped straight from the factory. Quality control is still very low when it comes to certain Chinese products and that's where vast majority of wheels come from no matter whom you buy them from.

Costco wheels are not made in Quebec. They are shipped from Quebec by a distributor.

Dents are in fact usually a shipping issue.

Quick way to check your wheels is to roll them on a flat surface and look for hop and/or shimmy.
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