I'll be taking delivery of an '06 Seaside #8 in early January and had a couple of questions about tires/wheels. 1. Has anyone replaced the stock tires on an '06? If so, is there any special handling required to maintain tire pressure monitor functionality? To those lucky enough to have an '06 already, is this mentioned in the manual? 2. Will bigger wheels improve snow/winter performance?
i can direct you to a topic for question 1. DH explained the system in this thread: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...ressure+monitor i'm not sure about question 2. i feel that more contact with the road is a good thing for traction, but it'll kill your mpg. a set of good snow tires would probably be better to maintain the traction/mpg balance.
To improve winter driving, you want the narrowest tires possible. Look at rally racing in the snow races. Skinny, skinny tires with deep tread and studs. On the tramc races it's the opposite, wide, low-profile near slicks. If your bigger wheels are also wider, then no, they will hurt your winter driving. IF they are the same width, then they will be the same as factory. Well, if you use the same tires. A wider snow tire will be better than a narrower all-season. Galaxee, I've been reading some other posts, and some people have written that the TPMS uses special stems that send the pressure to the car. I'll wait until I either have mine or someone actually quotes the new manual.
really? hmm. he said he's only seen those in the trucks- it's a silver valvestem. haven't gotten a chance to dig into the 06s in person yet, only a few have come in and have just flown off the lot. no time to put one up and check it out thoroughly. have to wait for the routine maintenance to start up for that. let me/us know when you get yours. i'd appreciate it.
