[rpm]

this a.m., I was able to place an online order for 4 blizzaks (WS50) with new steel black painted wheels for my Prius. The tires are $70 each, wheels $32. Total is $408 plus $70 s/h (for the slowest boat. price varies with your location and distance to their nearest warehouse. I was shipping from S. Bend IN to twin cities, MN).

this includes free mounting and balancing, and 20 lug nuts. the website automatically added the lug nuts in.

the wheels aren't in stock yet, but it indicates that they should be in about a week.

let it snow!

rob

 

[Hep]

Where did you order them, Rob?

 

[rpm]

hep, see my subject line!

rob

(http://www.tirerack.com)

 

[Hep]

d'oh!

At the risk of asking another stupid question, who mounts and balances them?

 

[rpm]

there're no stupid questions, only stupid questioners (just kidding)!

tirerack does. they ship 'em already mounted, balanced and ready to go. I had a set of the same blizzaks on steel wheels that I ran on a saab 900 for 3 or 4 winters. They were fantastic (difference even more pronounced because the saab had low-profile summer-only rubber). 4 tires on wheels takes up less room than you'd think...I store the 'resting' four in a tiny 'paint' room in my basement. a nice benefit of switching to/from snows is that it ensures that you rotate your tires on a regular basis; then you don't have to worry about it at oil change time.

alternatively, tirerack has a list of approved installers that you can search...they will ship 'em right to the installer, and you can have them throw them on your car. not much reason to do that if they're already mounted and balanced, unless you don't have space or the interest in jacking up the car. comes in handy if you buy tires only, and want someone to put them on your existing wheels. the approved installers will charge around $80-100 to mount and balance the tires on your wheels.

I view this sense of security as only costing me $200, because I consider the snow tires free, in the sense that while they are being run, I'm not wearing down my other tires. In other words, there is really no additional cost to running dedicated snow tires, other than the cost of the wheels and shipping.

rob

 

[mrv]

What size tires did you order? What size rim? (Classic Prius is 14", 2004-? US Prius is 15" (or 17" if in the Southeast/Gulf states region), elsewhere 16")...

 

[rpm]

Same as stock. 185/15's, if I recall correctly (I left the order sheet at home). I think it was the only option tirerack.com offered. On my old saab, which had low-profile tires, I believe I went down from 16's to 15's, with a taller, narrower, tire, which is supposed to be recommended for snowy conditions.

My prius is a 2005.

rpm

 

[rpm]

I just called tirerack to change my order from the Blizzak WS50 to the new Revo (after reading the new comparison test posted recently on their website) and was told the backorder date on the steel wheels is now the end of October, as opposed to what I posted at the top.

rpm

 

[g_rosco]

I also read the Tirerack review, and it seemed like the Revo1 had the edge. What seems a bit odd is when you look on the Bridgestone website it list the Revo1 as having just a "M & S" rating (typical of all season tires) vs. the WS-50 which has the "severe snow service" rating you see on snow tires. Hopefully this is a misprint on their website.

 

[dbird29]

did the alloy wheels

Didn't want to wait for the steel wheels so did the cheapest allow wheels with Blizzak Revos.

The wheels were the same price as the local tire store wanted for steels ($65). Already put the tires on to check out balance and get the new worn off before the snow flies. Only problem was the balance weights were not put on correctly and fell off but tirerack reimbursed for a local tire shop to balance them.

 

[g_rosco]

dbird29-

Could you confirm if the Revo1 has the severe winter condition symbol (snowflake inside the mountain) symbol on the sidewall? I'm guessing Bridgestone made a mistake on their website.

 

[rpm]

someone posted on priuschat yesterday that tirerack called him and said steel wheels would be unavailable all winter.

I left a message with my rep to confirm, but haven't heard back yet. My online order now shows the estimated arrival date on the wheels as 11/16/05, where before it showed 10/29.

 

[afternoonnap]

dbird29-

Could you confirm if the Revo1 has the severe winter condition symbol (snowflake inside the mountain) symbol on the sidewall? I'm guessing Bridgestone made a mistake on their website.

I picked up REVO1s this week for my Prius and they do indeed have the snowflake/mountain severe winter service symbol on the sidewall. FYI, they are made in Japan.