How well do these handle in the snow? I just "upgraded" my car from a 1991 Toyota Corolla to an '07 tC and wanted to know what I should expect. My thoughts are that since its a Front engine FWD it should handle nicely, but its alot heavier than my tin foil corolla. What are your thoughts? I dread driving this through the salt this winter, but its unavoidable...

 

its not bad, not great.
if u have some money layin around, do like one of our members and get some junker rims that fit the car and put snow tires on. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!! and get limited slip differential, but thats a whole lot more.
if ur not lowered and on stock rims u could do worse, if ur lowered on stock rims on heavy snow ur gonna have a good time keeping the car doing what u want
on aftermarket, say 19" wheels, just shoot urself and speed up the process
:D
hope that helps

 

Yea I was actually debating getting some 15" rims and putting snows on them. Has anyone else used 15s on their tC? I would be interested to know if they fit well. The only reason for this is that 17" snow tires cost nearly double around here.

 

snow tires is a must this winter

 

i think that he has 15'on the snow tires

 

just checked, they are 15's

 

You can get some actually decent looking, cheap alloy rims with blizzaks from tirerack for about $600 or so.. would be a nice investment. Other than that the car does great. The low profiles are not great in snow regardless of brand if the snow is more than a few inches deep. However, I have driven in 6 inches of snow, with hard snow pack underneath on the stock potenzas before I replaced them (and they were worn out). If you know how to drive on snow, even that wasnt absolutely horrible at commute speeds. The brakes do a great job as well. My test run for hem was 45 - 0 slamming them on and standing on them. Car held under me just fine with no correction.

 

what size tires with offset would have to be gotten in 16's to keep the same ratio? or does it not matter

 

I am in the northeast and we get a decent amount of snow here. The FWD makes it easier to gain traction than RWD, but if you lose control in a FWD, it is much harder to regain control than in a RWD.

If you have a stick-shift, that'll help with traction in the snow.

Best thing you can do it to get rid of the stock tires. They are not good in dry/wet/snow. They damn near killed me in the snow. I don't have enough money to get a dedicated snow tire and a dedicated summer tire, so like most, I have an all-season tire. I am running the toyo proxes 4. They are exceptional in wet/dry weather. In the snow, they won't kill you like the stock tires will, but get home and stay home. This is what i'd recommend on any car other than a 4X4 SUV with snow tires however and God knows we will never achieve that! My toyos did me well last winter, didn't get stuck and didn't have any near miss accidents (nor any accidents for that matter)

 

Very true about fwd/rwd. It is much easier to regain control in RWD if you know what you are doing...

When snow got deeper here last year (a foot deep on side streets during a 27 inch snowfall at times) I just parked it inside and we shared our 4Runner Much easier. I usually try to drive my 96 saturn in the snow and leave the tC in the garage, but it has been out in it a few times. The Avons are much better for the snow, which is what I had this past winter.

 

I feel safer in the tC in the snow then I did when i ahd my old Probe in the snow. You're from Maine, if you're a true New Englander, you'll do fine. I had to drive from Windsor, CT to Chicopee, MA in some bad snow storms this past winter in the tC, and I had zero problems. Hell, I had a help push a pickup truck down my unplowed street so I could get by, and I didn't get stuck once, even though the snow was over a foot deep. If you can afford snow tires or winter wheels, by all means buy 'em. If not, you'll be fine.

 

I've never had any major worries in the snow with my tC. A good set of all seasons and some sensibility is all you really need to get by.

 

yeah.. mine has done just fine when I have driven it in the snow. Normally I try to drive the old saturn when it snows and let it take the salt. And when it snowed 27 inches in a week this past winter... well... the 4runner was all we used

 

stock set up = scarey

keep your eyes on ebay.. i got 4 steelies with new snows on them for 180$ local pick up.

 

4 205/60QR-15 Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 In Stock $80.00 $320.00
4 15x6 5-100 54cb et45 st new In Stock $42.00 $168.00
4 Mount and Balance (No Charge) N/C N/C

total $595.98

I got some wheel covers also that almost look like the ones for the spec 2007 models.

edit:

Got them off tirerack.com