2 or 4 studded snow tires
 

Ive already got some nice perelli sotenza 3 snow tires from last year, but im going to be doing a lot of commuting in harsh winter conditions on mountain roads this year, so I am really considering some studded tires.

I drove to a ski mountain everyday last year, this car is surprisingly capable in the winter. Its actually great on the highway most of the time even in the worst conditions, but on steep snowy hills it can definitely find its limits.

I was thinking of keeping two of the perellis up front and putting two studded tires in the rear. Would this be better than just 4 studless snow tires? Would there be any major negatives with only having two studded? I dont really have the cash to drop on a full set of studded tires this year, but I do want to stay safe out there!

Don't mix tires. Either go one way or the other. If you have studded on the rear and normal on the front you will have braking and turning issues as the rear grips better than the front.
I personally would skip the studs and just stick with the 4 quality winter tires.

radials

You have no bias?

What are you imPlying?

I'm getting tired of this punny business.
Four studded snows were the norm in our family back in the day. I loved running the back roads in winter driving my dad's Corvair Corsa 180 Turbo or my brother's 140 Corsa with Yenko Stinger upgrades. :)
That was until Ontario claimed it caused too much road damage and banned them! My hands still hurt thinking back to the days of popping hundreds perfectly good studs out of new and used tires. (I was working in a Texaco Service Center at the time.)

Get a grip man!! Not one single thread keeps on track.. feeling deflated!!

To OP's question, like others already wrote - either all 4 studded, OR all four studless.

There are two main drawbacks to studded tires. One is - increased road noise (even worse in light of twins having little to no sound insulation and passing LOT of roadnoise in). Another - in many countries studded tires are not allowed. Third drawback is lesser one and may matter only to those that do winter racing/rallying. As in, drifting a lot will soon rip out most of studs, eliminating studded tire advantage :D
For last two winters i got studded tires, but if i had to drive to other nearby countries more to south, i'd need to change to studless. If by chance one also needs to drive with rear seats back lowered (i needed that to fit slalom ski set in car), road noise on studless at highway speeds is VERY LOUD. I still would prefer to get studded ones if any of these two cons won't make it not a choice, but for others, living elsewhere and with different tolerable noise levels, it may differ.

This article might be of interest to you: https://www.outsideonline.com/235900...inter-car-prep

Unless your doing a lot of driving on roads that are icy rather than snowy I'd stick with studless tires with two bags of tube sand over the rear axle and a set of these: https://www.amazon.com/Security-Chai...ype=automotive in the trunk just in case. That's what I run anyways.

beanswv17: i'm not sure it's worth carrying snow chains along in these cars. Simply due it's relatively low ground clearance and bulldozer shaped front bumper, that "loves" to dig in snow. As result, on normal winter tires these cars can go anywhere, where "front bumper & ground clearance allows", and car is too low to be driven where snow chains may have more grip then normal winter tires.
And if bringing around something not to be used .. i recall watching video on "tire snow socks". Those ice/snow grip temporary enhancers seem much better due lower weight and more compact size for role of something not used. Maybe one driving mentioned "performance winters" or all seasons might thrown snow-chain set in .. but proper winter tires would be better choice then that combo.
P.S.
while extra weight in car will help with grip/traction, remember that it will also add mass/inertia. As result one will need more grip to not slip outside in turn due now more centrifugal forces from more mass, more grip when braking and accelerating from more inertia of higher mass, hence what gained will also be spent. Imho you should get similar result by running less wide tires (which is common advise for winter tire choice), that will also increase pressure per now smaller contact patch, allowing tires to dig through slush to harder packed/more grippy pavement.

The owner manual very specifically states "Do NOT use chains" on these cars.
I will sacrifice some startup traction in deep snow for a better balanced car anyway so will never add weight. Adding weight is for a front weight biased vehicle such as pickup trucks not a sports car.

Tcoat: manual also states - car is not intended for towing.
... but, toyota lists among official optional accessories for twins snow chains and towing hook. :D
And i guess, that tucked in stock fitment of wheels/tires also might be attributable for there to be space for not rubbing with snow chains over stock sized wheels-tires.
After all, twins are sold world-wide and IIRC there are some countries that may list requirement for ability to put on snow chains for new cars officially sold there. Even if it may not make sense to use them due low ground clearance reasons i wrote about in previous post.

I've never had to actually use the chains yet, but I still think they're good to have as a last resort, the ones I have (and linked to) are pretty low profile and lightwieight, and at stock height and tire diameter shouldn't have issues rubbing.

As far as the extra weight goes, having driven in snow both with and without it I definitely feel you're better off with it when there is standing snow on the road, especially if you end up needing to get started uphill.

I also run a slightly skinnier tire than stock (205/55R-16) and agree that is a good way to go as well.