2nd set of wheels, what would you do?

rmeller said:

... a mountain descent is the worst case for vehicle stability, and it is a place where you cannot afford to spin the car.

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Though I disagree with @rmeller 's earlier post about affording tires for a 'performance car' as lots of owners have enjoyed these cars for a lot of miles without spending gobs of money on tires!

This recent comment rings true, staggered set-up with proper alignment (camber, toe, etc.) will bring a very fun car (which is well behaved) out to play. Toyota changed the car in 2003 for a reason. Any car can be a problem in the wrong situation, but this car (even set-up pretty neutral) can mis-behave with a little improper input. Whether that be a touch of brakes at the wrong time, something slippery in the path of the wrong tire, or just carrying a little too much speed thru the wrong corner. I don't think it is really "snap-oversteer" though I could be wrong, I think it may be a little more difficult to "return to controllable" with the rear weight bias and other suspension characteristics. No matter - RMELLER's point is still solid - if you are not somewhere trying to find that last .1 sec around whatever track and are somewhere where trees (which are very unforgiving) are in the possible path, go with stable.

I am in the same boat - having just picked up a spare set of PRF wheels. Currently running old all-seasons, contemplating Flevas (195/205 as they are cheap - does this mean I have to sell my 'performance car' 🙄) for other set of rims - but still undecided. I do have a fair amount of track time (more than 100 hours - not ten - though not in this car) not sure I need to get too worried about ultimate grip. If I remember correctly the OP has stock suspension? even more reason to keep staggered.

Having gone though many tire brands all in the same performance category as the OEM or higher, I found that for a street car its not about the grip. Most of these tires exceed the grip of the original tires especially for the street to be dangerous. If anyone feels that grip is lacking then you need to work on suspension not the width of the tires as a bandaid. The difference that sets them apart is the feel which can be vastly different between the brands and the application. I found that it comes down to the sidewall stiffness or whatever is in the characteristics of the tires that make them feel responsive to make it fun to drive without having to push the car to the extreme to get the same satisfaction of feeling the load on the suspension.
I have test driven other peoples cars that are on all season tires for an assessment. When I start pushing the car to me it feels very unsafe that I back off because it makes me nervous as the car feels unpredictable and sloppy. If you are trying to be thrifty fine but I would not performance drive this car with those kind of tires.
If you find a good tire that agrees with you then keep buying the same ones next time because it's very easy to get suckered into buying a replacement that has better metrics for grip but you might end up having a worse driving feel compared to the ones you had. It is a gamble but if you lose you are stuck with them for a long time with regret.