Tires - Do Priuses wear less than a conventional car?

You're on to something. Plus it's a Toyota.

Our best friend and biggest enemy is the hybrid battery. But very very very very very few ever have that mythical problem.

 

judging from all the tire posts here, i'd have to say it's negligible.

 

There should be no difference in wear between a hybrid and a -very- similar old technology car.
Very similar being, same weight, same frontal area, same tire size, same wheel size, same weight distribution.
In other words, it's almost impossible to compare.

But the hybrid drive train shouldn't make much of a difference, unless you're comparing it to a car with over 200 HP wherein the driver often uses that power!

The way to minimize tire wear is to keep them properly inflated, and to actually do a proper 4 wheel alignment, not just a 4 wheel alignment check (which is what you get when you ask for a 4 wheel alignment, because it's not easy to align the rear wheels).

 

Yeah, I think any sort of Continuously Variable Transmission is going to be a little easier on tires, comparing to a conventional automatic, or manual.

And D.O. on hybrid drivers being very gentle on gas/brake. They also tend to obey speed limits more, good for mileage, and tires.

Also, hybrid owners tend raise tire pressures, which improves wear.

 

Maybe the Europe-spec Prius has higher-quality original equipment tires than the US-spec Prius. I would say that the US-spec 2G Prius (and Classic, for that matter) with original equipment tires tends to wear them out quickly, for example front tire excess shoulder wear when using factory-recommended tire pressure of 35/33 psi. I have worn out the original equipment tires after 15K miles. (Of course, some US owners are still on the original equipment tires after 50K miles, so your "mileage" may and will vary.)

 

Interesting idea. But if you look back on the threads on tire wear, the Prius appears to wear through tires faster than other similarly sized cars (Corolla, for example). Thinking is that it's the additional weight of the drivetrain and battery.

 

It seems to me those who complained about short tire life also kept their tires inflated at Toyota's spec. Those who inflated to max sidewall had tires last twice as long.

 

MORE WEAR!

When I had the Potenza Grid's on my ride, nothing would bring me more joy than to "rail" a posted 30 mph turn going 55+. Slot car handling, energy though the index, powering out through the apex..............SCCA at it's best. The Grids at 50% shaved, 65+ on 30 mph turns.

Drivers following me would have a rather rude awakening.

 

The OEM Bridgestone Turanza ER30 front tyres were down to 3mm after 20,000 miles, most of which were at 40-42 psi. The rears were still at 6mm.

My hypothesis is that because the tyres were designed to be used at extreme camber and toe angles on a BMW or Mercedes, rather than the very neutral camber and toe on the Prius, they never got up to proper working temperature. Therefore, when turning, they simply scrubbed across the road.

I replaced all four with Nokian 'H' tyres last summer, which I believe will be a better match for the car, being designed for a Finnish autumn. Not especially high wear so far, all 8 depth markers on the Driving Safety Indicator were still present last time I looked, so over 8mm of tread still remaining.

It is not customary to rotate tyres - that is, move them from front to rear axles and vice versa - in the UK.

 

Are you sure you aren't thinking of brake wear? With regenerative braking, I've heard that Prius brakes last 2 or 3 times longer than conventional cars. Makes sense. And course, many of us drive with the mantra to try to never brake anyway, to get good mpg.

 

I agree that CVT is probably a major factor.

My CVT Mercedes A Class is still on all four of its original tyres at 35,000 miles — and with plenty of tread left.

 

It would seem to me that the old maxim, "you don't get something for nothing" applies here. The lack of wear on brakes is reasonable in that, compared to coventional systems, the brakes do very little in a Prius and yet stopping ability on dry road is very good. My experience is that front tires wear much faster than the rear which makes sense since the friction between those tires and the road has replaced the friction that would normally occur between the pads and rotors in a conventional system. Does this make sense to anyone else?

 

Tires...negligible
Brakes...I'm not sure they even wear out