Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires and Air Filter

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

I bought the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus at Costco about 4 months ago, $654 out the door with a $70 coupon. I have about 10K miles on them now.

Compared to the Toyos the gas mileage seems to be down a little but not much. Noise is about the same. Wet and dry handling feels a lot better, and I do drive the car pretty hard sometimes. Anxious to see how they do in the snow because I don't use separate winter tires.

I would buy them again.

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

My obvious choice is the LRR Primacy MXM4. They provide more than enough grip for the Prius, rim protector, high treadwear, they ride quite, smooth and are at least LRR rated.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/95554-michelin-primacy-mxm4-review.html

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

so what mileage are you getting on your 17's?

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

About 46mpg average. Most of the reason for the low mpg is my uphill commute. I could pull 50mpg average if I drove on the flats. 90% highway at 65mph-70mph.

My commute profile. Yo axis is x10 so 1100 ft. elevation gain.

 

You can't be going up hill in both directions. What's the mileage for both directions? I've seen many Gen II owners who switch to 17" with LRR and still saw 5-10mpg drop from their 15" and unable to get better than 50mpg. My Gen III with factory 17's routinely gets 55-60mpg. Does this mean that if I change my 17's to 15's I'll get mid 60's and possibly 70mpg? There have been a few 10 mile trips where I got 70mpg on factory 17's even without PHEV.

 

The elevation map is to work only. My mpg for the entire trip is 46mpg with the 17s and 55mpg with the 15s. The 15s allow me to glide longer or in places where the 17s make it difficult so that makes the mpg wider than it would be with a driver who just drives. The 17s are also taller which changes the speedo by almost 2mph so I typically drive 2mph faster. Being taller, they may also artificially lower mpg so the 9mpg difference between the 2 tires may be partial illusion.

If you are getting say 50mpg with your oem 17s I would put money down saying you would get 55mpg-57mpg easily and more if you tried harder due to longer glides. Your car wouldn't look as sweet though.

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

I will be driving mostly in the Northeast (some snow), about 70/30 highway/city. Performance is obviously important, but noise is right up there, too, given the larger percentage of highway driving. So I need something quiet. On my 2008 Prius I had the Michelin HydroEdge, a fantastic tire (noise and performance), but no go for my 2010. Would you say the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus is in the HydroEdge ballpark?

BTW, that was my first PC post, even though I am a long time owner of several Prius (since 2002) and occasional lurker on this site. Thanks for the responses and recommendation.

 

I just went from 19" Toyos proxes 4 to 17" Continental Extreme DWS and i love them. Great ride and getting 47-48 mpg.

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

I would say no. They are not directly comparable. The Pilot model is an ultra-high performance tire whereas the Hydroedge is a passenger all-season tire with a very high mileage warranty and is LRR. Your money would be better spent on the Hydroedge unless you just plan on racing your car. Even the MXM4 will work better than the Pilot for your needs. My MXM4 is actually quieter than my 15" dB Super E-Spec 15" tire which was designed to reduce noise.

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S is a very good all season passenger car tire. They are designed for people who are willing to accept slightly more noise and maybe a little drop in fuel mileage for better handling and stopping. Even some of us Prius drivers care about such things. Because of their enhanced performance ultra high performance street tires are some of the safest tires you can buy.

But they are not for people who plan on racing their cars. Most cars that are raced use racing tires which are totally unsuited for the street, not all season radials. Even in some forms of sports car racing where the rules require street tires all season radials would not be suitable, unless perhaps it is raining. Most cars that race in those classes use tires which are rated "Track and Competition DOT" they are street legal to meet the letter of the rules. They have very little tread and usually have a tread wear rating of less than 100.

I suspect from the tests and reviews the Pilot Sport A/S may be at least as good at the Hydroedge in the rain. It has a similar tread design with a softer tread compound. But as previously stated it is not available in the Prius 17" size anyway.

 

Re: Best 215/45-17 All-Season Tires also Air Filter

:welcome: Glad you finally decided to chime in.

F8L and I have this on going disagreement about the "best" Prius tires. We usually agree on other topics and I consider him a good on-line friend. We both bought the tires we have because we considered them the best, not the other way around. So listen to both of us and then decide. If you have not done so read the reviews and tests on both tires at Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels

As to noise, as I posted previously the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires I have seem to be about the same as the OEM Toyos. The Prius is an empty tin can as far as noise is concerned, not much sound deadening material has been installed to reduce cost and weight. So any tires you put on it will be noisier than the same tires on a Lexus or even a Camry. I had the same Michelins on my BMW sedan and couldn't even hear them but on the Prius I can, especially on some road surfaces.

I have never had a set of Hydroedge tires so I hesitate to make a comparison, I have talked to other Prius owner who have them and they are all very happy with them as you have been. But from what I know, and what you have said about your requirements, I think the Pilot Sport A/S Plus would be a good choice for you.

 

Thanks for the welcome.

I have been looking at the Tire Rack site, and it does provide some very useful information. Of course, what it doesn't give me are Survey results specifically for the Prius so it's hard to know if the results listed are meaningful for my model Prius. Hence my questions for the group here.

On my 2010 V I have the OEM Michelin Pilot HX MXM4, with around 42K. But with winter on the way, and the tires past their warranty (and aging), I need to find a replacement. I've actually been pretty happy with those tires, so something similar in terms of handling and noise would be acceptable. It seems like I have some decent alternatives.

 

Tumbleweed is indeed a good friend and I don't see this so much as an argument over which tire is best as I do an argument over which tire is best in a given set of circumstances. The Pilot is an expensive tire and provides more grip than is really necessary for the Prius if sized appropriately. The new Primacy MXM4 is Michelin's new poster child for comfort, handling and especially wet weather traction due to the use of sunflower seed oil in their production.

Given the fact the Pilot is a higher performance tire, they probably handle better than the Primacy MXM4 (not to be confused with the older Pilot MXM4 which is inferior). But you will pay more per tire and since there are no wet weather stopping distance comparisons between these two tire models we can only speculate as to which one is safer.

In the grand scheme of things they are both excellent tires so you can't go wrong.

 

All, thanks for the good advice. I ended up getting the Primacy MXM4 and now, with 2K miles on them, I am pleased. There hasn't yet been a real severe weather test, so we'll see. It was the various claims and reviews (here, Michelin site, and TireRack) of wet weather performance that tipped the scales. That's the kind of weather I find myself wanting reliable performance in most often.

 

Just to play devil's advocate vs the thread title I'd say the question should be "Best 17 inch tires for Gen III Prius". No reason to only look at 215/45/17. To get the same diameter tire in some brands you have to go narrower (205/50/17) and in other brands you have to go wider (225/45/17).

Gen III ~835 RPM 17" All-Season tire choices based on tirerack survey data and specs

844 215/45/17 Michelin Primacy MXM4 with Green X ($162, V Speed rating)

835 205/50/17 Continental ExctremeContact DWS (Not LRR, $126, best "Ultra High Performance All-Season")
833 225/45/17 Michelin Primacy MXM4 with Green X ($167, H Speed rating)
833 225/45/17 Michelin Primacy MXM4 with Green X ($178, W Speed rating)
833 225/45/17 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (Not LRR, $176)
832 205/50/17 Goodyear Assurance ConforTred Touring (Not LRR, $166, best "Grand Touring All-Season)
828 225/45/17 Continental ExctremeContact DWS (Not LRR, $124)
828 205/50/17 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (Not LRR, $177)
824 205/50/17 Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S (Not LRR, $150, best "High Performance All-Season")

 

The pricing is very dynamic for the Primacy MXM4. Last month it was $169, two months ago it was $132. Last week it was $139 and now it is $157. Weird that it should change so much.

 

yeah, I'm not sure how old my pricing data was. I haven't bothered to update the prices. I thought it was more important to show the size options and let someone browse/call around for pricing including shipping/mounting/taxes etc that applies to them.

Since the shipping, taxes, mounting costs vary just as much as the tires do (for different reasons) it makes pricing recommendations a bear.