Best tires for the Prius?

Anyone has used these tires?
Tire Details - Discount Tire

I still have stock tires at 55k and they look pretty bald. Summer is coming up which means a lot of long road trips for us. So I am looking for tires now.

 

I got 2 front mounted 2 weeks ago in anticipation of out of town wet trip, and absolutely love them, ~1,000mi so far. Good in rain, good steering, really low rolling resistance. My commute MPG went up from upper 50s to low 60s, ~4MPG though you will not see as much improvement on freeway, maybe 1MPG.

 

The Energy Saver A/S is a great tire. Just make sure to tell DiscountDirect that TireRack has them cheaper so they will match the price.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...resistant-replacement-tires-current-list.html

 

I've been using my original "Integrity" tires in the summer, but they're getting pretty bald. In the winter, I've been using Graspic DS2 snow tires, but I'm getting tired of the inconvenience of switching tires every 6 months.

You say that the Nokia WR tires work well in New England? I live in upstate NY and have a long, steep driveway. The Graspic DS2 snow tires have worked pretty well for getting up the driveway, but I'm thinking of getting all-season Nokian WRG2 tires, when my Graspics wear out.

Any additional information/advice/input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Arthur

 

I put Continental ProContact on mine and the mileage went up about 3 mpg. Bought Bridgestone Ecopia 422 for my non-Prius and picked up some mpg also. I like them both. At the time I couldn't get the Michelin to fit my Touring.

 

I have now put over 10,000 miles on my Bridgestone ecopia ep422's
and they are still as quite and still getting over 60 mpg which I never got with my Goodyear tires avg best of 57 with them.Being in Florida I have to have good wet and dry traction which the Bridgestone's have over the Goodyear's.

 

Costco is mentioned often in this thread as a tire source. You all need to know that Costco has an idiotic and rigid policy that renders them useless to the knowlegable buyer.

We all know how Toyota elected to cheap-out the US Prius, compared to the Prius sold in Europe. They get rear disk brakes, we get crappy little drums. They get the "stealth" button, and to save Toyota 25 cents, we do not. AND, they get 190 width tires while we get the cheap-out 185 size. Costco will sell you ONLY 185/65/15 tires for a 2008 Prius (at the Tumwater WA store). Even if you tell them that European Prius comes with 190s, the stupid bozos will ONLY sell you the American cheap-out size.

Don't ya just love it when some lawyer at Corporate Headquarters insists that they know more about the tires you should put on your car than you do?

So, if you are so simple minded that you think that YOU should be allowed to buy the tires that YOU want to buy, you can forget COSTCO Tires!

And, yes, I know that 185s get a bit more MPG. I also know that as you operate anything closer to its maximum ratings, you will get less reliability. I elect to get a bit more safety pad and live with the small MPG hit. Unfortunately, Costco will not allow me to have improved safety on my car. Thanks Costco!

 

My understanding is that the advantage of disk brakes is that they cool off faster, while drums brake better. That would argue that Prii are better off with drums. Or is that very old information?

 

Many shops (like Discount Tire) will match Costco's prices. Even if you don't buy from Costco, their prices can still be beneficial.

 

I suggest that you compare US Prius MSRP to European country MSRP converted to US$. I believe you'll find that the US prices are substantially lower.

I agree that there isn't much need for rear disk brakes. In damp climates, you have two more rotors to get rusty and need early replacement due to lack of use.

 

What do you expect? It's to avoid liability. Besides, it's not like most people who go there for tires are going to be willing to even think about non-OEM size. It's the price you pay for going mass (stupidity) market.

I get my work done at a local speed shop in Chicago - it's not like I can't afford the $10 mount/balance for each wheel.

 

purchased Michelin HydroEdge tires in 2007 @ 40K miles, now all worn out with 152K miles. noisy though, handles great in rain, only getting 43.5mpg
Now looking to increase mpg and lowering noise level. Any suggestions? FYI: original brakes on the car since July 2006. Paul

 

Anybody had experience with the Bridgestone-Insignia SE200 tires that Costco is selling now? I'm due for new tires, and it seems the Michelin X-Radial DT's aren't available anymore from Costco, just those Bridgestone-Insignia SE200's.

I'm a big fan of Costco for their convenience, and I like not paying for maintenance and repair after the initial purchase, so I may just go with whatever Costco is offering.

Thanks,
-Tom

 

Costco offers other tires besides the ones you mentioned. Most Prius owners look for a low rolling resistance tire like the Ecopia EP100 or EP422.

 

My parents and I are both running the Hankook Optimo H727's in the 195 section with on our '07's. They're really incredible tires.

They have a great combination of low-noise, long-life, nice handling, great winter traction and moderate cost. I haven't noticed any decrease in fuel economy. I can still eek out 60+ mpg in the summer and high-50's in the winter with 44/42 psi.

Some mentioned that wet handling is their weakness but I've never had so much as a squirm in wet conditions.

Winter handling is really incredible. The traction control and ABS very rarely engage any more in the snow. My parents use it to access X-country ski trails--the 4runner stays at home now. They carry cable chains but haven't needed them yet.

I was originally going to go with a separate set of snow tires but these do it all--no need for extra rims or switching.

 

I've got nearly 80,000 miles on a 2005 and just replaced the Nokian i3 tires I installed at about 24,000 miles. They still had about 2mm tread depth but decided to do it early rather than deal with the slip and slide that is about to hit California with the start of the rainy season. The new tires are the Nokian eNTYRE. This is a "summer" tire but has excellent characteristics in the wet and is now a LRR tire.

I was extremely pleased with the i3. It had a good solid feel to it and the eNTYRE appears even more stable. The Nokian tires are a bit hard to find (web site is http:http://www.nokiantires.com/ ) but for my money well worth the trouble. Their All Season tires are nearly as good as fully rated snow tires. I have a set of their WRG (new model is WRG2) mounted on a 2nd set of rims for easy changing when I plan for trips to the snowy areas. They did a stellar job taking me from San Jose to Omaha (pic is from the trip) and back in the winter of 2005. Note, these are All Season so they will do okay on dry roads but if you run them a lot "in the dry" the life is shortened because of the buildup of heat. (Not sure about the WRG2.)

I can highly recommend Nokian tires.

 

Re - Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max - I just replaced a set of these.

Got almost 60,000 miles, but should have replaced earlier. Running PSI in the 37-40 range. With normal driving got about 48.5 MPG in spring, summer and fall months. Winter months in Maryland about 43 or 43.5 MPG. MPG numbers based on odometer and checked about 4 out of every 5 fillups.

Performance - did not buy another set. MPG was satisfactory but the tires "floated" within lane, i.e., did not track well.
Also, decent to 50,000 miles in rain. DID NOT LIKE IN SNOW.

Recently replaced with Hankook H727. Hoping value for money. Pleased so far. An improvement in ride, handling, and noise level over the Fuel Max (when they were new).

Bought on sale from Sears Auto. I do not normally reccomend anyone to Sears Auto, but with the sale my total will package be within $15.00 of what Tire rack would have been; and if a tire goes bad ...

 

One thing, there is some confusion over SE200's. Some have a small suffix "02". They are supposedly LRR, while those lacking the suffix are not. I'm not 100% sure on that, though.

 

I'm also in Chandler, can you tell me where I can find these tires? I'm at 27,000 miles on my 2008 and I'm not sure what to look for or where to look other than the dealer. thanks

 

There is no perfect tire for the Prius. The OE Integrities on my Prius were probably chosen for their low rolling resistance, quietness and high gas mileage. They wear well, too, and they aren't expensive. I had a floor guy come over in a Ford Commercial van with OE Integrities, and he said he had 70K miles on them--they showed about 50% treadwear.

My experience with them is positive so far. I've driven them OK with an inch or so of snow on the ground, and they had decent traction. I wouldn't drive them in deeper snow because all-season tires aren't for snow. Traction is inversely proportional to rolling resistance and gas mileage, so there's the tradeoff. You want a tire with better traction, you'll pay for it with lower gas mileage. Also, you'll get better traction and handling with the wider 190 tire, but you'll also get lower gas mileage. It depends on what you want.