Hello PriusChatters! After reviewing a large number of posts about all-season tires that still perform decently in winter ice or snow, I've settled on Hankook H727 195x60R15. And for the first time, I think I'm going to buy them online at tirerack or discounttiredirect and have them installed locally. Avoiding the local car dealers. When I put those tires in the shopping cart at tirerack and identify my vehicle as a 2008 Prius Standard (not Touring) model, I get an alert: "Important Notes: OE tire is 86 load, which has 1lb more load than the gross axle weight rating on the car. Should that concern me? I generally drive with an empty car but occasionally carry a good amount of weight (we travel in summer) in the form of suitcases, photo equipment, etc. And when I put those tires in the shopping cart at discounttiredirect, I am offered 4 value stems for $12. Do I need those? Thanks much in advance for any advice! Best, Bradley
I would go to 205/60-15. you will pickup some load, handling, and performance. I was running that size in MXV4 and just replaced them with Michelin defender at 215/60/15 size. Very happy with both sets of Michelin. I pit the H727 on my daughter's and girlfriends car. They have performed OK. I replaced one set with the Michelin defenders recently when they wore out. I prefer the Michelin for handling performance and ride. They cost more, and I don't know about snow performance. I only see light snow a couple of times a year and I stay home then. No need to buy valve stems online unless they are something special like chromed or the "o" ring type, or if you want long ones. Or they are cheaper. Pay whomever is mounting the tires for them if you need them. I do not get them every tire replacement since I drive a lot of miles and they only degrade with time and not mileage. If yours have never been replaced on a 6 year old car, I would replace them. One other thing, If you have a local dealer for the tires you want, print out you online shopping cart without buying them and go to the dealer and see if they will match it. I had to buy Hankook online due to few local dealers, but the Michelins I have always been able to beat the online prices locally. Most recently at sears which has a $70 rebate on 4 Michelins right now.
H727 doesn't come in a 205/60/15 and the 195/60/15 isn't optimal either. If you want those tires I would get the 195/65/15. Hankook Optimo H727 P195/65R15 89T SL It's only $3 a tire more and your speedometer will be more accurate and you'll have better load rating, Take a look on the specs tab at tirerack. You want your tire as close to 840 RPM (about 24.7" diameter) as possible on a Gen II Prius. 205/60/15 is a good size for Gen II if the tire style offers it, its just that the H727 doesn't. As to valve stems you have to have them to keep air in the tire but the place you have them mounted can either reuse your old stems (not always a good idea but doable in some cases) or will sell you some new ones they have laying around in stock (usually a good idea). Just call around and get a price for mounting / balancing with and without valve stems and see if you like the price tirerack is charging for theirs after you have something to compare.
My parents and I both have the H727s in 195/60R15 on our 2007s. The speedometers do read a bit low but otherwise, they're great all-around tires. Especially impressed with the even, long wear and winter performance. You likely don't need stems, unless one has been damaged.
Hmm...it won't let me edit. I was going to add the the H727s seem to run wide--the 195s are as wide as I would want to go. The speedometer with the 195/60R15 H727s reads about 1.5 mph high at about 45 mph (not low as in my previous post, sorry). Not a big deal at all, and might help a bit in speed traps.
Thanks for the responses! I'll skip the valve stems. And I'm going with the Hankooks for their reported performance in snow and ice ... Interesting how I've seen in other threads some back and forth between the H727s as either 60 or 65. Guess I'll go with the 65 size for the reasons you indicated, dhanson. Really appreciate the quick feedback! Bradley
Or maybe not the 65s. Maybe the 60s for the reason you suggested, tanglefoot. Seems like it's kind of OK with either size ...
H727 195/65/15 is better for your car than H727 195/60/15 but if you were in a pinch and had to use the 195/60/15 it'd work. H727 195/60/15 is shorter and wider, doesn't hold as much weight and will make the speedometer off by about 2 to 3 percent (so 60mph actual would look like 62 on the dash for example) H727 195/65/15 is taller and thinner, holds more weight and will be pretty much spot on with the speedometer.
Just a quick correction on the sizing...both should be the exact same width. The "195" is the section width. The "60/65" is the aspect ratio. Both should be the same width (save for possible tolerance differences in the molds), but the '65 just has slightly taller sidewalls. On a conventional car, taller sidewalls raises the final drive ratio and reduces power a bit but with the HSD, it probably doesn't make a difference. 38k? The two sets of them we have in the family are wearing like iron--we can barely detect any wear on them at all after 3 years.
NO, there is a reason I wrote what I did. The specs are Optimo H727 P195/60R15 Tread width 6.7" Optimo H727 P195/65R15 Tread width 6.5" They are not the exact same width. They have similar widths but the vary on 4 different columns on the tire specs shown on tirerack. Please go to Hankook Optimo H727 and look at the specs tab if you don't believe me.
Hankook H727 are terrible tires only got 38k miles out of them I only had 1/4 life left on them, and all 4 sidewalls showed cracks from dry-rot Hankook gave me a credit of $25 per tire under warranty, I'll never buy HANKOOK again!
