Flat tire

Good report, sir. Now we just need to find some rain, so you can report on how they perform in the wet weather.

For me, if I got new tires, I wouldn't be concerned if I take a hit of a few mpg. I don't have the Prime model, but my Gen4 regular Prius gets such good gas mileage that I don't even worry about it.

I am more concerned with wet & dry traction.
Good braking/stopping distance.
Smoothness.
Reduction in noise.
Mileage warranty of at least 50,000.

I think I would be very satisfied with the Michelin Defender or the Premier A/S. Especially if they have a $100 rebate!

 

@HPrimeAdvanced , is your spare a donut or full size? If it's a donut is this a same version or is it different from the prior Gen's. ( If you happen to know) Thanks.

 

That's my plan, just wondering if I can be cheap and pick one up from eBay from a 2015 Prius.

 

Here's a good article on low rolling resistance tires by a retired tire engineer. Barry's Tire Tech

He says, "There are three properties that can be traded off with one another - Tread wear, Traction, and Rolling Resistance. You can maximize one of these properties, but it has to come at the sacrifice of at least one of the others.


"This means that tires with good traction compounds have either sacrificed treadwear or rolling resistance (or both). This also means that tires with high UTQG treadwear ratings have sacrificed traction or rolling resistance."

He also says that it is probably a money saver to get longer wearing tires rather than shorter wearing LRR tires.

 

Just wondering if the TPMS sensor alerted you of the leak before your tire going flat? The TPMS works well on my 2007 Prius. It alerted me of multiple leaks (different times) way before the tire goes totally flat. TPMS gave me enough time to find a place to fill up and get home to patch. I haven't have the opportunity to test the TPMS on my Prime... knock on wood.

 

I am of the opinion that there are so many warning and information displays on my dash that if the TPMS tried to tell me something I would probably not notice it.

 

I love the smell of new rubber in the morning!

I am now the happy owner of 4 brand-new "Michelin Premier All Season" tires. I decided to go ahead and take advantage of the 4th of July $100 rebate, at America's Tire store. (I kept seeing the commercial on TV last night).

The service was excellent at the shop in Southern California. Fast, efficient, and no air impact wrench! He tightened all the wheel nuts by hand with a torque wrench, according to specs. Inflated the tires to 3 psi over factory recommended pressure. That's perfect. I have the 195/65R-15 size.

I took a short 30 mile drive over various road conditions and on a freeway that has rain grooves cut into the pavement. The Michelin's tracked true and straight with no deviation whatsoever. I would guess the noise reduction is about 25% over the Toyo tires. Was hoping for a little more, but I'll take it! And the overall handling and response feels better. I will go for a longer drive this weekend for a more thorough evaluation.

I checked the tire sidewall's, and surprisingly the manufacture date was just 3 months ago? Week 12 of 2017. And made in the USA. So I will get the $100 rebate, plus he gave me 20 bucks for each of my used Toyo tires. That bought me a nice lunch.

The edit button is not working right now, so I will just add that the Premier tires have a 65,000 mile wear warranty. If I get anywhere near that much I will be very satisfied. Temp "A" and Traction "A". And I expect the wet handling will be much better than the Toyo's. I had two or three wheel spins with those tires.

I'm glad I just bit the bullet, and got some good reliable tires for the foreseeable future. $123 per tire. That is much more inexpensive than the $220+ I was paying for larger tires on a previous vehicle.

 

And thank you HPrimeAdvanced for starting this thread. It was nice to get the $100 rebate. First time going to America's Tire and the service was excellent at the Long Beach store. (Actually Signal Hill).

I have always installed Michelin tires on my vehicles in the past, so I decided to just go ahead and make the change sooner, rather than later. And the $123 per tire is very cheap, compared to the $225 I was paying for 17 inch tires in the past. (That's why I like those 15 inch wheels! )

And yes, the wheelspin episodes I had with the Toyo's was pretty unnerving. I am not a lead foot, or a jack rabbit driver by any means. But my Toyo tires lost traction a few times during only light rain. I'm not saying they are a terrible or dangerous tire, but that was just my experience. (I was also probably on a poorly-maintained section of road, too.)

OK, I will quit advertising Michelin tires now. Any high-quality, well known tire brand will serve our Ptius well. Everybody has their own personal favorite. It's time for a drive!

I hope everybody has a nice relaxing holiday weekend.

 

We all need to start a Toyo Tire 12-step program for recovery. I'd volunteer to be an officer in that organization.

 

That's a good looking tire, if I do say so myself. I've just about gone through a full tank of gas, maybe 3/4, and I haven't noticed any drop in MPG's. I'm holding steady at 60-61 displayed, and 57 calculated. (Regular Prius - not a Prime. Do you guys ever buy GAS??? )

The ride is smooth and comfortable, and pretty quiet when hitting bumps, ruts, manhole covers, dips, etc. I am only 3 psi over factory specs. I'm going to leave the pressure right there, I don't want a bone-shaking or teeth-rattling air pressure of 50 to 60 psi like some of these guys do. And I am very happy with 55 to 61 MPG. Can't complain about that! (In my mind, anything over 25 is excellent. I drove some gas hogs in the past.)

"Where the rubber meets the road..."

 

I’ve been unhappy with the Toyo tires, noisy & weird road handling, especially on the freeway. I had been contemplating buying new tires, but was hesitant with only 2500 miles on the Toyos. Based on this thread, I decided to bite the bullet, so this morning I am also the happy owner of 4 new ‘Michelin Premier A/S’ tires, purchased from America’s Tires in Glendora. I couldn’t pass up the $100 rebate, and they gave me $100 credit for the Toyos. Tested the new Michelin tires on the freeway, knowing where I had the most problems with the Toyos....such an improvement, the Michelin tires handled better, and road noise was considerably reduced. Hoping there won’t be a noticeable negative EV range impact, as of yesterday I finally hit my highest charge 32.8!!

I’ve had the best luck with Michelin tires, besides their handling capabilities, I was able to get 103K miles on a set of tires with my 4runner. Unbelievable, but thanks to America Tires free rotation policy, I faithfully had them rotated every 5K miles. I expect the Michelins will last a long time on my new Prius Prime! Thanks everyone for your inputl!!

 

600 miles driven: Update on my Michelin Premier A/S "Total Performance" tires.

Still not as quiet as I was hoping they would be. They do become somewhat less noisy as the afternoon temp increases. But the tire noise is still very noticeable on most road surfaces. I think the main problem is that my 2016 Prius just does not seem to have much sound insulation. The car was pretty quiet when I first bought it. But now 18 months later, maybe it's loosening up a bit and becoming noisier.

Handling with the Michelin's is very good. Steering is precise. Braking is strong. I don't feel the bumps or ruts or cracks or potholes quite as much as I did with the Toyo tires. I am very interested to see how they perform during wet weather.

On my 2nd fill-up, the mpg display on the dashboard now shows a decrease of 3.5 gallons. I'm usually steady at 60; it now indicates 56.5. But I don't have much faith in the car's mpg computer display. It's not a big deal. I rarely even check my gas mileage. Overall, I am very happy with the Premiers.

 

I was looking at several websites about tires, and tire performance. One article tried to explain the Temperature ratings. (A, B, etc.) They said the "A" rating is only achieved when the tire is running at very high speeds, over 100 mph? During normal everyday driving, at city speeds, most all tires perform at the "B" rating.

I would need a tire engineer to explain to me in simple terms so I could understand it. But it seemed to me that a B-rated tire would be fine for normal operation and average freeway speeds of 65 to 85? I think your Defenders will be fine. I saw them at Walmart yesterday, it's a good looking tire. I was impressed by the deep grooves in the tread.