What tires did your Prime come with?

See my post, which you quoted. They're a big Toyota dealer. The guy who I asked, who switches tires on his own pick-up and has guys work on Priuses, specifically said that it would be "not a problem" to use my Prius c winter tires (with its dimensions) on my Prime. And I've had past positive experience with service done there.

What do you mean? Me or the dealer, was not responsible? I can't tell from the context of your post.

According to ct89 and others, speed readings would be off, plus being closer to the ground. According to the Toyota service rep, I was told that these things were "not a problem." So, I am getting contradictory information about the speedometer being affected and opposing suggestions about whether to use the old tires. I've read other posts online about people going down a tire size to get better snow traction. Is that just because their vehicles have higher ground clearance? I'm just trying to confirm my sense from multiple sources together...

Should I just try to sell my 175/65/R15 snow tires (and where?) and buy new ones with matching dimensions for my Prime?

 

I meant it was irresponsible for the dealership, to condone a tire that's two steps down in size. Going from 195 to 175, with the same aspect ratio (65) means a theoretical reduction in outside radius of:

(195-175) x .65 = 13

That's a 13 mm drop in ground clearance, and a significant increase in rev's per mile. I think you were talking to the most junior Service Writer. I doubt he/she understood the implications.

At the other extreme, Costco tire departments will not sell you tires other than stock, even if they satisfy criteria like same outside diameter.

 

Alright, so get new winter tires 195/65/R15.

My last question on them then is:

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 studless, or Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9 (the new one) studded?

My concerns with studded are: road noise; stud wear (so not useful after like 2 winters); studs flying out of the tire; and tire spinning/skipping on tarmac. Or was the Toyota service guy wrong about these as well?

 

"not a problem" is something you can decide for yourself.

The car will run with downsized tires. Any calculations that use speed may be off by up to 4%. You can decide if that is a problem for you. The car will also be 1/2" lower to the ground. For the poster earlier today who often scrapes the ground, I suspect that would be a problem but if you drive is on more level ground, maybe it is not a problem for you.

BUT, the car will get you from point A to B (and back)...You will not get a flashing red triangle and a display complaining about shoes that don't fit.

Some aspects of handling will change with 175 tires but they will also change with different brands or upsized tires as well. The guidance here is around minimizing the change to keep the behavior similar to original. The farther you venture from how the car is built, the less we know about what you will experience.

 

Studs turn it into such a specialty tire, and are illegal (or have date restrictions, etc) in so many jurisdictions, that I'd never even consider them.

Nokians have a great reputation, but also consider the Michelin X-Ice3. They have been spectacular on my 2005 Prius, in the same 195/65R15 size which is stock for the Prime, but was one step larger than stock on my 2005. Note that the 2005 has far dicier problems in winter due to ridiculously conservative traction control, and that since switching to the X-Ice3, it has become a complete non-issue. In the 300 miles I've driven my Prime, I've accidentally spun the wheels more times on its Toyos just on wet roads, than in the 40K+ miles I've driven the Michelins in all New England conditions.

They are an XL load rating of 95, speed rating T (118mph). They also happen to be on sale at BJ's again from 9/21 - 10/18, just as they were when I bought my 2nd set of them a bit over a month ago, using the 2nd previous coupon book. The BJ's coupon book this month has the same coupons for $70 off 4 Michelins, and $30 off installation of 4 Michelins. Total installed (in NH, where my business is located) would be just under $340 if the tire price itself hasn't changed since mid-September.

 

Went to BJ's in person today to arrange installation of 2 sets.
They would install the 195/65R15 on the Prime if I wanted, as it is the stock size, but won't install them on the 2005.
However, they will honor their $30/set w/coupon installation price to just mount/balance them on loose wheels brought in.

So next week, I'm having exactly that done, on a spare set of Gen II wheels I have.

The following week after yet another set of new tires I ordered there arrives, I'll put the Prime on jackstands in my garage and take the Prime's wheels for a trip inside my 2005 to get the Toyos removed, and a set of 205/65R15 99T X-Ice3 put on. Again on loose wheels because they won't install anything but stock size on any car. Not even this matching set of new tires just 10mm wider, 6.5mm taller, one speed rating faster, and a full 10 load ranges higher than the stock Toyos I'm removing. But to me, it's worth shuffling a few wheels in and out of my old Prius, to get exactly the tires I want onto both cars. Having an extra 6.5mm of ground clearance doesn't sound like much, but it's way better than 0. It means that when the tires are most of the way worn out, they're still at the stock height with new tires. That's not exactly a radical change, to make that ride height come near the end of tire wear rather than at the beginning.

All free rotation/rebalancing and mileage warranty is out the window due to it not being tied to installation on a specific car, but at least they'll honor the $30 off (hence $30 cost) per set installation price for just mounting/balancing also, and they'll do a road-hazard repair if you bring in the loose wheel/tire. I haven't rotated or re-balanced tires anyway for the last 25 years, without "a really good reason" which is very rare. And because of that, I've never had a mileage warranty honored in the last 25 years either. Which I'm fine with, because I inflate to around max sidewall and my tires therefore last a long time. No, they don't wear out in the middle as car dealers and tire dealers claim will happen, either. They just last longer, handle better, and get way better mpg, at the cost of being a stiffer ride and maybe a bit rougher on wheel bearings and a tiny bit more prone to punctures.

 

Dunlop Enasave 01 A/S on my Premium. Will they be ok for our WI winters?

 

Same as mine. I just bought mine a few month ago, so I don't know how good they will be on snow and ice, but if they are anything like Ecopia OEM tires that was on my previous Gen3, I won't be driving much on snow and ice with my Prime unless I get dedicated winter tires on.

 

My previous Gen4 has Toyos and since the Prius is back heavy I had no issues whatsoever.

 

I think Prime is even heavier than Gen4 isn't it? I think I will give this Dunlop a try without buying dedicated winter tires this year. We have second car that will have a dedicated winter tires on for those slippery days. So far I like the ride and confort as well as mileage I am getting from Dunlop. I hate to loose that just for several days of snow and ice covered roads during winter.

 

I’m hoping the Prime drives as nice as my Gen3&4 did in the snow. It was really heavy in the back which never caused it to fishtail, but what concerns me is how it will be after a few years when the tires lose some tread. I only drove 10k miles a year though.

 

Yep, that's besically what I did with my Gen3. Drove for a few years on OEM tires without switching to Winter tires, and on my 3rd winter after 20K, my OEM tires only had 4/32 left, so I put

 

This thread got me wondering so I decided to check my tires air pressure (had the car for a month). Turns out that 3 of the tires were at 45 PSI and one rear tire (the one they had to patch when I got a flat the first day) was set at 35 PSI. Why the heck would my new car have the tires inflated 10 PSI higher than the recommended tire pressure? Did it come off of the boat that way?

I ended up deflating the tires so the front is at 36 and the rear is 35.
It annoys the hell out of me that I had to do that.

 

I keep mine at 44/42.

 

Why so high above the recommended PSI? Is there a trade off between a higher PSI, better MPG's but more wear on the tires? I really don't know the answer.

 

I too have the Dunlop Enasave. Tried to do some research on them and found nothing encouraging other than most of the negative comments were for the version they put on the Mitsubishi i MiEV. That tire has a 340AB rating which is different enough from the 540AA on our tires that I just don't know what might happen. I'm not risking it. I plan to put a set of X-Ice on my spare rims as soon as Costco has them in stock.

 

Your dealer did not properly prep the car, or didn't prep it at all. Neither did mine.

The tires are intentionally over-inflated for their ocean adventures. Those ships can really rock and roll on the high seas. If it wasn't for the higher pressures, the cars and trucks would bash each other silly since they're packed like sardines - and I mean like 2-3 inches away from each other on many of those transport ships. And then there's the trailers for land transport to the dealers.

All four of my tires were 45psi when I got it home. My theory is that since my dealer had never seen a prime before, they had no idea how to prep the car, or were afraid to. Not a good review of Toyota dealers in general. Mine wanted me to honestly review them in the survey they asked me to fill out. Didn't go very well for them.

 

That resulted in both better mileage and more even tire wear on my 2004. So I'm starting there on my Prime and I'll watch the tire wear patterns.

 

So, I picked up a screw in my rear tire this weekend, on the outer most tread. Not able to be plugged. NO one in town carries Toyo. I had Wal-Mart put on the cheapest tire they had with the intentions of getting a rim for it and turning it into an in-the-garage spare when the toyo nano energy comes in.

Anyone know where I can order a nano energy 195-65-15 and get it in soon? I've checked a few tire sites with no luck. I've only got 1800 miles on the car! way too soon for mismatched tires!

 

I am confused. I would think that lower psi would mean more rolling resistance/friction, so less shifting. How is it that greater psi would prevent car-to-car contact if the ground contact has a smaller area?