I have a 2009 Prius and I decided after 3500 miles that the OEM tires were crap and not worthy of trips to the snow. I got new Radial X tires (which are great!) and after about 2000 miles I'm wondering if I should I get an alignment? I've seen some people say you should get an alignment with new tires but I'm wondering if since I have low mileage that won't be the case. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
You can get 1 free alignment within the first 12,000 miles under warranty if you can demonstrate poor handling or uneven/accelerated tire wear. Many cars can come off the boat/truck misaligned - I'd take advantage of the opportunity.
A good decision to upgrade your tires since you are driving your Prius in the snow. If you notice uneven tire wear or handling issues (car pulls to one side, etc.) that may be due to wheel alignment, then by all means have that checked. However if you do not notice these problems, then why bother with an alignment.
I've actually noticed a slight pull the to R and a little bit of rattling that I dont think I noticed before changing tires. As for switching tires, I live in the Bay Area and go up to Tahoe to snowboard a couple of times a month. After a couple of months of driving in rain and sliding before making a complete stop I knew I had to upgrade my tires...
Yes, I agree with Rick that uneven tire pressure might be a cause of the pull. Should you find that your tire pressures are correct, then this would be sufficient justification to have your wheel alignment checked. I spent Christmas week in South LT and noticed a good number of Prius driving around. My HiHy came with Goodyear Integrity tires as original equipment. Like you, I decided it was prudent to get rid of those tires before venturing into snow country, so I replaced them at 6K miles; at that point they were ~40% worn.
My 2007 Warranty Information booklet says that warranty coverage for wheel alignment is for 12 months or 20,000 miles, whichever occurs first. I assume that your Warranty Information booklet says the same thing. Even if you don't get it done now, I would in any event get a wheel alignment done under the warranty sometime before the 12 months or 20,000 miles run out. Just call or go to your dealer and say that "the car pulls ..." or "the steering wheel needs to be turned ...", and that you would like a wheel alignment done under the wheel alignment warranty. Also ask for the wheel alignment print-out. And ask to have the steering wheel centered if necessary.
Be sure and get a hard copy of the alignment data. Then if you can read the tread depth for each tire, you'll have a good baseline to start from. Bob Wilson
While at my barber the other day, one of the service advisors from my local Toyota dealer came in. Since my barber and I aeer multiple Toyota owners, we started talking about....what else? Toyotas! I was informed that Toyota does know about the crappy Goodyear tires and they also know that Priuses are very hard on tires. He said it is because of the general design of the car itself and until Toyota does some serious redesigning the problem will continue. So, Any problems with tire wear, Jump on the dealer and don't let up. They replaced mine free if I got an alignment... good deal @ 30k. Some have been replaced totally free, including an alignment! It is thier problem, so they need to fix it.Other than that, I love the car.
