Buying tires in the morning - suggestions

I'm happy with the Michelin X Radial, available from Costco or Sam's Club.

 

After reading everything (EVERYTHING) I went with General Altimax.

 

We are less than 5000 miles from needing to replace our first set of tires on our 2008. We have 32,000 on the original set which I keep at 46/44 psi and they are wearing evenly.

I've been reading as much as I can to find tires that have long wear, ELRR, and run quiet. There is a lot of subjective feedback and not too much volume research. I found other Prius owners and some of the green web sites point to the TireRack.com where there is a lot of good information including user surveys. However finding rolling resistance data is difficult.

I sent an email to the TireRack.com asking them to expand their data to include rolling resistance and this was their reply:
"Thanks for your question to The Tire Rack. A detailed report of rolling resistance values or factors is not available at this time, and won’t be until the tire manufacturers publish the information as part of the governmental regulations that will take effect in a few years. The Tire Rack has investigated doing rolling resistance testing ourselves, but it is too costly for us to undertake. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars per tire, and you must test every size of every tire, because size, load capacity and construction all play a role in the result. The survey results are gleaned from customer feedback, so we'd rather have the data come from the tire manufacturers or a single testing source."

Just thought I'd pass this along.

I'm currently considering Michelin Hydroedge or X-Radials.

John

 

I'm going with a Big O tire next week or so

Big O Euro Tour 740 A A 88T

 

Look at the Bridgestone Ecopia tire. I saw these at NAIAS and they have put a huge amount of resources in developing a low rolling resistance tire with LIFE. TireRack has them listed now and the price is in line. This is the tire that is on the 2010 Prius with 15" wheels.

 

The only problem is that it is rated as a SUMMER tire. I wonder what Toyota is thinking since the Prius should come with all-season tires.

 

Some comments on buying tires....

I just ordered a full set of new tires for our 2006 Prius. After reading all the threads here and doing some research outside this forum, I decided that, given NJ weather conditions and what seems to be available on the market, either the Michelin HydroEdge 195/60r15 or Goodyear Assurance TripleTred 195/60r15 would be best for us. Thanks to everyone on PriusChat for their input!

Now, where to buy? I checked all the local providers of either of the two brands and here's the bottom line. All prices are fully installed prices for a set of 4 new tires, including sales taxes, shipping charges, stems, mount/balance, special charges for TPMS service, disposal fees, blah, blah, blah

Goodyear Assurance TripleTred 195/60r15
* STS Tire & Auto: $619.31, 2 days to deliver
* WalMart: $642, order online to deliver to store
* Sam's Club: Not Available
* Costco: Not a member
* Sears: $709, order online to deliver to store (an AMAZING array of little "gotcha" charges per tire), 3-5 days to deliver
* Tire Rack: $615.87, low pertire charge but ALL recommended local installers had the same mount/balance and other fees that were higher than elsewhere, 2 days to deliver (cheapest rate), road hazard insurance not included

Michelin HydroEdge 195/60r15
* STS Tire & Auto: $760, 3-5 days to deliver
* WalMart: Not Available
* Sam's Club: Not Available
* Costco: Not a member
* Sears: $657.42, order online for local delivery (an AMAZING array of little "gotcha" charges per tire), 3-5 days to deliver
* Tire Rack: $665.37, low pertire charge but ALL recommended local installers had the same mount/balance and other fees that were higher than elsewhere, 2 days to deliver (cheapest rate), road hazard insurance not included

Given all the attention Tire Rack gets in these forums, I was rather surprised to see that Tire Rack is not the cheapest provider of either of these tires. Fees charged by the installers and shipping costs (included in pricing for other providers) added up to a higher bottom line.

Thanks again to everyone for providing detailed information on everything Prius.

 

I earned 44k mi on the OEM tires. Now with Michelin Hydroedge (80k tires). Quiet, good traction. Appear to be doing well after 3k mi. Tried to make the purchase through Costco but the sizes available were a little weird (you first order on line, then go to the store of your choice).