Goodyear Fuel Max tire reviewed as Prius Gen II replacement

Thanks for the review, always good to have more Prius specific reviews like that. One thing I noted was the comment about how quiet the tires are. Good to know but I wish it were better quantified. The Consumer Reports review did the same thing, just subjective commentary on which tires seemed quieter. Some before and after measurements with a sound level meter over a given stretch of road would be nice in future reviews. Just a suggestion!

- D

 

I purchased a set for my '09 Pri about 3 weeks ago. I replaced the stock tires because I was about to launch on a long trip and 2 of the stock tires had taken nail punctures that were repaired (one tire had a total of 3 punctures) and I felt their original integrity might've been compromised (and I hate replacing a tire on the side of the interstate - Ive done that a few times over the years).
I noticed right away that these tires are much quieter than the stock tires they replaced. I just got back from a 2400 mile trip through northern California. I haven't noticed much improvement over the stock tires - getting about the same performance (I had an overall highway mileage of 45mpg for the trip which was about 50% level driving and 50% hilly terrain using the cruise control as much as possible). I only inflated the tires to 38psi because of the long run on the interstate and not being familiar with these tires like I was their predecessor. Now that I'm back home I'm going to bump the pressure up to 40. Id appreciate input if anyone has personal experience with the ideal tire pressure for these tires.

All in all, I'm happy with my purchase.

 

Just from a mileage point of view, I am not sure I
see additional value to the Fuel Max.

The report says that the reviewer lost 1.5 mpg by
switching from the OEM GY Integrity to GY TripleTred.
This included going from the 185/65/15 size to the
slightly wider 195/60/15 size.

He goes on to say that switching to Goodyear Fuel Max
195/60/15 yielded 1.25 mpg gain. That effectively puts
the Fuel Max on par with the OEM tires. Notwithstanding
that the gain might increase further with more wear-in
and that the handling is superior to the OEM tires,
this would imply a modest gain/benefit for Fuel Max
over the OEM tires.

Tire Rack's report noted similarly modest mileage
improvement, .37%, for the Fuel Max over the
OEM tires.

Seems to me that Fuel Max's are not delivering
very much on the feature that they are named for.
I am thinking that the Michelin ES A/S and the
Bridgestone Ecopia are the best two choices
if max mileage is your goal.

 

+1 sizing and still got about the same MPG as the stock is pretty good. I like to see how Ecopia or Energy Saver get wit plus sizing.