New 2008 Touring; IF I upgrade tires, P195 or P205???

There's not a lot of choice in the stock Touring size uless you go with the heavier run-flats. Lot's of choices in the 205's.

My stock Turanza's were worn completely out at 22k and I replaced them with Bridgestone Potenza's in the same (stock) size. I was concened that going up to 205 width tires would adversely affect fuel economy.

The Potenza is a nice "beefy" tire and signigicantly improves handling. So far my fuel economy is identical to the stock tires. Cost was $96/tire. Jeff

 

In the limited variety of non-runflat tires available in the OEM 195/55/16 size, it seems that one can consider getting the Falken Ziex ze-912. One PriusChatter got them online for $73 each. Sears also sells them.

I'm a Standard Prius owner, and I replaced my OEM Integrities almost immediately with wider, better tires.

But if I were a Touring owner, all things considered, I'd run the OEM Turenzas until they wore out.

 

I have found in the past that if you put too wide tyres on the rims of any car the car feels wishy washy and squirms on the road. I wouldn't go any wider than 195 on the stock rims. When I was racing we put 205 tyres on 7 inch rims on the front for more precise steering and 225s on the rear on the same 7 inch rims. The class was restricted to 7 inch wide and 60% profile tyres, the tyre width wasn't restricted.

 

Take a look at the tire thread to see the details of my recent upgrade to Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grids in the stock size.

I agree with the above poster. 205 on a 6" rim is kind of pushing it. Depending on the tire and the shape of the sidewall you could end up with quite a "narrow rim, fat tire" look, and maybe a bit of squishiness in the feel. It's OK per most manufacturers and for most tires, but usually at the low end of "OK."

Had there been no other choices, I would have gone for the 205s. Fortunately, Bridgestone has introduced these tires in 195/55-16, and I guess Falken have got the ZE-912s in the same size now as well. Those two and the stock tires are pretty much your choices in stock size.

My report about the Bridgestones at this link: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/20573-tire-upgrade-26.html#post650620

The only thing I have to add is that now that the temps here have dropped down and the AC is off, my mileage seems to be pretty normal. Still only a limited sample and the tires are not broken in yet, but the impact seems pretty close to nil.

 

BelowTheCrowd,

FYI, I've taken the liberty of posting your review of the Potenza G019 Grid in another tire upgrade thread specifically for the Touring entitled http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/37637-touring-edition-tire-upgrade-4.html#post652607.

 

My 2008 Touring Prius now has 25,000 miles on the OEM tires (195/55-16). I have read reviews and found that the Hankook Optimo H727 tires are highly rated. I see that these Hankook tires are available for the Prius in what Hankook calls the Optional/Plus 205/55-16 tire size.

From the treads on this subject, I cannot tell for certain whether this 205/55-16 tire is perfectly okay to use on my Prius. Please clarify this for me. If it is okay to use this tire size, are any Toyota Prius warrantees voided? Do I have to go to a Toyota dealer to have them reset anything, such as the odometer, to correct for a change in the tire size (although this seems to me like a relatively minor change in tire size) so I will get accurate odometer and speedometer readings?

Anything else I have to be mindful of before purchasing these tires?

 

I replaced my crap stock tires with actual high-performance sports tires:
ADVAN AD08 205/55/16. I care about grip and cornering and I'll be happy if they last 30,000 miles.

 

I just bit the bullet and installed Nokian WRG2 in the 205/55R16. I could have ordered the OEM size, but being the impatient dude that I am, I had the place that installed them validate that there isn't any clearance issue with them. I also had them pump them with Nitrogen.

So far I find its a much quieter tire and has a much better grip than the stock Turanza's. It wasn't cheap, but the place I got them sells lots of 'em.

When I went to the dealer and asked about using a 205 the service writer pooh-poohed the idea, and were trying to see me some private-label Cooper beast.

As long as my extended warranty doesn't get borked over this, I think this will be good for the Twin Cities.

 

I just replaced my stock Turanzas yesterday at 38K miles on my '07 Touring. I was all set to get the Potenzas in the stock size, when at the last minute the guy at Discount Tire convinced me to get the Pirelli P6's in a slightly different size (205/50/R16 - not a typo). According to him, they're better tires, and he gave them to me for the same price as the Potenzas would have been ($409 all inclusive when priced to beat Costco). The reason for the switch (err.."upgrade") was that he didn't have the Potenzas in stock and they wouldn't have come in for a few more days. He said that the different size is listed as acceptable in Toyota's fit guide, and that difference in speedo/odo readings will be both slight and negligible (for instance if the speedo reads 65mph, my actual speed will be 64.17mph).

Did I get taken for a ride, or did I get a smoking deal?

So far, the ride and handling seem to be much improved. I tried searching for Pirelli P6 here on PC, and only found people using them on the non touring edition. Any thoughts?