Tire Upgrade

I am enlightened..... I learnt that I am supposed to ease slow on the go pedal. I am gonna try that next time.

 

Had to take the car to the dealer for a Electric Hybrid Water Pump recall. Tire pressure set to 42/40. Now for some snow.

 

So as promised here are some pictures. Needless to say I am very biased with the new tire pictures.

 

OK, so please don't flame me for not being technically savvy on this topic. I've reviewed a lot of this thread and my head's a little fuzzy from all the tire spec figures.

I have an '06 with around 35k miles, and am in need of my THIRD set of tires. The OEMs wore badly from alignment problems (plus most of you seem to agree they're pretty crappy anyway). Now I have a set of Trazano something-or-others. They have been noisy and rough from day one, and are almost worn to the point of needing replacement.

I'm considering the TripleTred and the ComfortTred based on what I've read here. I get that the TT doesn't come in the OEM size, so I would need to go to the 195/60R15, but could stay with the 185/65R15 with the CT.

Does changing tire size necessitate new wheels? We hit the snow sometimes too and I have chains. If I change the size to the 195s, will I have (even more) trouble getting the chains on? Will there be less clearance in the wheel well? Will the chains even FIT?

Should I change sizes if I don't have to? I do mostly short-trip city driving, but the Prius is our vacation car so we do a couple of long trips each year. I'm a conservative driver.

Any BAD experiences with the ComforTreds?

Thank you for your input!

 

Sorry, must have entered temporal displacement. Trying to reply to a post from 2005!

 

You do not have to change your wheels for 195/60R15. I have an 06' myself and just recently upgraded to HydroEdge with the above size. Michelin have started to manufacture HE in the Stock size (185/65R15) but they are in the slightly expensive side compared to the 195 size. As per the OP, there is lot of game around the wheels after upgrading to the 195. So I believe your chains will go in just fine not that I hope you might have to use it. We are getting our first snow today after I upgraded my tires so I will test it out. Comfort treads are a good choice if you do not like noise from your tires. HE do have a slight noise but for me its not much to be a deal breaker.

 

Let's back up for a second. Did you have the alignment problem fixed? It sounds very much like you still have one. It sounds like you have Bridgestone Turanza tires, which may not be the best but shouldn't be worn in 15-20k miles under any circumstances.

Rear alignment is a common problem with these cars and your local Firestone or other big-name shop isn't likely to be able to fix it. Take my wife's car as an example: She has a set of TripleTreads and the tires on the left side (these are directional tires) started to cup badly on the inside shoulder. This makes a lot of noise. We took it to the alignment shop to find that the toe is out on both rear wheels (worse on the left side) which is likely the cause of the uneven wear. (The number had "not adjustable" hand-written and circled on the readout.) As soon as we get out of the deep freeze I'm going to shim the hubs myself to fix the problem.

All I'm saying is, don't throw another set of tires at it until you get to the bottom of the problem. I think you may still have one. Are you aware that door placard pressures tend to be way too low for this car? Most of us inflate to 42psi front/40 rear. That could be another source of problems for you.

 

Thank you for the replies. I just checked the tires again and they are Trazano H550A tires. Got out the documentation on their purchase and they were definitely El Cheapo ($45/tire). They did an alignment at the time. Tires now have 17k miles.

I did get talked into a lifetime alignment purchase also at this shop so I think I should go back and have them check it before purchasing new tires, no? Should I trust them? The dealer who just rotated them and checked brakes, etc. did NOT mention alignment, and they didnt hesitate to tell me I had an alignment problem when I had the OEM tires.

Question: What type of shop do you recommend for doing competent alignment if not tire shops? I am not going to be able to "shim the hubs" myself.....

Good info about the tire pressure, was not aware of that until doing my research here. Will definitely follow that with the new tires.

 

I think step 1 is to take advantage of your lifetime alignment to find out if you have a problem with the rear end. Ask for the before-and-after readout. They probably won't fix the rear end but they absolutely can measure it for you.

Step 2 to depends on the results of step 1. If the rear turns out to be within spec then I suppose you should just buy a good set of tires as planned and make sure you maintain the tire pressures. If the rear alignment is out of spec, I think you may as well ask the tire shop about it. If they balk, call around to small, independently-owned alignment shops. Explain the problem and ask if they can shim the rear hubs. Small, dedicated alignment shops are much more likely to get you results. This is a situation where getting the oldest mechanic in the shop isn't such a bad thing. This fix is no big deal for someone who understands that not every problem can be fixed with a computer.

 

Sounds like a good plan! Hubby and I looked at the tires carefully yesterday and they're not that badly worn -- think the dealer needed some extra sales this month. I will get alignment checked, and look for an alignment shop if needed (who knew!). But the tires still suck and I plan on getting ComforTreds when I gather the cash. Maybe I can head of some developing dash rattles.

 

Okay, I finally went ahead and got a set of Bridgestone Ecopia 422 in 185/65/15 (replacing the OEM Goodyear Integritys that were very worn at 36,500). The Ecopia got good ratings and comments on the TireRack site and the deciding factor was that CostCo had them on sale with a $40 rebate. While I've never been a great fan of "all season" tires, I won't be driving in snow here SoCal, so I expect these will do me fine. I've already noticed they're much quieter at speed on the expressway and driving slowly through my neighborhood. The handling seems better than the Integritys, but that may be due to having tread on these--or just simple wishful thinking. After they wear in and settle a bit, I'll update this post and add more info.

 

Sears/Goodyear TT Tires

Just put a pair of TT's on our 2006 Prius at 93k miles (after 2 sets of Integrities). These are the Sears version, which they call the "Weatherhandler"; don't know how they differ from the tires you'd get at a Goodyear shop. Ride and handling are good, and an initial mileage test (70 mile round trip at 65 mph) gave 52 mpg in less than optimal conditions (light rain), so I'm pretty confident they'll meet or exceed the mileage from the Integrity. Sears only put 34 psi in them; will see if higher pressures help the mileage any.

 

Update on Upgrade

Just went over 1,000 miles on the new tires with a mix of city/freeway driving, including a high-speed 250-mile roundtrip to Palm Springs with a sidetrip through some seriously desolate desert territory above the San Andreas Fault. These tires handle much better, produce less road noise, and the backend isn't "squirrely" like it used to be. Unfortunately, my mileage has dropped about 1-2 mpg, but that may be due to driving really aggressively on the Palm Springs/desert run. All-in-all, I'm very happy with the Ecopias and impressed with their roadhandling and stopping ability.

 

Thank you so much NYPRIUS for your posts, they have helped me make a decision on new tires!

 

Keep in mind this thread is very old and there are a lot of newer and better tires available.

 

I had to change my 2nd set of tires (Michelin Pilot AS 195/65's) 2 weeks ago. They had 40k miles on them. I changed to Michelin Primacy MXV4-S 195/60's. I am a Michelin true believer but I never liked the Pilot A/S' s on this car. They gave road noise at speed and I was told this was due to uni-directional tires. The new Michelin Primacy's are VERY quiet and ride better than the old tires. I really like them so far.

 

Unfortunately, I got a puncture flat yesterday from a nail in one of my Primacy MXV4 tires. I took it in to get fixed, but unfortunately, the fix was less than impressive. They didn't take the tire off the rim, but just put what they called a mushroom plug in, from the outside. When I got the tire back I asked them why they did it this way, and they said it was getting close to the sidewall, so an inside patch would be curved onto the sidewall and wouldn't seal very well.

Not satisfied with that answer I took the car elsewhere, and they said they would have refused to fix this tire in the first place and just recommended replacing the tire, so I did. I didn't have a huge amount of wear on the tires so they said I might get away with replacing just one, although not recommended, but it turns out Michelin has discontinued the 185/65R15 size for the MXV4 anyway. So, I bought two Michelin Harmony tires instead, and now have a perfectly good third MXV4 sitting in my shed.

See attachments for the plug fix pictures, including one inside view and one outside view. The guy from the original shop said he's never had one of these plugs fail, but nonetheless it just didn't sit well with me. The ironic part is the first shop was one that did nothing but tires and wheels, and I had specifically driven half an hour to get there for that reason.

 

I've read multiple threads on tires and spent way too much time. I thought I had a good tire picked out more than once and then continued reading and changed my mind. I have a 2007 Toyota Prius Touring edition. I want to run a 205/55/R16. A lot of posts I've read are older and I'm worried I'm not getting the best information. I need new tires and would like to order them online if that is cheapest. I'm considering the Bridgestone Ecopia 98$ each onlinetires.com, Pirelli p4, Michelin mx4 (I think), Toyo Extensas. I'm at the point where I would like someone to just tell me the best tire for handling, and low road noise. I would also like it to stop when its raining and last as long as possible. 100 or less per tire would be great.

Thanks

 

I am about to change the tires and I am considering also changing the rims, since one of my front loses presure over the time and also on the front rims I noticed some bubbling.

I am interested also in gaining a little bit of hight over the winter, despite speed readings, mpg, etc issues.
While I read about people using 195/55 R16 or 2015/55 R16 without issues, I didn't find much about using something like 195/60 R16.
Does anybody have some experience on this size regarting the wheel fitting?

Thanks!

 

For the best handling, road noise and stopping power it's tough to beat the Michelin Premier A/S. You will sacrifice some fuel economy though. The tires are $140/ea. then minus $70 for the Michelin rebate. Another good choice in this size is the Pirelli Cinturado P7. The Ecopia EP422 doesn't handle well or have great stopping power in wet conditions but it is cheap and fuel efficient. Can't have it all right?