New tires at 105 k mpg is way down from 52 to 46 and the drive is off

We had a complete set of new tires put on at 60k miles and then this past June, when we are at around 105,000, we bought another set of tires, because when we came in with a flat, they showed me that there was a tear between the bottom and the side, which they claimed had occurred because I had failed to get routine alignments.

I admit to that one sin -- not getting alignments. I was easy prey for them and readily agreed to buy a whole new set, because I didn't like the idea that I would get one new tire and then have 3 older ones. It was a little shy of when we would need them, but I figured I might as well be safe.

So, off I drove with my new set. The car seemed fine on the way home. However, this is not my car. My husband drives it 75 miles minimum each day and he hates the drive since the tires were replaced. He no longer gets his normal 52 MPG, which really disappoints him, and the car feels unstable, floats around, does not stay true, and is late in responding when he tries to turn it a bit to change lanes.

He took it back in and had the alignment checked and they found it was out of alignment again??
They fixed the alignment again, and he still has the same complaint.

I have to decide whether to drive 90 miles from Santa Cruz to the Luscious Garage in San Francisco, because I am inclined to trust them more, or return to the Firestone Dealership to whine some more. I have appointments at both shops and will cancel one, when I make up my mind. This has to be attended to tomorrow, because we are going out of town on Sunday.

Previous notes to the list have been responded to with suggestions like "Make sure the front tires toe in" and "new tires are always funky like that." I kind of remember that the old tires took a while to wear in, but not this long. I talked to the Firestone manager just now to make sure she knew about the toe in thing and she does. She said she would be absolutely sure she had it done right for us if I bring it in tomorrow. The thing is, I have to pick. Do you think this is worth going in to the widely recognized Luscious Garage or should I go back and whine at the Firestone dealer again? The car drove perfectly before early June when it got the flat.

Any advice?

 

That's the stuff! I like that. I never aligned mine either, but I did get this nasty flat that they claimed was from them being out of alignment.

 

oops, sorry, I sent that too soon. I do not recall what the second set were, but they were fine and we used them at relatively low pressure compared to people here on Priuschat. We just used the recommendations on the tires themselves, which I think was 35 or 36 or something? all the way around? Now, we have Ecopias and I don't know if there is a specific type or if that matters. They are the right size for the Touring, which has the special size tire. He is driving the new ones at 35 as well, though initially, they were up to 45. It didn't help when they did the second alignment and reduced the pressure.

 

the tires I bought on 6/7/2013 Ecopea EP 422 195/55/16

 

no, but what does LRR mean? See below post or my exact tire type.

 

I'm back from San Francisco with a VERY interesting resolution to my problem. At first, the mechanic was very reluctant to look at it and basically said he didn't want to charge me still more money, when surely things are okay and its just that new tires are like this... same thing I heard from many of you. I told him I was not happy with the MPG and that my husband was so unhappy with the way the car drove, that I was worried about our upcoming camping trip.

I insisted that he check out the car for a minimum dx of 30 dollars. Guess what? He immediately noticed that the steering wheel was not centered, which is often an indication of a poor alignment. He drove it around and said it didn't drive that badly. He gave me a choice as to whether he should basically check in and do the alignment. I said absolutely.

He discovered that it was OUT OF ALIGNMENT again/still/ !!!

Also, though my husband was supposedly standing right there when Firestone discovered that the tires were inflated to 45 and that they should be 35, they actually put in only 30 all the way around.

So the car has been going on 30, has been out of alignment -- tows out, not in, and one caber is off. He said this would wear out the new tires much more quickly.


So I'm home, I have 40 lbs of pressure all the way around -- his usual pressure advise to all Prius II owners -- and I have a fresh alignment.

Here's the kicker. MPG on the way to SF was 46. On the way home 56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, even if there's some slight increase in altitude on the SF side of Highway 1, it isn't much. I've made this trip many times and notice a possible 1 to 2 mpg difference, but I can't recall which direction was higher MPG.

I'm happy that I went to all this trouble AND the Firestone shop's brand new manager said that the guy who talked me into these tires and who managed the two "Alignments" thereto, no longer works there. She has offered to pay for the alignment I had at Luscious Garage. I will be taking her up on that deal to be sure.

Also, Luscious Garage says there is no reason why the alignment will suddenly fall away, once it is correctly done. Also, they could not detect any sign that an alignment had been done recently, though they claim that should be easy to do, from marks left by tools?

So that's my update.

 

I think I meant "camber"