I replace the original tires at 65,000 miles. I'm now at 138.000 and need to replace again. Was pretty OK with last replacement, good mileage but they were a bit noisy. What has been successful tire replacement for others as far as maintaining/improving mpg, tread wear and quiet ride? I need to make a decision in the next couple of days. Thanks in advance for recommendations.
If you are driving a NON touring Prius, I too recommend the Michelin Energy A/S. Touring, look at the Ecopia 422, the energy saver doesn't have the sizes for the touring I believe.
I replaced the original Goodyear Integrities on my 2009 Prius with Michelin Energy A/S. The car had 38K miles on it at the time. The Energy Savers produced the expected ~4% improvement in mileage. My Prius is now at 80K miles, and it looks to me that there's about 10K miles left of tire tread, which means they will have given me about 50K miles of total life. When I spoke to Costco recently in anticipation of replacing my Energy Savers, the sales guy told me he could order Energy Savers, but that he thought getting Michelin Defenders was a better option based on total cost. In other words, the Defenders cost about the same as the Energy Savers, but because they last roughly twice as long, they are cheaper in the long run, even if you do give up, say, 4% in mileage. I haven't made my decision yet, and being a "mileage guy" I hate to give up miles per gallon....but it's hard to argue against the dollars-and-cents math that favors the Defenders. The other issues dear to me are handling and road noise (lack thereof), but I don't have a way to get a sense for those unless I actually buy the Defenders. John
Costco has the Bridgestone Escopia 422 for our base Prius. I'm thinking I will go with those. MPG and smooth ride - any experience with these?
Go to www.discounttiredirect.com You'll save a ton of money. If you can hold out until Thanksgiving they usually have a great black Friday sale
I am using the Ecopia EP 422 on the 2004 and am very pleased with that tire. Excellent price/performance. No tire noise to speak of, great handling, smooth ride, mpg in the low 50s without trying, pretty good considering my local freeway speed limit is 75 mph.
I agree with Patrick's comments. Quitest tires I've ever run, best mpg, super smooth, and they handle good for an all season in terms of traction and cornering, but there is a mushyness to them. You wouldn't put these on anything sporty. On a Prius you won't be sorry.