I have 20,000 miles on my '05 Prius and have failed the penny test. I always thought 30,000+ was the magic number. LA & TX roads are awful, which would explain the poor condition of my tires but how do I know for sure if it's time to buy new tires?
if you can see the wear bars across the tread width you need new skins. It's that simple. Don't skimp and try for an extra 1000 miles or so. One bad freek rain storm is all it'll take to have an "at fault" accident. Just bite the bullet and get new skins. I have to admit that it's not a lot of miles. But the reports are that they are not great quality tires.
I think I need to check as well, got 25,000 miles on them, have been thinking about it, noticed a lot more skids. Need to go check the tires. How do the wear bars show up?
wear bar shows as a solid rubber line across the tread face of the tire. If you look at the very edge of the tread portion where the side wall meets it you should see an arrow moulded onto the edge of the side wall and they should be about 60 degrees apart. Look in the owners maual in the tire section and it'll show the information on wear bars. If your doing the Lincoln penny trick don't do it on top of the wear bar.
I really like my Hydroedge's. They have a 90,000 mile treadwear warranty as well, so you shouldn't need new tires for quite a while. The only downside; the noise factor is only improved a little bit. Nate
Thanks guys. I ordered my tires today and will have them installed over the weekend. Better safe than sorry.
We have Hydroedge's on our minivan. Great tires. They have extra deep tread (11/32nd's or so). After 40,000 miles they still look new.
