Three days ago, my 2013 Prius III lit up the "tire pressure" warning light. I took a look at and poked all four tires. Everything seemed OK. The light stayed on for two days, so yesterday I took it to the dealership. They pulled out a nail from the left front tire and plugged the hole. So that cost me 90 minutes of my time and $20 of my money -- but it's definitely nice to know that the car can tell me when there's a problem with the tires. I LOVE this car.
I'm glad. It also sounds like your dealer didn't try to profit off of you by selling you a tire that you do not need. Win-Win. I'm not usually a fan of big nanny-state regulation, but the Tire-pressure monitoring system law makes some sense for America. Another win-win.
Get yourself a pressure gauge. A good quality stick type gauge will basically last forever. Maybe get a digital too, if only just to check it. Two reasons: 1. To get a much more complete picture of your tire pressure. 2. If you want to depart from the pressure set by the dealership, as shown on the sticker in the driver's door jamb. Many owners up their pressures, nearer 40 psi, or higher, and get better mileage as a result. The downside, at some point: your head impacting the roof going over speed bumps. If you do raise pressures, reset the TPMS, at the higher pressure. The procedure's in the manual. Another item worth picking up is a tread depth gauge. Relatively simple item, under $5.
Just a reminder- if you are a Sam's Club member they will repair tires for free (membership benefit). I had a nail at about 3,000 miles and took my Prius there. Had the repair for free about an hour later. No appointment needed. Costco may have the same benefit.
I do have a very good pressure gauge, but I've been working 12-hour days for the past two weeks, so even if I had used the gauge and determined where the problem was, I was still going to have to go to the dealership on Saturday for repairs. (It'll be three more 12-hour workdays this week -- and then I have all the time off that I could want, because my job was outsourced to India.)
We recently took a trip to Portland in the Pri, about 2 days before we left I just happened to notice a nail in the tire. I took it to our local tire shop, Lamar Brothers, in Salinas, CA. They pulled the tire off the car, checked it, and it was only superficial, not protruding into the inside of the tire. Didn't charge me a dime. Great people. If you're ever in Salinas, CA and need tire work done, they're just off of the Market St. exit. Got to Portland and back no problem, about $100 in gas. But a very long drive, 700 miles up in one day and 700 miles back another day. On the way back there was a really dirty green gen II Pri going about 80, we stopped a couple of times to switch drivers and drove past the guy pulled over by the CHP a while down the road. We saw him and just started cracking up. Yeah, I'd like to drive that fast too, but if you get pulled over it actually takes longer. Plus, your gas mileage savings stop working when you get a ticket. Having had a couple of blowouts in our trailer, I know that it's always useful to have a good tire shop to know about. Happy Thanksgiving, and blessed travels to you all. We're staying home.
