Hello all, Have had my Prius v five for a few weeks and generally love it. Getting 40-44 MPG, hauls things well and I generally like the drive and ride but ..... The level five Toyo Proxes 17" tires are extremely noisy on anything but a very smooth road. The car is very quiet on smooth roads, but the 17" Toyo tires thump with every tar strip, or rough surface or on concrete roads and roar on most interstate highways. I can hardly listen to my stereo at speeds over 65 on anything but very smooth asphalt roads. I have had a Prius classic, a Camry Hybrid and now the new Prius v, so I am used to the hybrids and Toyota. The road noise in this car is unacceptable and is either the lack of sound deadening or extremely loud tires or both! Tried recommended tire pressures, a little higher and over 40 and found about 37 seems the best for feel and noise. Anyone else having this issue? Otherwise I love the versatile "v"! Does anyone else have these issues and any solutions?
Its both. Low profile tires are always a bit like that, but there's no question the OE Toyos are bad. The v is a noisy car anyway, so get used to that. Short of getting new tires, (which is what I did), you're stuck with it. The Michelins are much quieter, handle far better and improve MPG, but its still a noisy car.
Michelin Defenders are quiet, ride good and makes the handling (steering) really good. If I were you I would buy a set and throw the ones you have in the garbage. You will be better off.
We haven't found either the v or the Proxes A20 (at 41/40psi) to be noisy, though we have heard others' reports of same.
What Air_Boss said ^^^. I am running my Toyo Proxes A20 P215/50R17s Up-Pressured to 51F/50R. I get a solid road feel at these PSI levels, which I like. As regards “Noise,” I do not consider it “Noise,” but rather “Music To My Ears,” as it is the sound of my Pv5 "Petrol Warfighter" delivering Ultra- High 50-ish MPG to me.
I have the Toyo A20's with a lower profile - 215-45R17. It's not quiet like a lexus but I think I've gotten used to it. You are right, all potholes, expansion joints and undulations in the road are easily transferred into the cabin with these tires. Have you seen the prices for a brand new A20 in 17' size? It's like $250 bucks! So obviously this is not a cheap tire. There must be something good about it that justifies that price. I'm no expert on tires so I don't know what it is. Perhaps the stiffer sidewall gives better handling. They have a rim protector and look great at least
My 17" Toyos are super quiet, one of the quietest tires I've ever had. I have the Proxes 4 Plus tires:
That must be why my tire dealer only gave me $20 per tire for them brand new off the car. Don't mistake the OE tires for being the same as the retail tire of the same model. They are not. When you buy tires by the millions, they make them special to your specs and put their name on it. Its also true that nobody pays "retail" for tires anyway, but price in no way indicates quality. I've bought a lot of new Toyotas, and never once kept the OE tires for more than a few thousand miles. They are cheap, cheap, cheap. I consider a new set of tires to be part of the cost of a new car.
I find the opposite to the OP, I had a 2010 Gen 3 (liftback) with 17" Michelin Primacy tyres on, which are supposed to be one of the quietest tyres available in the UK and the road noise was horrendous. I now have a 2012 Prius+ (US=v) with 17" toyo Proxes on and it is almost silent on most road surfaces. This was the sole reason why i traded the Gen 3 in for the +. It may be that the two extra seats in the back are deadening the sound more than the Gen 3, I don't know but it sure is very much quieter.
Hi all, thanks for the feedback. I see some have the same issues or similar and others do not. I have a 96 Corvette with large performance 17" tires and it is not a noisy as my Prius V. I guess my V needs some additional insulation / undercoating to help with the sound deadening? I also changed to Michelin Primacys on my Camry and found them much better than the factory tires. My Prius Classic I changed to lower profile goodyear tires and it also rode and handled much better than the stock tires. Agree that the Factory tire on toyotas are Cheap, Cheap, Cheap! Maybe not in price, but in performance! Thanks all for your help and feedback, think I will bug the Toyota service folks and see what they can do? Maybe some free undercoating? Also sounds like a new set of Michelins is in mys future too! Thanks everyone!
I agree with you. When I buy a new car if it has other than Michelins on it I buy a new set of Michelins and discard the OE tires.
I don't know about noise but the stock 17s (at least on the liftback) are actually more fuel efficient than retail replacements of the same brand/model. They most certainly modified them to make them more LRR.
