Putting "real" tires on my Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Sporin, Jun 25, 2012.

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  1. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    UPDATE WAY BELOW.
    Putting "real" tires on my Prius | PriusChat

    Let me just say that in 20 years of driving, I never had punctured tires until I got the Prius. Thin, light, high-inflated tires and I've had 2 punctures... not really a surprise, but the punctures have both come at very bad times. This one yesterday can't be fixed.

    I've got almost 40k on the OEM Yokohama's and had hoped to get through this summer, run my snows this winter again, then get 4 new tires in the spring but this latest puncure has accelerated that plan.

    I didn't want an OEM tire this time. I do too much bad road/dirt road driving for those baloney skins again. ;) :p

    So I'm at the tire store and looking at the choices. I decided to go with 4, new ContiProContacts which I see well-reviewed on many forums. I considered the Eco+ version of that tire but they don't have them in stock so what the heck.

    It's a 400AA tire, the Yoko's were 320BB... not that I really understand what that means. :) The EcoPlus Version of the Contis is 600AB.

    These tires have MUCH more tread depth then the OEM's so I'm hoping for a bit better puncture resistance, wet handling, and bad road durability. I also got the road-hazard warranty ($10/tire) which I think will come in handy.

    I'll be curious to see if they effect my overall MPG noticeably. I'm actually guessing the won't, but we'll see. I already get less then what most PriusChat members think is "good mpg" due to the area and conditions I drive in, but I'm extremely pleased with my overall which is 44mpg± (low 40's in winter, high 40's in summer). Any per tank average between 40 and 50 I'm very happy with.
     
    #1 Sporin, Jun 25, 2012
    Last edited: May 28, 2014
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    funny, in 8 years of driving 3 pri w/original tires, i've never had a flat. sounds like you made a good choice, please keep us informed of your experience with them, all the best!
     
    #2 bisco, Jun 25, 2012
  3. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    In theory you will suffer a sustained drop but as long as you're happy then it's all good. :)
     
    #3 F8L, Jun 25, 2012
  4. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

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    When I switch from low-rolling resistance tires to my snow tires (Blizzaks), I see a significant drop in mileage, like 10 - 20%. Be prepared for a shock when your mileage drops with the Contis. Handling should improve, though.
     
    #4 Dark_matter_doesn't, Jun 26, 2012
  5. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    With 300 miles on the tires I'm pretty confident I'm loosing 3mpg±. It's worth the trade off imo. Ride and handling is excellent. In particular, they are noticeably better in the rain at highway speeds as I experienced on a round trip to Burlington today. Not even a hint of hydroplaning in the trucker-rutts which was a real problem with the OEM tires, even when new.

    The round trip to Burlington is a worst case scenario for my car, always has been. It's uphill both ways at 70+ mph. I generally saw 47-48 mpg for that trip. Today I got 45 exactly. "Around town" MPG seems less effected. Before I headed to Burlington today, my tank average (I filled up after getting the tires) was ± where it generally is this time of year (51ish).

    I lose more like 5-6 mpg with the snow tires but rememeber that (at least for me) a big part of that is the very cold conditions as well. Anecdotally, I'd say that the winter TIRES lose me 3 mpg, the winter WEATHER loses me another 3.

    These Conti's only have half of that negativity so the 3 mpg I saw so far makes sense.

    Disclaimer: Anecdotal observations
     
    #5 Sporin, Jun 26, 2012
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  6. cossie1600

    cossie1600 Active Member

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    Good luck, the EcoPlus is way overrated. Those tires rode like a truck and they are loud as hell. I paid $120 to switch over to Michelin
     
    #6 cossie1600, Jun 27, 2012
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Sporin, remember that as they break in they will get better. They will get even better as they wear down. You'll still suffer a mpg loss but they are safe tires and handle well. :)
     
    #7 F8L, Jun 27, 2012
  8. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    Safe handling definitely trumps a few added MPG for me. I work from home, this is my wife and son's commuting car.
     
    #8 Sporin, Jun 27, 2012
  9. hlunde

    hlunde Member

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    I also had two punctures with the original Yokohama S33D tires -- perhaps just bad luck. I replaced them with Conti Eco Plus and would say the Conti's deliver a noticeable improvement in overall performance.

    I have two other vehicles with H-rated (non-Eco) Conti Pros (Volvo and Nissan) and I would say that these tires are quieter than the Eco Plus and track much better.

    I don't measure Prius fuel consumption with enough diligence to remark about the fuel consumption of the Eco Plus vs the Yokohama's.
     
    #9 hlunde, Jun 28, 2012
  10. subjective

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    The first puncture of the Yokohama S33D OEM tires on our 2011 Prius lll occured when the car was only 1 week old. In the rain these tires slid more than average in the rain and were not quiet. The truth of the matter is that these tires were designed as Prius OEM tires to be sold to Toyota at a low price but if you as a Prius owner needs to replace one or more they are high priced. Forget about any useful warranty. They are priced on the Tire Rack web at $108., plus about $12. ea to ship and about $12. to mount. I replaced these tires with the Michelin Energy Saver A/S with road hazard insurance and am very pleased with them averaging 10% improvement in MPG.
     
    #10 subjective, Jun 28, 2012
  11. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    I do .... and with the Conti EcoPlus I'm down about 3 and change MPG. Not real happy about that, but the handling is FAR better than with the Yoko's.

    REV
     
    #11 revhigh, Jun 28, 2012
  12. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    My first tank on these is actually pretty consistant with my first tank on the OEM tires (which I put on the car for the first time after having the car delivered with snow tires Dec. 10). That's one tank with a long, not-Prius-ideal, trip on it.

    I just pumped them up to 40psi (sidewall says max is 51, tire place set them at 32) so that will help immensely. I'll be curious how these wear-in and effect MPG.
     
    #12 Sporin, Jun 29, 2012
  13. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    So after a few miles of wearing in, I'm getting average MPG's pretty much where I've always been. Maybe -1 to 2 mpg depending on the travel.

    Handling is much improved. The grip on corners is noticeably better. Hydroplane resistance is massively improved. Ride is smooth and quiet. Very pleased.

    This was a week ago…. [​IMG]

    And this was the most recent fillup vs. the same time period last year…

    July 14th, 2011, 46.67 MPG​
    July 17th, 2012 47.92 MPG​

    Again, I realize you non-wintery flat landers do way way better then I do in general ;) and that's fine. I think my lifetime 44 mpg average isn't going to change too much from the tire switch. I'm also switching to a smoother winter tire this year (Blizzaks, instead of the very aggressive iPikes) so I'm hoping to bring my winter average up a little to compensate.
     
    #13 Sporin, Jul 17, 2012
  14. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    Old thread, but I'm onto non-LLR tire #2. The Conti's wore our pretty quick, 2 of them wouldn't pass inspection this spring so it was necessary to replace them. Overall I was pleased with them, especially for the price. They got louder as they aged but the MPG came back up a bit as well. I'd say it was still 1-2mpg average less than the OEM Yoko LLR tires were.

    After reading every thread on here about them I settled on the Michelin Defender. I considered the E/S but at this point I value durability over the extra couple of MPG. I got Town Fair Tire to match TireRack's online price and, along with the $70 Michelin rebate and all the "free" extras TFT offer (like snow tire swaps, flat repair, etc.) it was a good deal on a very high quality tire.

    So, things I was looking for: High quality tire, deep tread and circumferential grooves for wet weather performance, long term durability.

    The day after I got them I did an all-highway trip to Mass and back and averaged 49.5 for the tank. This was with pressures at 32 all around. That's about as good as I ever see for an all highway drive since much of it is very hilly up here in New England. ONce it flattens out in southern NH, MPG's come back up but then it's all uphill on the way home so it evens out.

    I've set them at 40psi all around now and we'll see how it does on my wife's regular commute over a few weeks. I'm expecting to land somewhere pretty close to the OEM Yokos, and certainly better than the Contis for MPG.

    All that in context of course, I know I get "bad" MPG by PriusChat standards. :) The car has pretty much always got around 49-50 in summer, and as low as 40-42 in winter on dedicated winter tires. Long cold winters, and very little "city" driving.... lots of hilly highway travel at 70mph. ;)

    Other than that, 85k miles in 3.5 years and we are very happy with the Prius. Great family commuter car, huge interior, no issues to speak of. Now that I've replaced my old 96 Accord with a 2005 4Runner we have a 2-car "fleet" that pretty much suits every need and want we have for our automobiles.
     
    #14 Sporin, May 28, 2014
    Last edited: May 28, 2014
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  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    No offense, but I think you're delusional. Tires are tires. Our "OEM" were Michelin Pilot (in 215/45R17), still on the car. they're just regular tires, you can buy them again. A common 15" OEM is the Bridgestone Ecopia EP20, again: a fine tire, good for rolling resistance, decent tread life.

    We've had two punctures with this vehicle: one with the "OEM" tires, and one with the "real" Michelin X-Ice snows.

    (Oh hell, I'm responding to a 2 year old OP, oh well)
     
    #15 Mendel Leisk, May 28, 2014
    Last edited: May 28, 2014
  16. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    By OEM, I meant the OEM tires my car came with, which, in my opinion, were too "thin" and vulnerable on bad and dirt roads. A non-LLR tire (generally) has a deeper, thicker tread and is therefore, more durable for the kind of driving I need to do.

    And that panned out exactly as I expected over the ensuing years. :)
     
    #16 Sporin, May 28, 2014
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  17. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    The Defenders are probably the best tires I have ever owned. Have them on two cars now and wish they made them for the wife's SUV.
     
    #17 frodoz737, May 28, 2014
  18. Stratman

    Stratman Member

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    Here's the breakdown on tires from putting on a gazillion of them at my time at Good year. The tread wear number (200, 320, 400, etc. that you see first before the letters) is an arbitrary number for comparison purposes (much like THD numbers on sound systems, insert eye roll here). A 400 should last twice as long as a 200 but not really. Before tires were mainly carbon black instead of silicone, like they are today, the high the tread wear meant lower traction, the second number, and you never used to see anything but "B" as the second number. The third number was a safe temperature rating. Most of these were "B" up until Goodyear starting making a "Z" rated tire IIRC (more on that in a minute)

    The "p metric" numbers replace the old letter designations. An "F" became p205, a "G" became a p215, and a big ole "H" became a p225, and the 12 inch "A" on my 79 Civic was a p155.

    Back before they started making 20 inch "bling" rims with about an inch of tire this letter or p metric number had more to do with the ratio of how tall a tire was to its actual width than how "wide" it looked on the rim. The "95" or "75" or "65" was also part of this ratio but did account for a wider tire at shorter overall height.

    I remember when Goodyear came out with a "Z" designated tire that was supposedly safe up to 140mph. They were basically built like an LT tire (light truck, like we see on SUV's and pickups) with 2 extra belts both around the tire and in the sidewall. Pretty much a truck tire made to properly fit a car. This is why SUV and truck tires are more expensive.

    Load range letter corresponds to tire inflation. Back in the day, up to 28psi was load range "A", up to 32psi was "B", up to 45psi was "C", 45psi to 60psi was "D" and "E" was over 60psi. The "E" ranges were the ones we put on split and lock rim semi's.
     
    #18 Stratman, May 28, 2014
  19. szgabor

    szgabor Active Member

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    Interesting anecdote a roundtrip which both way uphill ... (unless uphill is a metafore here) also is there a min speed required on the road ??? It is up to you how fast you are going no ?
     
    #19 szgabor, May 31, 2014
  20. Sporin

    Sporin Prius Noob

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    Well, there IS a posted minimum of 55, but that's beside the point. I have no interest in traveling that slow. There's a whole lot of nothing between here and there and I like to cover it as quickly as possible within the confines of the local law enforcement.

    Uphill both ways meaning there is constant uphill and downhill. Unlike, say, my home to Boston where its all basically down hill once I get past New London NH.

    I know some of you guys take your hypermiling really seriously, I don't. High 40's driving normal speeds has always been fine with me and I've never complained otherwise.
     
    #20 Sporin, Jun 1, 2014
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