Original Tires

It varies so much... you just need to have them measured to know for sure.

 

I have 30K miles on mine. Considering regular tires over LR tires for piece of mind. I had Goodyear Assurance Tripletred (or whatever they are called) on my last car and they were outstanding in the snow and rain, plus carry an 80K mile warranty.

I'm sure the hypermilers will lambaste me, but I'll get over it.

 

Just measure them and see how much life is left. And if you like the stock tires i would recomend buying another set of them or something close.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "thin" tires, but the casing plies on LRR tires are the same as on non-LRR tires of the same size and load index rating. The difference in LRR tires lies in the belt construction and tread compound. So you only need to be concerned about tread depth unless there is excessive sidewall cracking (from ozone).

Having said that, I don't ever put on any tires with a speed rating of less than H. The reason is that H speed rated tires are made to tighter tolerances so there is less change of odd wear and vibration. In addition, H rated tires have additional material in the tread and bead area so they are more robust. Some LRR tires for the Prius with H speed rating are:

Nokian WR-g2, eNTYRE
Yokohama dB2 espec

 

I'm with you. As it happens, I just put a set of Goodyear Assurance Triple Tred tires on my 2010 Prius bought in June 2009. I've have had a set on my Outback wagon for two years and they are great on wet pavement and in snow.

I live in the Seattle area and the original LRR tires are garbage in the rain. Way too easy to lock up the brakes on wet pavement. I had been thinking about replacing them because I would rather take a hit of a few mpg than take a hit into some object or someone because of bad traction. We had our first snow storm of the year before Thanksgiving and that sealed the deal. They were terrible on snow. Almost useless. I have lots of experience driving in snow including seven winters in Michigan and driving to ski in the mountains. So I know what I'm doing on snow. The Goodyears made a huge difference in snow traction over the original Bridgestones that came on the Subaru so I went with those for the Prius. They proved their worth in the first week. I was driving in pouring rain on I-5 into downtown when a truck tried to change lanes right into me. I had to hit the brakes hard to avoid a collision. The old tires would have locked up and skidded for sure. No problem at all for the new tires. I'm sold on 'em.

I don't have a sense yet how big an effect they have if any on mileage. Time will tell.

 

They were fantastic on the Cadillac I traded in for the Prius.

 

I think he means the low profile V package tires (similar to Canadian "Touring" package): 215/45R17.

To the OP: you can pick up a tire tread depth gauge and check your remaining depth, or jury rig something in a pinch to measure. New tread depth was likely 9/32"~10/32". You can verify your new tread depth on Tirerack.

Once you get down to 4/32" remaining it's time to start shopping, imho. Legal limit is 2/32" but near-bald tires can be a menace in rain.

What are your tires? Our "Touring" came with the Michelin Pilot, and Tirerack reviewers are "tepid" on their wet traction, to put it politely. Michelin Primacy are fairly highly regarded as replacement.

I'd suggest go to Tirerack site, choose tires "by vehicle", specify your Prius V, and exclude all but LRR offerings (if you wish), to see what's available.

 

What brand OEM tires do you have on your Prius?

I have the Yokohama Avid S33D on mine. The Treadwear rating on my tire is 320. If you compare rating numbers, this would be in the 30 to 35k mile range. I have 20k on my car but I still have 6/32" tread depth left.

My wife's 2007 Honda Accord had the Michelin Energy MX4 that had a 440 Treadwear rating and we had 44,500 miles when we replaced these with the Michelin Primacy MX4 tires. We still had 4/32" of tread left but Michelin was having a $70 off for 4 tires so we traded early.

The new Primacy tires have a 620 Treadwear rating and a 60k mile warranty. So, the treadwear numbers seem to work out to be about 100 X Treadwear rating in miles.

Of course, there are a lot of variables that go in to how many miles one can get from a set of tires. Tire pressure maintained correctly, alignment, rotating tires, etc. But the treadwear number has seemed to work well for me in the last few set of tires.

 

Worn-out = 1/32" min tread depth (not measured on the treadwear indicators).

Look up your tire on TireRack, and under specs they'll show the "new" tread depth.

Measure yours today, and extrapolate to estimate when you'll hit 1/32".

 

In NC, the minimum tread depth to pass inspections is 2/32". You may want to check with your state regulations.

 

+1

2/32 is the thinnest any reputable organization recommends. That is stretching it on roads with any standing water, which is most roads when it rains hard.

 

I replaced my OEM tires at 35,000 miles with 2/32" tread remaining. I bought Michelin Defender tires to replace them.