irregular front tire wear

I recommend you purchase a good digital tire pressure guage as they appear to be way more accurate than the old pencil type. I have two and one has been checked to 1/10 pound from 15 -50 and it's only out 3/10th's of a pound at 40 and the error is on the low side. I've checked my other one and it's a different make and it's exactly the same. Way more accurate than using the guage at the gas station. I paid about 8$ for each of them.

 

My tire wear is worse

After 29250 miles, all four tires are badly worn on both the inside and outside edges. So bad the car failed state inspection. I read on the Yahoo! Prius Group an ongoing discussion that the mfr suggested tire pressure is too low by about 10 psi -- the recommendation there is 42 front, 40 rear.

Did you point out your problem to the dealer? Did they say anything about it. I want Toyota to replace the tires since their recommendation is wrong.

 

We overcame the tire issues a long ago, so you can feel very comfortable with this information:

The OEM (standard) tires for the Classic Prius had a much, much, much softer rubber than the typical tire you'd find on a family car. As a result, they wore out much, much, much faster. To fix this, many owners just switched to a typical tire instead.

The recommended PSI was way too low, intended to provide a very cushy ride rather than prevent harm to the tires. To fix this, many owners just inflated the tires more. And since the tires are designed to handle higher PSI, that choice was pretty simple... especially after having confirmed that the increased tire-pressure causes increased MPG and increased road-handling.

http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-tires.htm ...that webpage provides additional info.

 

John, where and how was your avatar image taken? It looks like a stop somewhere on I-35W, which wouldn't be very safe...

 

irregular tire wear

There's a guy on the Yahoo! Prius group that seems to know a fair amount. Here's what he said about the problem:

Please bear in mind that the wear rating of 160 means that expected
wear will be
only 1.6 times that of the 'reference' bias ply tire. At 29k+, you've
done
better than most, and better than the wear rating might indicate.
Also, with
radials, edge wear really doesn't indicate underinflation any more
since the
steel belt keeps the tread quite flat over a wide range of inflation
pressures.

Hove you used the 'spec' pressures, or raised them to 42/40 or more?

At best, if Bridgestone provides a tread wear warranty, you may get a
partial
credit (but off of full retail price).

Overall, perhaps it's best to choose your new tires (I'm still not
really
disappointed in the OEM's, but you may wish to look at John's site for
other
choices), inflate to 42/40, and thank the good folks at the inspection
station
for doing you a favor in pointing out that the old sneakers are no
longer safe.

What might I choose? Here in the hot part of the country, I'd look at
the
Dunlop SP Sport A2's since they have good traction, heat, although
medium wear
ratings. I'd pick 185/60, rather than 65, for lowest drivetrain
stress.

Elsewhere, Nokian would be on the top of my list.

Hope this helps,

Pete / Naples