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General Altimax RT43 -- review

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Stevewoods, Sep 30, 2016.

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  1. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Have had this tire on the Prius for about a month. So, this is only first impressions, but this is an impressive tire.

    I took the day off and spent this morning cruising around the hairpin turns of Washington State's Cascade Mountains.

    Handling was very impressive and cornering was much better than with the Goodyear FuelMax which this tire replaced. MPG is still dead-on the same figure that the FuelMax pulled (42.3 -- we have lots of hills, and the figure is for a month of mixed city, highway driving, not just today's jaunt).

    I purchased this tire because it had a $50 rebate (which continues for a couple of more weeks) and the TEST. as well as the reviews on TireRack were very favorable, especially for wet handling.

    I also considered the Continental TrueContact. The Continental tire is an LRR, the General (which is made by Continental), is not. The General scored nearly the same in mpg as the TrueContact in TireRack Tests. The General was about $100 cheaper for four tires.

    Wife, the usual driver of the Prius, says it handled fine in the rain we had a couple of weeks ago.

    We don't get much snow (more ice), but TireRack rates it high for snow and ice traction (hey, it is an All-Season).

    I am impressed. Reasonably priced, good performance. No, it is not LRR, but considering the "loosey goosey" state of what is an LRR and what is not, I don't think people should restrict themselves to LRR only.

    And, I know everyone here has a thing for the Michelin man, but if you want to go rogue and want something that pulls some impressive snow and ice performance (for an all-season) and mpg be damned, the Goodyear TripleTred is a pretty awesome choice.
     
    #1 Stevewoods, Sep 30, 2016
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  2. lrisius

    lrisius Member

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    Glad to hear you are trying them out. My daughter just put a set on her Camry. Good ratings at TireRack and a good price. She lives in Wisconsin so the winter ratings were important to us. We ended up buying them at Walmart online and had them shipped to her local store.

    Please keep us posted on the mileage over time. I'm anticipating to need a set of tires on our Prius v in a year or so and might consider these.
     
    #2 lrisius, Sep 30, 2016
  3. 09Prius2

    09Prius2 Member

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    I figured they would be ok. I read in another thread about the same tire that lost 10mpg or something crazy like that. You would have to put off road tires on a prius to lose 10mpg.

    I ordered some regular tires myself after reading the epa tests that reflect LRR efficiency differences of less than .5 mpg at the most. I'd rather have the traction.

    Altimax are good, I've had them before. There are better, but very hard to beat for the price.
     
    #3 09Prius2, Oct 1, 2016
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  4. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Wifey read my post.

    She said I am "in error."

    She said the Prius mpg is now at 46.7 == which is an increase from the 42.3 mpg we have had forever. She claims it has been at that figure for at least five days -- I am taking the fifth....I will say that I reset the calculator when the new tires went on the car.

    But, at any rate, if that holds, it means the RT43 is actually getting better mpg than the Goodyear FuelMax.
     
    #4 Stevewoods, Oct 2, 2016
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  5. daveprius09

    daveprius09 Junior Member

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    Hi I installed the General Altimax RT43s aprox. 10,000 miles ago on my 09 Prius. They are quiet, grab wet roads well which is a problem with this year especially pulling out on wet hills! With the nice cooler weather I am now averaging 50 mpg! At this point there is 9/32 of tread remaining on all tires. The true test will be after about 30,000/40,000 miles how the traction will be with aprox. 50% tread remaining. I do like this tire and have installed them on other vehicles for customers!
     
    #5 daveprius09, Oct 5, 2016
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  6. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    For the price I paid, and the current rebate (which I think expires in a few days), plus the uptick in mpg, I am quite happy.

    But, then again, ask me again in another few months. An icy morning or two will be a test.
     
    #6 Stevewoods, Oct 5, 2016
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  7. 09Prius2

    09Prius2 Member

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    Mileage goes up this time of year anyways. A/C use goes down and heat is not required yet. I've gone up several mpgs just due to less climate control demand.

    That being said, I think the tires have little to due with it. The epa tests show <1 mpg improvement for ALL LRR tire models.
     
    #7 09Prius2, Oct 6, 2016
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  8. M in KC

    M in KC Active Member

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    I'll second the positive reviews on the Altimax RT 43's and the Continental TrueContacts. While I don't have either on our Pri, I have a set of the RT43's on our Camry and our Maxima. Awesome tire so far, smooth, quite, confident, predictable in all weather types so far. Winter is just around the corner so we will be evaluating snow performance soon I'm sure. I have a set of the TrueContacts on our Odyssey. Again very impressed with this tire as well. Smooth, quite, confident, predictable in all weather types so far as well less snow. We took the TrueContacts through the Great Smokey Mountains on the family vaca earlier this year (it rained nearly every day). For anyone who knows that area and hwy 129, you know those roads are as demanding as they come. The TrueContacts were extremely compliant running the Tail of the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway etc. The front rotors on the other hand, well let's just say they didn't hold up as well.
     
    #8 M in KC, Oct 12, 2016
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  9. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Mpg is still holding steady and above the LRR Goodyears. Still very happy with these tires. Been a couple of months now.

    As for the earlier comment about mpg improving this time of year, it never did with the Goodyear, the Cooper LRR before the GY or the original GY Integrity.
     
    #9 Stevewoods, Nov 2, 2016
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  10. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    Wear life not good
     
    #10 kinglew, Nov 4, 2016
  11. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Both Tire Rack and Consumer Reports disagree with you and say the tire has superior tread life.

    Below is Tire Rack's take. The RT43 treadwear rating is 8.4 out of 10 and is on the high end of excellent.

    The Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus scores a 7.2 in treadwear from TireRack. While the non-plus model Ecopia gets a 6.5 in treadwear. Conti TrueContact also gets an 8.4 in treadwear.


    Altimax RT43 TIRE PERFORMANCE RATINGS from TireRack

    • WET
    • Hydroplaning Resistance 8.7
    • Wet Traction 8.6
    • DRY
    • Cornering Stability 8.5
    • Dry Traction 9.0
    • Steering Response 8.5
    • WINTER/SNOW
    • Light Snow Traction 8.3
    • Deep Snow Traction 7.6
    • Ice Traction 7.0
    • COMFORT
    • Ride Quality 8.7
    • Noise 8.4
    • Treadwear 8 .4
     
    #11 Stevewoods, Nov 4, 2016
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  12. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    it happened to me alright. i put new purecontacts and went from 60 mpg on worn ecopias to 50 mpg. this is in suburban pulse and glide type of driving style. the hwy type of driving showed much smaller difference (and lower overall mpg too). i lerned that tire can ruin the delicate fuel efficiency balance if you try to hypermile.
    only recently i'm back to almost 60mpg with 40,000 miles on purecontacts.

    BTW, i bought the RT43 tires for my son's POS saturn a couple of months ago and i missed on that rebate. i paid $75 a piece at WMT. they seem solid, but he doesn't track his mpg, it's horrible anyhow (low 20's).
     
    #12 Former Member 68813, Nov 4, 2016
  13. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    My wife pruis had them not good tread life
     
    #13 kinglew, Nov 6, 2016
  14. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Could be your wife's driving or care of the tires, and not actually a problem with the tires themselves. This is the problem with one-off anecdotal evidence.
     
    #14 dolj, Nov 6, 2016
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  15. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Or could be the earlier models of the tire, which was infamous for poor treadlife They have seemed (cross fingers) to have solved that issue with this updated model.
     
    #15 Stevewoods, Nov 6, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2016
  16. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    Sorry they did not wear good rotations done alignment etc
     
    #16 kinglew, Nov 7, 2016
  17. lrisius

    lrisius Member

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    What kind of mileage did you get from them?
     
    #17 lrisius, Nov 7, 2016
  18. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    Mid 40 k
     
    #18 kinglew, Nov 11, 2016
  19. 09Prius2

    09Prius2 Member

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    Not going to get good treadlife in this size category unless you buy the higher end tires or tires with hard rubber. These budget tires that are affordable have softer rubber so they still offer decent traction, but you do lose some longevity.

    I had continental truecontacts before the bridgestone ecopias, and the continentals had to be replaced before they wore out for belt issues going out of balance. The ecopias also had to go for lack of wet traction even with good tread.
     
    #19 09Prius2, Nov 13, 2016
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  20. Coast Cruiser

    Coast Cruiser Senior Member

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    Thanks for the nice reports, Steve. I will pass on your information and opinion to my relatives in Seattle.
     
    #20 Coast Cruiser, Nov 14, 2016
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