Need new sneakers for my Prius, looking for recommendations.

if you want the quietest, smoothest, best riding, best mpg's, go with michelin energy saver a/s. they don't come cheap, but are fabulous. i replaced my oems around 45,000. only one was bad, but i'd been salivating over the michelins and swapped all four. all the best!

 

Good to hear your opinion on those. I had limitted opporunity, driving an 06 Civic Hybrid, from North Coquitlam out to YVR, with freshly put on Defenders, Costco's XT itereation. Was able to push the fuel consumption down impressively (for a near-knackered Civic Hybrid); the tires felt "well behaved", easy rolling, planted.

I think we're all a little chauvinistic in our picks, depending on our purchases or current favourites. We like to think we made the "right" choice. I would peg the Defender as a "goldilocks" choice.

 

Nike sneakers are not bad

 

Thanks to all for those recommendations. Just to be clear, are the Michelin "Energy Saver" AS and the Michelin "Premier" AS the same tire? Thank you.

 

No.

C' mon, being a resident of cyberspace, you should be able to check that out.

 

premier are a bit lower on the scale. we had to put them on my wife's hycam, cause they don't make the e/s in her size. a very nice tire nonetheless. quiet, smooth, and no drop in mpg's.

 

Yup to this. I've never been more satisfied with a tire. Except for maybe the x-Ice 2 and 3's in the winter!

 

I love my Defenders. I had Michelin Energy A/S before the Defenders and didn't get 20K miles out of them. They road nice and were quiet but they didn't wear as well as they should have based on the price I paid for them.

My recommendation is get a set of Defenders.

 

My five came with Bridgestone 17" as OE .. we got almost 90k out of them .. replaced with Michelin Premier A/S. MPG dropped a bit after the switch. Just replaced them at 85+k.

Both sets had not reached the bars.

Have been using Continental tires recently on my cars -- Went with True Contact 215/45R-17 ... nice tire .. we have about 5k on them. I'm not thinking I need the tires to last 90k

 

Your secret's safe with me.

 

I recently switched from the original Bridgestone Ecopia EP20s to Bridgestone Turanza Serernity Plus. I wanted a quieter and better-riding tire that had decent wet/snow performance, and the Turanzas apparently fit the bill. The Ecopia EP420s had underwhelming reviews, and the Costco tire rep said that they were basically a replacement for the EP20s. Since I didn't really enjoy the EP20s overall, I ponied up a few more shekels for the Turanzas.

So far, not bad.
- They're definitely quieter on the highway. The Ecopias brought a roaring tire noise that didn't help the Prius' intrinsic lack of overall soundproofing. With the Turanzas, I only really hear wind noise and sounds from passing vehicles now.
- Definite improvement ride-wise. Whereas the Ecopias tended to magnify the Prius' stiff suspension settings, the Turanzas provide a nice supple cushion, and turn the Prius into a true comfortable touring car over all but the worst roads (which we have plenty of in NYC area, unfortunately).
- Handling-wise, I'm undecided. I actually enjoyed the Ecopias' handling, possibly because I was used to them after 40K miles. Breakaway slides for the Ecopias were predictable and controllable in dry conditions, and I could drive them quite sportily and enthusiastically (with some counter-steering too!). The only negative was the snow performance. The Turanzas, on the other hand, felt a bit too soft over the initial 200 miles, especially in terms of sidewall bend. I felt no confidence in pushing the Turanzas initially, but I am feeling more confident now. They do seem to have better initial bite than the Ecopias, which tended to understeer a bit. They're definitely not sports tires, that's for sure.

Overall, I would say the Turanzas are a huge improvement. The only true negative is that the Turanzas supposedly contribute to lower mpgs, though I haven't found that to be the case so far.

 

What's the "claim to fame" with the defender ... they don't come in the 17" size. My ongoing problem with M tires is they are made with harder rubber and don't work as well in the rain. We get a lot of rain the the mid Atlantic

 

Replaced stock Goodyear Assurances (2014 PiP) with Michelin Energy Savers, which may be summers or A/Ss (hard to tell for reasons). I actually spent over 3 months hunting for the A/Ss but Michelin has had a shortage of them in my Prius size (195/65r15) for a looong time. For the longest time, Costco had the summers but I kept holding out for the A/Ss. I've always gotten Defenders in the past on our family's previous cars ('94 Camry, '97 Avalon, '98 Sienna), but since the Prius, wanted to try optimizing for MPG first this time instead of treadwear. (Wasn't impressed with the stocks which started wearing out around the 48k -50k mark for a 65k mi tire an' wasn't about to get the same for the warranties.)

Finally did some research on the optimal temp ranges for the tire compounds and, given that I drive in weather/climate that's almost always above 45F (7C), I actually should've gone for the summer tires when they were available, which Costco had just sold out 2 weeks before my realization and even delisted for locations in my area. Pushed the Assurances to 52k and they were just past replacement depth and I was driving much more carefully as I started to notice a couple instances of tire slip indicator occasionally flashing in rain.

Costco finally got what they listed as Energy Saver A/S but when I checked their Michelin ID numbers, were the same as for their summer (and all the other tire distributors were listing the same ID as summer), so got 'em, albeit at almost full retail during the period when Michelin's $70 off promotion had ended and the most recent one hadn't started.

Put around 3k mi on 'em so far, so I need to do some calcs to see if both MPG has ticked up enough as some of the numbers I've heard and tread is wearing faster or slower than expected.