Michelin Energy Saver, Goodyear Fuel Max or Bridgestone Ecopia?

That's debatable, and it wouldn't hurt. You might be right, but I would think without AC:

1. There's ultimately less demands on the engine.
2. The engine will have a little less excess heat to deal with.

 

Bisco,

The Energy Savers are relatively quiet when new. I have 40,000 miles on mine now and the noise is beginning to get bothersome. On highway trips I have to increase radio volume to overcome tire noise.

I love the mpg I get from the ES but my next set will probably be the Premier for the quietness.

 

i wonder what happens as the tread wears, could the rubber be harder? or maybe the pattern changes a bit.

 

I think both.

I've had similar noise increase with EP20. Maybe common?

 

not sure the oems could get any noisier.

 

The really good news is that today, there are so many ways to gain information on tires. Almost every online seller has user reviews, almost every manufacturer will give you their marketable take on their tires.

I'd read through this thread, pick 2 or 3...maybe 4 that sound interesting, then just start researching them online. A lot of big name tire sellers, offer personal ratings, and reviews of specific tires by buyers and owners.

Personally?
When I owned a Prius my logic was thus.
I had bought a Prius to be efficient and get great MPG. The idea of buying a tire that did not similarly support these same goals, seemed counter productive to Prius ownership.

But to be honest?
I didn't own the Prius long enough to have to look at getting new tires. But I believe my 1st priority would of been supporting good gas mileage.
After that? Overall quality. I don't go cheap on tires.

 

One odd thing about TireRack ratings: I see they have both Michelin Defender T+H, and the original Michelin Defender, in this rating class:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ST

The Defender T+H is at the top, and plain ol' Defender is well down. My sense though, and I could be wrong, but anyway: is that the 2 versions are VERY close. The tread pattern looks to be identical. And for me this begs the quesition: how much are the ratings swayed by herd mentality?

 

I need to pull the trigger on a new set of tires this week. I’ve been looking at the top rated ones listed here on tire rack and reading the reviews https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS&width=195%2F&ratio=55&diameter=16&tireSearch=true&filter=y&autoMake=Toyota&autoYear=2009&autoModel=Prius+Touring&autoModClar=

Now I will say this, the top rated tire in that listing is a Vredestein with no written consumer reviews so I am pretty much overlooking that one. I don’t ever see the Energy Saves A/S, I could only find a Energy Saver Summer which was odd and made me wonder if they replaced the Energy Saver A/S with the Premier A/S since it seems to show up more or if they just don’t make the size my 2009 Touring needs.

Does anyone have any experience with the Pirelli Cinturato P7 A/S Plus? I’m liking the TR reviews as well as the consumer reviews. One reviewer did say with his Prius V that his mileage fell 1-2mpg over OEM but that the tires are so much quieter and better traction that it’s worth it.

My short list at the moment is....
Michelin Premier A/S
Pirelli Cinturato P7
General AltiMAX RT43

 

Two very different tires. What's your tire size btw, it'll help responders.

What were the OEM's, did they say?

 

The stock 2009 Touring is P195/55R16 when I go to the Energy Saver A/S it says it’s not available for my tire size. According to Tire Rack it appears the closest size to stock for a Energy Saver A/S is 205/55/16...195 vs 205 is pretty close....that’s about .40 of an inch wider vs stock

No, that review didn’t say what the OEM tire was but it was a Prius V.

My main concern is good fuel economy, quite, wet braking/handling, long life. I’d like to get as close to $100 a tire as possible....$150 is stretching it, especially by the time I add $100 for mounting and balancing. At that point a $100 tire could be better even with sacrificed mpg because it’s saving $200 up front.

The Tire Rack test that shows the Energy Saver A/S as leading the pack for fuel economy was back in 2009! Surely some of the newer eco focused tires out now are compatible or better....but who knows, maybe not.

 

Sorry y'all my new/current tires are the GY Assurance all season 17".

I knew I was forgetting part of the name when I was posting earlier, but then I got into other stuff that needed my attention.


iPhone ?

 

It looks like there is a lot more options for a 205/55/16 and it’s barely any bigger than the OEM size so I’ll probably switch to that size. Here is some That look pretty promising.... https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS&width=205/&ratio=55&diameter=16&rearWidth=255/&rearRatio=40&rearDiameter=17

The Defender T+ H isn’t on that list because it’s standard touring and the list is for grand touring but from what I can compare and customer reviews on TR, it seems like it would rank between the Michelin Premier and Pirelli P7, eventhough for Prius folks it may not be a good choice because in the TR review it got worse mpg than a couple others that they compared against....so I’m thinking it’s not going to be setting any mpg records. The AltiMAX RT43 looks pretty good, not quite as good consumer ratings, but it has excellent wet characteristics and slightly better mpg than the Premier and P7 and it’s cheaper...I can live with a little lower dry performance to have better wet and mpg performance. I am now strongly considering the AltiMAX RT43, there are several consumer reviews from Prius owners that said the mpg didn’t go down compared to stock but that the noise and handling was greatly improved.

I wish there was some better data regarding mpg. I’d like to know how the mpg of any of these compares to the Energy Saver A/S

 

The more I look at the AltiMAX, I think I’m going to go with it....great for wet, looks to not ding the mpg, quiet, handles good, substantially less that $100 per wheel.

 

My Energy Savers kept getting noisier even though I was lowering air pressure to try to reduce the noise. It helped some.

I kept checking the wheel bearings for looseness and any bearing roughness. I could not feel anything.

I finally took it to my auto repair shop and they found the left rear bearing needed replacing. Now everything is nice and quiet again!!

 

I recently bought the Michelin Energy Savers....not the All Season version....on my 2015 Prius two.

I have gotten a lot more use out of all my tires when using 303 Protectant. I coated the inside of the tires and every three months I coat the outside including the tread and both sidewalls. Tires on my previous car....a Honda CRX HF, got over 175,000 miles on them with very little tread wear while using the 303 Protectant.

The Goodyear tires that came with the Prius were terrible. The Michelin Energy Savers ride so much better and are a lot more quiet.
I expect the tread on these tires to last as long as they did on my Honda. Everyone I see that use the 303 product have not had to replace tires due to tread wear and noise.

I did a lot of research on the Michelin tires and found that for the most part, everyone rated them pretty highly. Of course, your experience may be different from others....but I can say that the Michelin Energy Saver tires are a huge step up and if you take care of them, will last a long long time. Yeah, they are expensive but you get what you pay for.

 

Michelin PREMIER AS Total Performance. 15". 13,000 miles driven. Above average tread noise from day one. At all speeds. On all roads. Rebalancing and extra rotations didn't help.

I also read some reviews on Tire Rack, and a few complained about the Defender T+H being loud and hard-riding. (It may be the new rubber compound and silica that is making the Defender noisier.) So all the reviews are subjective. They are all over the map. Different kinds of vehicles allow more tire noise... and other vehicles will be quieter. And we don't know how those people drive, or if they check the tire pressure, or what kind of roads they drive on.

I don't put much weight in customer reviews. I think it's best to buy from a shop that allows you to exchange the tires within a specified time, without penalty, and try something else.

 

I think it's time for that review!

 

I will be looking into buying a set when I need to replace my OEM Dunlop, but since I purchased dedicated snow this winter, I can get another summer out of the Dunlop. It is likely next year I will be purchasing. I will keep eyes on a great sale this year.