Prius Prime - OE Tire life and other recommended tires

Yes, my Dunlop OEM seems to be doing much better than Bridgestone Ecopia EP20 OEM tires that came on my previous Gen3. That lasted only ~20K miles for me. It is certain that YMMV.

 

I also had Ecopia's on my 2010. They were so good, I bought them as my OEM replacements on the 2010. They were great tires for me. Sold the car with slightly over 100K and it only had two sets of tires.

 

My 2015 Gen3 was traded in at ~36K, but had 3 sets of tires including OEM Ecopia EP20 and replacement Ecopia EP422Plus. Oh, if I include a set of winter tires, in less than 36K, I bought 4 sets of tires for that car. As I said, YMMV.

 

I had 3 sets of tires on our 2010 with 200k miles when we sold it in April.

The last set I put on it were Bridgestone Turanza Serenities and they wore well. Put them on at 120k and they still had at least 5/32nds left at 200k.

Once these stock Toyos fade away, I’ll be putting the Turanzas on our Prime.

 

The conditions that relate to tread wear include operator driving habits...quick starts & stops and brisk cornering wears the rubber faster. Low inflation pressure wears the rubber faster. Heavier car loads or high speeds wear the rubber faster. Even the abrasiveness of the aggregate (gravel) used in the pavement in certain regions wears the rubber faster.

 

After 17,000 miles I had to dump the Michelin Energy Savers. I never really liked them because of poor rolling efficiency and other reasons but one developed a pin hole in the inside side wall with no apparent cause, and they've been discontinued. Replaced with my fourth set of Bridgestone Ecopia 422 Pluses, which I've loved every time before.

 

Our experience was similar. The OEM Dunlop Enasave 01's went 42,000mi (4mm tread remaining, and still stopped well in rain) when we changed them out - no problems. Got several mpg above EPA over their life which included 2 coast-to-coast trips at 80mph, the rest was a mix of around town with some freeway.

 

Yeah, I had Dunlop Enasave on my 2017 PP. I had them a little over 30K miles before I sold the car. It was down to 4-5/32 by then, but still getting very good mileage. I liked Dunlop better than BS Ecopia EP20 or 422Plus which came as OEM tires on my Gen3 and on 2020 PP respectively. It was probably the most fuel-efficient, although I really can't compare EP20 on Gen3 to PP. But the Dunlop was not the most comfortable or quietest tire. My winter set of Micheline X-ice3 was actually more comfortable and quiet and they did not lose mpg.

I have Dunlop Enasave on my current 2021 PP again as OEM tires. I don't know if I will be keeping this car long enough to be needing replacement tires. But, the thing about Dunlop Enasave is that if buying as replacement tires, they are not cheap. They are currently at $125/tire at TireRack. I know I can find cheaper tires with better characteristics (quieter, more comfortable, and similar mileage), so it will not be my first choice for the replacement unless I find them on sale at a lower cost.

 

This is strange. Michelin's "flag ship" fuel economy tire?

About 2.5 years back I went from our well-worn OEM (17") Michelin PIlot HX MXM4, to Michelin Primacy MXM4, and had a punishing mpg drop, especially for the first few tanks. Both tires had the "Green-X" badge on sidewall.

And yeah, I know: new tires have bigger OD's, softer rubber, deeper tread, and so on. But I have had experiences, got new tires, and they were great, never skipped a beat in the mpg department. Anyway:

Maybe quality control issues: tires made in different factories, manufacturers cutting corners on inspections, losing control of their sub-contractors??

 

My Ecopia 422 Plus's are way better on rolling resistance, not slippery on dry, better in the snow and just as quiet. However, they typically don't last anywhere near their rated range of 70,000 miles. More like 25,000.

 

I have the Ecopia 422s on my PP as original equipment. I got 40,000 miles out of them. I'm waiting to get 4 new Ecopia 422s at Costco.
I expect the new tires to perform the same as the original equipment tires, decent fuel mileage and adequate performance.
I have no reason to expect the tires were updated over the passed 5 years.
Any difference of opinion on this?

 

Probably no updated versions. But be aware that the one you get from Costco is most likely not the same tire as the OEM Ecopia 422 plus you have on now. There are at least three known iterations of EP422 plus for the US market. The OEM version that comes with the new PP is made in Japan version, I believe 5 ribs but not sure. Two others are made in the US and made in Mexico and have different tread patterns and specs. TireRack currently lists all three different versions of EP422Plus for 195/65R15 size. They have different prices and specs in addition to the tread pattern (91H, 640AA made in US), (91S,600AA made in JP), (91H,540AA made in MX). They are similar in characteristics, but certainly not the same tires.





I once ordered a pair of EP422Plus and ended up with two versions of different thread patterns. For that reason alone, I do not like EP422Plus as aftermarket tires. Also, the one I got did not last anywhere close to the advertised tread warranty of 70K miles, but that is not anything different for some other make and models.

 

Bridgestone should wise up regarding this; it’s similar to having one part number for different parts.

 

Not trying to defend BS, but other tire manufactures do the same thing. I have seen the same Conti tire model name but have different specs. Maybe not different tread patterns, but certainly some with different load limits. Tire Rack is very good at displaying the spec of the tires they sell, but many tire shops often do not specify the spec clearly.

 

I got 40K miles out of the OEM Ecopia EP422 plus. I replaced them with the Bridgestone Turanza Quiettrack (80K miles). The difference is "night & day". The Quiettrack is noticeably quieter, smoother, handles better, and feels more planted on the road. Costco is offering a $150 rebate on a set of four. Amazing tires!!!!

 

Wow, nice. With all other charges minus the discount, it's $473 for a set of 4. Almost makes me wish I needed new tires. I still have the OEM Ecopias on mine, and they are OK but a little noisy and rough though the economy seems good. I only have a little over 15K miles over almost 3.5 years (thanks, COVID), but I'm always looking out to see what my next of tires might be.

 

A tire shop mounted one of my Michellin X-Tour A/S inside out, after they corrected I found less noise. So check yours, it's showing inside/outside on the tire wall.