Michelin Hydroedge or Goodyear Comfortred

There have been a number of threads about tires--just do a search on Hydroedge and you'll see plenty o' chat!

That being said, Consumer Reports' 11/05 rating of tires had other options that you could try--I got a set of X-Radials at Costco, and I've been very satisfied with them (more highly rated than Hydroedge, and very quiet). Yes, lots of owners here are very happy with Hydroedge, but most acknowledge the noise problem. TripleTred is rated higher than both of those tires, but you'd need to go to a 195/60 instead of 185/65 in order to get close to the correct # of revolutions.

Also, check out John's website:

http://john1701a.com/

Click on the Prius Info link, and then on Tires H.

 

I use HydroEdge tires. I've never used the Comfortread so I cannot compare them. But just off the top of my head, if the names are any indication, the HydroEdge is designed for handling when there's water on the road, and the Comfortread is designed for a comfortable ride.

Personally, I'd rather have safety than comfort.

 

The stock Integritys are perfectly fine.

 

I disagree with jamarimutt. In my opinion, the OEM tires are noisy and have low traction in dry conditions and almost no traction in wet conditions. If the HydroEdge could be shown to be safer than the ComforTred tires, I could agree with Daniel, but both tires are superior to the OEM tires.

There are TONS of tire discussions on PC. And there is no one best tire. It depends on your driving style and location, and how much you want to spend and how long you want the tire to last (treadwear).

One consideration not previously mentioned in this thread is rolling resistance. The one thing the OEM tires have is low rolling resistance (LRR). Both HydroEdge and ComforTred have higher rolling resistance, so you may lose a few MPG compared to the OEMs. I think the Michelin SVX from Costco are LRR, so that may be a good choice too. I had them on my Camry and liked them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(terkar @ Dec 29 2006, 03:08 PM) [snapback]368350[/snapback]</div>

A place you might start:

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=21271&hl=

We've had our 195/60TR15 ComforTreds for about 2,000 miles and couldn't be happier. We keep them at 40/38, so the ride isn't all that smooth, but it's better than the Integrity. I've only had a couple of chances to drive in snow and ice, but the results have been encouraging. They are great in rainy weather; I haven't had any of the awful handling that I noticed with the Integrities.

Personally, I can't understand why someone would recommend that you keep the original tires.

 

I'v egot the comfortreds and they'be been great for me, but there's little to no rain here in southern california. the few times it has rained, i have noticed better traction than the integrities but i do not know how it compares the hydroedges. The comfortreds are noticeably quieter than the integrities.

 

ComforTreads Here

I put up with the Integrities for 15,000 miles and I should have changed much sooner. I wanted less road noise and a smoother ride and that's exactly what I got with the ComforTreads, under all driving conditions. Rain is a big issue here in South Florida and I definitely got improved highway speed traction at my 60 to 75 MPH driving range.

The Integrities are such crap (shame on Toyota) just about any tire will be an improvement. There may be a better option than the ComforTreads for agressive driving, but I don't abuse my Prius and I'm really happy with the performance of my new tires.

Also, Bill Merchant is right about the good Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) profile of the Integrities. After 5,000 miles on the ComforTreads, I'm averaging a 2 MPG drop from the Integrities. With such a huge investment in HSD technology over the past decade, I can't believe Toyota didn't strong arm one of the major tire manufacturers into designing a ComforTread type riding profile in a LRR design.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vincent @ Dec 31 2006, 04:06 AM) [snapback]368893[/snapback]</div>

I'm guessing Toyota put the lowest rolling-resistance tire it could find on the Pius in order to get the EPA mileage numbers. And as for "strong-arming" a tire company into designing a LRR tire with the ride characteristics of the ComforTread, note that when the '04 was introduced, Toyota expected very moderate sales (not much of an incentive for a tire company to invest a lot of R&D) and there may be basic engineering trade-offs between rolling resistance and the characteristics that we want in a tire (noise, handling, comfort).

Toyota should have put the best available tires on the Prius. But it's probably unrealistic to demand something better than the existing choices.

 

My wife's car is a Camry and we replaced her OEM's with Goodyear ComforTreads. The day after we did that we needed to go to a concert in Milwaukee which is about 30 miles away. That night there was terrible snow storm but we went anyway. I was driving and I have to tell you I have never experienced better handling in snow and slush. I was so impressed that when we purchased the Prius I replaced the OEM's with the ComforTread and have had the same experience on the Prius that we had on the Camry. The ComforTread is an awesome tire. It is very quiet which complements the Prius when running on electric power. I have nothing but good comments about the ComforTread. It is rated for 80,000 miles. Works for me.

Cheers

 

Comfort treads here. Great choice.

As far as the '04's, Toyota has stood by their car by great quality, and TSB's where there were problems. HOWEVER...as stated above the OEM tires were well below standards, and also many of us have experienced unhappiness with the premium stereo...some not caring for the sound quality and some experiencing problems with the reception. I hope both of these areas are improved by the time a plug in Prius is available.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 30 2006, 02:32 AM) [snapback]368525[/snapback]</div>

I agree w/ both of you and equally say sorry jamarimutt. We blew thru the stock tires in record time & are getting TWICE the mileage / parformance out of our michelin replacements.

 

We put the comfortreds on a couple of months ago. We've noticed a difference of about 5mpg lower in result of the new tires. Is this normal with others' experience?

 

Had hydroedges on my saturn
put them on my prius ASAP and gave away the stock tires....

that was my only real complaint about the dealer- they would not do a thing about the tires even though I made my request when I ordered the car......

come on now- i know there are alot of other hydroedge fans here!!!!

 

Immediately following a very scarey ride in the rain at about 45k miles with the OEM tires, I switched to the HydroEdge that day. What a difference, couldn't be happier. Now at 114k on the odo and still plenty of tread I'm not even feeling bad about the price anymore!

 

I have had the Hydroedge on my 06 prius for 13k now and am happy. Great traction wet or dry, lower road noise then the stock tires, and less then 2 mpg hit. Yes they cost a little more but what is your safety worth???

 

Hydroedges here. I've got over 50,000 on them, and they're still going great. Very secure on wet roads. I haven't driven these in snow yet, so I can't comment on that. They are relatively noisy, and I did take about a 2 mpg hit. For me, safety far outweighs noise or mpg.

 

Why not consider other Michelins?

Just switched from the Comfortred to another Michelin choice, Pilot Exalto A/S. Had 37,000 miles of assertive mixed-use driving (highways, steep hills, country roads, rainy winters with the occasional freeze) on the Comfortreds and although I was happy with them, wanted to push for more stability when being passed by 18 wheelers on the freeway and better cornering in wet conditions.

Initial impressions, after about 125 miles on the Pilots in all the above conditions, plus a hard freeze:
• I'm not sure it's fair to compare evenly-worn-but-old tires with brand spanking new tires. The new Pilots are certainly riding better than my old Comfortreds.
• I feel like cornering and road stability are improved, and
• highway acceleration feels smoother/dreamily easy. (A complicating factor here is that after much reading on the forums I decided to get wider tires – 205’s instead of 185’s. So it makes sense to me that acceleration would be better.)
• Slightly more road noise than Comfortreds
• Mileage seems to be down about 2 miles per gallon at a pressure of 40 front 38 back. I expect that to improve as they get a few miles on them.

So far, my vote is definitely for the wider Pilots.

Why I decided to get the Pilot Exaltos instead of the Hydroedge:
• comments in these forum
• great review in Consumer Reports November 2006
• Tread life is less important to me; although money is important, an extra several hundred dollars over the life of the car is a great investment for that all-important factor: where the car actually meets the earth
• all things considered, I felt they were the best blend of all-terrain/all weather (except snow), good feel, stable, great cornering, assertive driving tire.

I'll post back later when I've got a few thousand miles on them.