Goodyear Integrity Tires

Hi Marvin,

I got my Prius on February 13, 2007. You might remember that the very next day (Valentine's Day) in NYC Metro, we got a snow blizzard, and subsequently got quite a bit of snow for the remainder of the winter. I still had the Integrities on the car during this month or so of snow. I can report that the Integrities performed OK -- not good/great (like the Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds I now have on my car) -- just OK, i.e., I was able to get by.

My assessment of the Integrities in snow more or less matches those of TireRack.com customers. In this regard, you might want to take a look at the TireRack.com Customer Survey of Passenger All Season tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresult...lay.jsp?type=AS

I too was reluctant to get better tires while the mediocre Integrities still had tens of thousands of miles of wear left on them. It's an individual call. But eventually I did get the TTs in July 2007. I figured that during the best years (the early years) of the life of the Prius, why not have good or great performing tires on the car? I don't regret my decision one bit. I just mentally wrote off the Integrities as a loss, and viewed the $450 to buy the TTs as a small price to pay for much better performing tires over the course of 80,000 or so miles.

Anyway, it's your call. But I hope this helps. Good luck.

P.S.: If you decide to keep the Integrities, you will have A LOT of company. Notwithstanding the criticism of the OEM Integrities or the Touring Edition's OEM Turanzas that you see on this board, I would guess that 95-99% of new Prius owners (and all new car owners) keep the OEM tires on their cars until they wear or blow out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marvinh @ Oct 27 2007, 11:59 AM) [snapback]531196[/snapback]</div>

Just replaced my Integries with 61,000 miles and have had 3 Southeast Michigan winters with no probems. Bought Costco's BFG Touring as replacement tires. Hope this helps

 

Same experience with Integrity last year. I was able to get out after snow storm and got to work or anywhere I needed to go.

I made a video of getting out of 6-8 inches? (I don't remember) snow.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8046782958239824369

 

I replaced mine before our first winter. The way they handled on wet pavement and gravel convinced me I didn't want to try them in a northern Michigan winter.

Tom

 

Hello Marvinh. To answer your question, I have the stock Integrity tires on my car. I've been through two winters with a third on the way...over 18,000 miles on the car. The Integrities have let me get through the winter just fine. Just realize that these tires do not have the traction of snow tires and I agree with most posters on here that there are better all season tires with traction closer to that of a true snow tire. But like anything, it's a tradeoff between economy and performance. If you're a reasonably careful driver here in NY and you leave plenty of space between you and other vehicles, then you should be OK. My experience is that with NY snow clearing, I cannot justify snow tires, nor am I anxious to throw away perfectly good tires that the manufacturer has employed on the car. With Toyota's focus on safety and reducing their liability, I think that they would not equip the car with tires that result in unsafe performance under the road conditions that buyer's are likely to experience. Just keep in mind that Integrities are not performance-oriented tires and drive sensibly with respect to road conditions--you'll do fine.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marvinh @ Oct 27 2007, 11:59 AM) [snapback]531196[/snapback]</div>

 

I purchased my Prius this summer. Like you I was concerned about the handling in the winter. I read all of the critical posts regarding the stock tires. After considerable research I decided I'd rather be on the safe side and spend the money to replace the tires. I live in upstate NY and the roads can be bad at times in the winter. I decided on Nokians 195/60 15 based on the things I was reading. I was however concerned about ditching the stock tires with only 3500 miles on them. The point of this post is that I called about a couple of independent tire dealers in the area. I found one who said they could probably give me a trade in on my old ones. As it turns out they were confident they could resell them as used and they gave me a $250 trade in! I was stunned. I was just delighted they wouldn't end up in a dump and hoped they might give me $10 a tire. Never expected this.
So, if you have low miles on the stock tires call around and see if you can get a trade in. You might be surprised.
BTW: I love the Nokians. No snow yet put they were put to the test in a couple of torential downpours we've recently had. I was on the highway both times. No hydroplaning whatsoever. These tires totally changed the car's handling on both wet and dry pavement. I would do it again even without a trade in.
Patrick

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Patrick55 @ Oct 28 2007, 02:07 PM) [snapback]531617[/snapback]</div>

That's great! It's about the price of the Integrities brand new, let alone with 3500 miles of wear!

I ended up donating my 1000 miles Integrities to my new tire installer/mechanic, a very small business owner (an endangered species in prime Manhattan).