I've had my 2008 for about 8 months and have only one real concern - it gets blown around a lot. I double checked tire pressure - no change, rotated tires - still blowin', asked the dealer - "nobody else complains" and "can't find nothin'..." The car isn't a touring - just a regular package 3, and the highway stability isn't great in the wind. Anybody had this problem? Is it fixable? Easily and cheaply or...? I'm happy, but if I could keep it pointed straight down the road when the wind blows, I'd be ecstatic! Help?
mjes - efusco has some good answers and I have a question. What kind of wind speeds are you having to deal with? I have not had my Prius very long, but I have not noticed any problems with this - even on some of the high bridges here in NE FL.
Are you running with Goodyear Integrity tires (the OEM tires). If so, replace them. That will help as much as anything. Tom
Alignment. http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/33373-2007-model-alignment-issues.html
Everything mentioned above can help. Just so you know, you are not imagining it. This is a known shortcoming of the car. A search of the archives will show numberless threads on this topic, always with some people who say they don't experience it on their cars and others who are driven crazy by it. Hence the creation of the BT Strut shown above.
I used to have that problem, too. It seems pretty common. Alignment's probably the place to start, partly because so many Prius seem to be delivered out of spec, and partly because it's the least expensive fix. Since installing the BT chassis brace and getting new tires, I've not had a problem. Another possibility, without any intention of saying it's all your fault, is the sensitive steering. If you're used to power steering with a 'dead spot' in the centre, you may be in the habit of moving the steering wheel back and forth. The Prius has an unusual combination of zero feedback and no 'play', which takes a bit of getting used to.
In a crosswind there is a lot of area in comparison to weight & tire contact. I grew up in south central Kansas, so used to lots of wind. My first long trip was headed north on I 35 with a 35 mph 330 degree crosswind & I was impressed with how well the car held the road & very little wind noise. ?? Relative I guess. I have put 195 X 60R 15 tires on mine since then & the difference is amazing. It is like a totally different car. I do have the stiffening plate & strut support to be installed, but expect it to improve handling also. The 60 series tires are close to 1/2" wider so you might lose 1-2 mpg. I am sitting on a half a tank today & averaging 51 mpg, so it isn't dramatic. The difference in handling, stability & braking IS significant. Hope this helps.
the first number (195) is the number related to the width of the tire. the second number (60) is sidewall height. i believe stock tires are 185/65? so it's the increase in width from 185 to 195 that improves your handling. your tires are also slightly smaller diameter than the stock tires, which may have a minute effect on odometer readings.(it's probably negligible though)
Hi Mjes, One vote here for the a chasis stiffening plate. World of difference in the controlability of the Prius in gusting cross-winds. Locking the steering wheel, from 1/3 of a lane laterall movement to a few inches. Back-end wiggle period and total time for the wiggles to subside greatly reduced with the plate.
I have to agree,when the OEM tyres [195/55 R16]expired,i replaced them with 205/55 R16,improved handling without a doubt.
Per Garmin GPS, appx one mph difference & 1 1/2 mph error at max. That's closer than most new cars of any make. You will give up a bit of mileage with the extra width/tire construction. After a couple thousand miles, you'll gain most of it back, but will probably be a slight decline. The stability, handling & braking differences are significant at the least & astounding is my best descriptive term.
A lot of really helpful comments. Thanks to all who responded. To summarize, first step is alignment and hope that my dealer is competent (there is some sobering chat about this in alignment discussions). Most seem to want to go with factory settings but there are some that believe in very small amount of toe-in. So, which is correct? Second is tires - eveyone agrees that the Integrity tires are crap (still baffled why Toyota and Honda both continue to put such poor OEM tires on their vehicles) and most seem to think that going incrementally wider to a 195x60x15 is a good thing too. What's the best tire - without regard to price (I think spending $25k on a car and worrying about $25/tire is...well, not what I worry about.) Finally, most everybody who has tried the brace says it helps too, but some seem to have solved the problem without it. So - factory spec on alignment? and what tires? Thanks again...mjes
Yes, factory spec on alignment. On my car, fixing the rear alignment made a huge difference w/r/t handling in crosswinds. A slight amount of toe in should theoretically give better stability, but I would still stay within the factory toe in spec.
"I've had my 2008 for about 8 months and have only one real concern - it gets blown around a lot. I double checked tire pressure - no change, rotated tires - still blowin', asked the dealer - "nobody else complains" and "can't find nothin'..." The car isn't a touring - just a regular package 3, and the highway stability isn't great in the wind. Anybody had this problem? Is it fixable? Easily and cheaply or...? I'm happy, but if I could keep it pointed straight down the road when the wind blows, I'd be ecstatic! Help?" I have trouble with instability in gusting side winds also, after reading your post and planning to replace oem tires Monday decided to build stiffening plate and install this weekend. 3/4" plate cut to 5" by131/2" and drilled to match oem plate took 30 mins and install 5 Mins max. Improvements in side winds were impressive and response to steering input improved. Will repost after new tires tomorrow.
My experience is that the original GY Integrity tires have very soft sidewalls which leads to poor highway stability, especially in the wind. It also accounts for many cases of premature tread wear via scrubbing the edges in hard turns. After 44.5k miles I put on Michelin MXV4+ tires which fixed all handling problems, improved traction somewhat and slightly increased my MPG (Lasted 55k miles). The Nokian WR tires I have now also have great handling and all-weather traction. They even get better MPG (over 4% better than the GYs). You can see my MPG records (143k miles as of now) by clicking on the "More Info" button in my signature. JeffD
Jeff, that is why I wanted to try plate before replacing tires, so I can compare one item at a time. mastermech
Sorry about posting on a different id all of us maintenance work off one computer and in my haste I forgot to change ID's. Had new tires installed, and went for a quiet smooth ride rather than max mileage. Got goodyear assurance comfort tred. they feel and sound good (quiet) which is a good thing with hearing loss. Mastermech.
Got around to implementing the good advice from this thread and others on this great site. First, the alignment was indeed off. It made a big difference right away. The dealer wanted to say it was the bad Ohio roads, and they are indeed lousy, but I think that the alignment was off from the beginning. Second, got around to replacing the tires. After a lot of reading, mostly on this site, I went with a 16x7 ASA AR1 wheel and Michelin Primacy MXV's size 205x55. See attachments. The 17's were tempting because of the looks but I wanted ride and handling and to minimize mileage loss - so went with the 16's. I'm happy and the results are great. The handling again improved a lot - and the sensitivity to crosswinds is (almost entirely) gone. The ride is much better - smoother, quieter, less squirmy. After about 1k no mileage change and the speedometer reads just a couple tenths slow, as opposed to a full mph fast from the factory. Plan to drive it awhile, consider the crossbrace replacement. Appreciate all the help. Lots of great Prius people out there. Thanks.
