15 " tires vs 17" for ride comfort

My new v has the 17" tires and it is VERY smooth compared to my 2007 Prius with the 15". The entire car is just more quite and smooth. I love it. Not sure about how long the 17's are going to last since I only have 300 miles , but in my 07 I needed tires every 35K miles. I was surprised to see how fast it ate the OEM tires.

 

With everything else being equal...More air between the road and the seat of your pants means a softer ride. Just changing the air pressure in your tires makes a difference in the ride. We drove a V and IV and could feel the difference but both were acceptable, we just wanted a sunroof.

 

Hey, you caught the Prius v forum, so check out the Gen III forum. But, yes, the 17" wheels, tires have firmer ride. 15" tires have nice ride so get those. I'll bet the 17's wear out a bit quicker than 15s also.

Other thing is the 17" tires cost a LOT more than the 15's. You're looking probably $180 / tire for 17s vs. about $110 for 15s. Plus you lose maybe 4 MPGs or so with the 17s.

 

I have been driving my Prius v for about 6 weeks and quite honestly it does not ride nearly as well as my 2007 Prius and I am quite disappointed. At highway speeds (65-70mph) the car vibrated pretty much continuously. I have tried changing the tire pressure to no avail. I cannot figure how any test driver would consider the ride to be smooth by any measure.

 

The car should not be vibrating at any speed. You either have a bad tire, unbalanced tire of your description is not accurate. The ride with 17s is harsher than 15s in general but it is not going to cause vibrations on an otherwise smooth road.

 

My v wagon runs smooth at highway speeds. No problems yet. Only had it a week and loving it.

 

FYI the v (wagon) will not fit 15 inch tires due too the large rear disc brake.

 

Just moved from a 2008 Prius to a 2012 Prius V for the extra space and SofTex interior. What has been disappointing, though, is the ride. It literally feels like I am driving on stone wheels. It does well on the highway, but city driving literally makes me feel nauseas. Could there be something wrong with this particular car, or is this radical difference par for the course. Love Toyota. Love the Prius family. Hate the fact that I didn't do more city driving before buying this car. Really disappointed ... and not sure I'm gonna be able to keep this car.

 

My V rides like it's gliding along the road. Very smooth! I can't even imagine it being smoother.

 

Have you tried changing the wheels to the 16" to see if those are better for you?

 

My v rides significantly better than my 2011 prius. The longer wheelbase and 17 inch tires make a huge difference in comfort.


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I have 16's on my Prius v level 2. I have not driven any other Prius, but I'm satisfied with the ride.

I wonder if the actual outside diameter of the wheel and the tire are near the same diameter, or if the speedometer or the odometer has to be reprogrammed, when switching wheels.

I bought the level 2, because I did not want the Etune system, the LED headlights, the moon roof or eh 17 inch wheels. When it comes to technology, I'm just a "troglodyte." I still use a handheld cell phone with no BlueTooth and a plug in GPS.

While the 17 inch wheels add a neat fashonable look to the car, they are like a woman with a love-hate relationship with stilleto spike heels. They might look good, but they are not that comfortable to wear all day.

 

Guess it depends on people. Course, since I never driven any of the Prius cars except my Prius v, I have nothing to judge it from. I have driven a Ford Taurus, a Toyota Avalon 2009 and a Nissan Sentra (96) and I am sort of used to the Sentra (As it was my old car) and the Taurus, Avalon and my Prius v was harder for me to judge speed where as my sentra, I had a rough idea based on how the car is. The ride for the Prius v, to me, seems smoother and only one part of the highway, I sort of notice a bigger difference in sound, but beyond that, the ride is not too bad and I am on 17" wheels and no idea on tire pressure.

 

What is your tire pressure set at?

You always have the option of switching to the OEM 16" wheels. I'm sure someone would trade you in a heartbeat!

 

My suggestion would be to either find another v to ride with a friend or test drive an exact model (same size wheels) to compare. We have a v5 and v3 and I can't tell he difference between the two in ride quality. We are both running the tire pressure from the dealership. The car does ride bumpier and with more road noise than my van but I expected that. W

 

Sorry to say we have been similarly disappointed. We test drove the prius V a couple of times and chose the Five model for seat warmers and SofTex interior .It comes standard with lower profile 17"wheels, (tires on ours are Toyo Proxes A20 215/50-17). But when driving on rougher roads around downtown Los Angeles found the ride jostling and rough compared to our other 2007 prius Touring. Maybe the movement is magnified by the car's height. I do not know if the suspension on the five version is the same or different from the two and three versions that have smaller 16" wheels with 205/60-16 tires. Swapping out the 17" wheels for the 16" wheels on the less expensive Prius v model may improve the ride somewhat. We will probably do it but are not sure that it will really solve the problem. Understand that the experience we are having has little to do with " road feel " which can be a good thing. I think that Toyota probably needs to tweak something with the shocks or suspension on this car.

 

We have driven our v on a Forest service road, oil matted some asphalt stretches, bumpy with lots of curves, we drive a lot on country roads and some on the interstate and have no complaints. There is no shimmy or vibrations, my wife loves to push it on the twisty back roads (I think she dreams of being Danica Patrick) and it handles surprisingly well. Gotta watch for those sudden dips though, Lol.

 

I've had my Prius v with 17" for 4 months now (2,500 miles) and it rides very smooth compared to my last car, a Mazda 3. Unfair comparison, I know. Should also note that I got a flat the first week I had the car (under 100 miles). Took a nail right into my right-rear tire. Dealer was very sympathetic and fixed it for free. Not sure that is any indicator of the 17" quality.