All season tires for curvy mountain roads

I would be thankful for some tire advice from fellow mountain drivers.

A couple of months ago we bought a used 2010 Prius (21K miles) with stock Yokohama tires, which at the time were in good shape with plenty of tread. Now, after about 5000 miles of 50/50 mountain/freeway driving (at ~40 psi), the front tires in particular are showing substantial shoulder wear, and the rear tires to a lesser extent. Assuming a tire rotation, the stock tires could not last us much more than a total of 10K miles. This is not unheard of where we live. The Prius replaces a Honda Pilot SUV, on which the stock tires barely lasted 20K miles before being replaced with a set of Michelins that lasted much longer.

Yesterday my father-in-law drove our Prius over a rock on the road and destroyed one of the front tires, so I am actually thinking about replacing all four tires with a model that maximizes tread life on curvy roads and handles decently on snow and ice. Snow tires would not be appropriate due to the substantial amount of off-mountain, low elevation, warmer weather driving that we do as well. We have "Hercules Ultra Touring TR" tires on our Pontiac Vibe AWD (recommended by our local mountain mechanic), and they seem to fit the bill. Unless anyone has better recommendations, I might simply buy the same tires for the Prius. Another possibility would be to change just the front tires.

Finally, there is the issue of rolling resistance. We did buy the Prius to maximize fuel efficiency. But I do accept that we may need to take a small hit in fuel efficiency if we want our tires to last more than 10 K miles.

 

Thanks, and Happy New Year, to those who offered advice. I will inquire about adjusting the camber.

Of the recommended tires, the Nokian WRG2s look the most promising to me. However, my main concern is that their UTQG treadwear rating (420) is not as high as I'd prefer. (The Hercules Ultra Touring TR tires are rated at 620-A-B and seem to perform just fine on our other car.) Perhaps treadwear would be less of an issue with the camber adjusted, though.

Also, what would be the main benefit of upgrading to 17 inch wheels? I am wondering if that would be worth the cost. I assume it would be necessary to reconfigure the car's computer for larger wheels.

 

I think I'll stick with the 15 inchers then. Compared to other vehicles I've owned, I think the current handling is pretty good. And I'm inclined to optimize fuel efficiency wherever I reasonably can.

 

Thank you. The Goodyear AFM tires are apparently rated better in terms of tread wear and traction than the Yokohama tires that came with our car. Treadwear (UTQG 540) is also significantly better than the Nokians. Maybe I should have shopped for a Prius that came with Goodyears!