Flat tire

After reading this thread, I feel like I am living on borrowed time in my 2016 Prius with Toyo tires.

No tire problems to date, car is 16 months old with nearly 15,000 miles. The Toyo's seem to perform fairly well, however I notice excessive tire noise and road noise. Even on smoother pavement.

Inflation pressure is +2 over factory specs. Anything higher than that and the ride was too harsh, for me. The Toyo tires create quite a loud "hum" and rumble. It's very irritating. I may end up getting the Defenders sooner than I had planned.

 

The rear tires are more susceptible to nails and screws. They lie flat on the road until the front tire hits them, launching them into the air. Sometimes when the rear tire gets to them they are pointy side up. DItto for other hazardous road debris. Find the Youtube video of the manhole cover that the front wheel tipped up on edge in time for the cover to flip the car over! Sometimes it's your day.

The main problem is being "trapped" in a dangerous position on the road. It may just better to trash a tire moving to a safer place. A tire is less expensive than a car, and your life is priceless!

 

AAA towing has 3 different levels. Basic one is less than 10 miles I think. I learned in a hard way a few years ago we had to tow my daughter's car for 40 miles that costs us a few hundred bucks it's like $13 buck each mile over the basic. So we upgraded to the Plus level it's like $130 each year for two of us. There is another level up costs more, for me 100 miles tow should be good enough for anywhere in the So Cal region.

 

What a lot of rigamarole tho: if Toyota would get show some of their cosmetic "designers" the door, and get a few more engineers, maybe they could get a temp spare in there. And get the hatch floor level, while on a break...

You had a spare, but are reluctant to take it along, because, well: there's precious little space left in the hatch as it is, and the dang thing could turn into a projectile in a crash.

 

Henri, America's Tire website shows two different types of Michelin defender.

Defender A/S 90,000 Mi $108
Defender T+H 80,000 Mi $110
(195-65R-15)

What does the T+H mean ?

Edit: I think I found it. One has a higher speed rating. Please post again after you get the new tires and let us know how you like them. You certainly can't go wrong with the mileage warranty. And I am also interested in knowing if the Defenders are QUIETER. My noisy Toyo tires are driving me crazy. But maybe my regular Prius is overall just more loud than your Prime Prius.

 

Michelin Defender T+H Tires | Michelin USA

Defender T+H is the newer version. I can't find what the initials mean. It does have an H speed rating vs. T for the old Defender. While I'll never drive at the 130 mph H speed rating limit, it does require better internal tire construction which I value, especially the cap ply.

The Michelin chat person said, "If you are looking for mileage I recommend Defender, if you are looking for comfort and extreme wet traction we recommend the Premier." I think she meant tread life, not gas mileage. I'd pick the comfort and wet traction for my driving.

 

It is interesting how tire quality seems to correlate so directly to getting flats.
You'd think all tires, even cheaper ones, would be pretty resistant to getting flats.

But years ago, I had a new Nissan Pick-Up, and I forget the brand of tires on it from the dealership. But for some reason, those tires would pick-up nails, screws, debris..whatever and get a flat.
Even thought they were factory OEM's....they were so new, the tread looked so good, I kept suffering, hoping or thinking it was just bad luck every time I got a flat.
After about the 3rd or 4th flat in nearly as many months, I finally just gave up and had "Good" tires put on.
I remember the guy at the tire shop being incredulous, and telling me how I didn't need new tires because there was plenty of life left on my original set.
At that point I didn't care. Once I bought better tires...the flats stopped.

 

IIRC the new Defender T&H have lower mileage warranty?

New and not improved?

 

At America's Tire shop:

The Energy Saver is the most expensive, and has a 50,000 mile warranty. $143

The Premier A/S is the next most expensive, and has a 60,000 mile warranty. $123

The Defenders, $110, have the longest mileage warranty of 80,000 miles. (supposedly).

I agree with PT Guy. Comfort and wet traction are very important. And for me, also quietness. I am hoping to get 20,000 miles out of my Toyo tires before they turn into the "Nanocrappers" that Henri describes.

 

Ok, found this at Tire Rack: Michelin Defender T+H | 195/65R15

• Size: 195/65R15
• Sidewall Style: Blackwall
• Serv. Desc: 91HLoad Index 91= 1356lbs (615kg) per tire
  Speed Rating “H”= 130mph (210kph)"
• UTQG: 820 A B - tread wear 820, traction A (best), temperature range B
• 832 revs per mile

​

So compared to the NANOENERGY A29 tire: Toyo NanoEnergy A29 | P195/65R15

• Size: P195/65R15
• Sidewall Style: Blackwall
• Serv. Desc: 89SLoad Index 89= 1279lbs (580kg) per tire
  Speed Rating “S”= 112mph (180kph)"
• UTQG: 300 A B - tread wear 300, traction A (best), temperature range B
• 832 revs per mile

​

 

Inspect the tires as all of the information is embossed on the sidewalls. It wouldn't be the first time the product and a web site description were off. Alternatively, check the receipt.

Bob Wilson

 

For A traction and A temp, we would have to move up to the Premier A/S. I think your Defenders will be just fine. Lots of good reports from other forum members who have the Defender.

If they truly do last for 80,000 miles, I would never need to buy more tires for the rest of my life! For average, conservative, every day driving I've always had very good performance and reliability from Michelin tires.

Note: soldier guy was happy with his Toyo tires, he replaced them at 45,000 miles but said they would have easily gone to 50,000. He replaced them with Yokohama tires. He has a 200 mile+ commute every day.

 

For my experience most of the time tires wore out before max thread life due to out of alignment of wheels.

 

My experience with Yokohama "Blue Earth" tires, that were OEM for my 2012 v, that I inherited from my Dad, was that they were very fuel efficient (51.6 mpg for 125k miles), fairly quiet, and lasted 100k miles (except for 1 that got a screw in the sidewall) and yes, they were overinflated. On my Prime, I have Dunlop Enasave 01 A/S. I'm waiting to see how they preform. If they prove to be less than the Blue Earth's then I will go back to the Blue Earth's when they need replacing.