Need New Tires Soon

I was pleasantly surprised with the Bridgestone Ecopia tires that came with my 2011 Prius. I expected them to be crap like the Goodyear Integrity tires that came with my 2007 Prius but the Ecopias are quiet, give a good ride, seem pretty good in snow and ice and I am getting good mileage with them.

 

I agree i was not a fan of Bridgestone tires but the Ecopia's on my 2011 Prius are good and my 2010 Fit sport also came with LRR bridgestone tires that are also fine after 20 thousand miles.

 

New set of G/Y Assurance Fuel Max. Very hard to get better. I don't no why , but the tires that come with our cars when new never seem to be as good or wear as well as new purchase tires. I believe they are designed for at low line and cheap for the manufactures bottom line? My purchased G/Y Fuel max are great tires! After a year are like new and roll like crazy. Hal

 

I liked them (for my non-mountain needs) the first winter, but hated them the second winter. They are still on the car as the third winter approaches (haven't yet acquired a spare set of rims for alternate tires), but the other car has new tires this season.

What limited winter ability these and other A/S tires have, can wear away very quickly, long before the tires lose their suitability for the other three seasons.

 

The longest tread life tire that still rates very well In tire tests and surveys is the Continental ContiProContact with EcoPlus. They are not the best for mpg but they are LRR, offer great handling, traction, and longevity.

Go read my tirerack.com test review thread to compare results for yourself.

 

Quite a few of us, including F8L and myself, have recently purchased Michelin Primacy MXM4 LRR tires and everyone seems to really like them so far. But we have 17" wheels and the Primacy for 15" wheels is an MXV4 which is not a LRR tire in the Prius size.

I would recommend Tire Rack for research and either Tire Rack or Costo for purchase. Both Michelin and Bridgestone frequently have $70 coupons.

 

The Tire Rack was advertising an availability date of December 28 as of a month ago. Later that changed to mid-January, and as of today they simple say "back ordered."

 

I love the the Energy Saver A/S have ~25K on them. Looks like they will go at least 60K in front, OEMs went 45K.

They are o'k handling and probably the best MPG out there. Not sure how much you drive, but 100K on tire isn't necessarily good if you drive 20K a year. After 2-3 years tires usually don't grip that well even if you have enough thread left.

Nokian eNTYRE have 700 threadwear rating, vs 380 for OEMs. Good reviews, not sure how good MPG-wise the actually are.

 

I'd worry more about safety than anything else. Good handling (wet and dry), good braking (wet, dry, and snow), good traction (wet, dry, and snow), low noise, reasonable comfort, and reasonable life (forget 100k). MPG would be my last consideration.

After checking Tirerack, if I were to replace the tires on our 2010 Prius, it would be the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S. They are #1 rated in the High Performance All Season category with a huge number of miles reported in the reviews.

Even if the MPG suffered a little (3 mpg), the improved safety is worth it. It's $.004 per mile. That 4/10ths of a penny per mile. Do the math, get the better tires.

 

I have had Michelin tires on my last 3 cars prior to my Fit sport and Prius. Overall i was happy with handling, braking and longevity. It depends what you are looking for mpg is not a strong suit of tires that grip as my Exaltos proved. I think some time and money is invested by car companies to select a tire. Both my Fit and Prius came with LLR tires and when replaced will probably stay with the stock tires that is just me after trying several brands and models over the years.

 

I had a really good experience with General Altimax HP all-season tires on my soon to be sold 2004 Prius. After getting nearly 90,000 mostly highway miles out of them, I purchased a second set 41,000 miles ago and have not been disappointed. Good wet and dry traction and only a marginal drop-off in mileage from the original (non) Integritys. Highly rated at the Tire Rack.

 

Maybe hang on a while? At least at Costco, there seems to a drought, at least for the standard 15" size. There's the Bridgestone Insignia SE200, which may be LRR, but likely isn't. Only the ones with a tiny suffix "02" are LRR. There is so much confusion over the various iterations of this tire I wouldn't touch it if you're looking for LRR.

The only other choice at Costco is the Michelin X Radial, which is a very decent, long lasting choice. Decent RR, but not low RR.

Maybe it's just Costco, and because they're concentrating on more seasonal Winter Tires? Actually, none of those available either.

It's funny, the choices open up some with the 17" though. Our Canadian Touring model takes those, similar to the US V.

 

I have the Michelin Primacy MXV4 on my Gen III. I'll let F8L, the tire master, comment on its handling since he has driven my car, but I'd say it is better than the original tires. By how much? Not a day and night after some break-in.

I have experienced fuel economy loss, however. On the highway it is only about 3-5% but it is sometimes double that for in-town driving.