Prius Fast Tirewear - Important Update

good to know, hope i my dealer is in this program, hopefully i can get a set of tires when i get my VOLKS, thanx for the heads up, i did notice considerable tire wear on my Bridgestone Turanza 195-55-16

 

Does the touring edition have the same tires?

I know they're bigger, but are they the same brand/model?

 

Do you have any documentation from Toyota about this?

 

I'm not so sure that the Prius is a "tire eater" as much as the Goodyear Integrity being easily digestible. I've had Michelin Hydroedges on for 13K miles with barely any tread wear. Others here routinely report good tread life with tires other than the Integrities.

Good thing, nonetheless, that dealers are helping out. But I think it's treating more the symptom than the disease.

 

Hi Bob,

Congratulations on your win - however I am wondering whether your dealer absorbed that cost (which makes it unlikely that other dealers will necessarily follow suit) or whether Toyota accepted responsibility (which makes it more likely that other owners may also benefit).

There should be no surprise at Toyota US HQ that Prius original equipment tires have a short life. This has been the case since the 2001 Prius was released and a special Toyota customer satisfaction program was set up to provide the first replacement set of Bridgestone Potenza RE92 tires at no charge.

How much adjusting did your suspension require? If you can scan and post your before and after alignment results it would be very interesting for the group to see and discuss.

 

Hi Bob,

Which dealer did you go to?
And what's special customer's program to replace the tires with Bridgestone?
I am now need to replace my tires in SoCal.

Thanks

 

basic rule of thumb with treadwear from what i heard was, if the TW is 430, the tires should last approx 43,000miles, depending on usage, care etc, but thats the ball park figure

23,000miles is completely unacceptable, even with a little bit of misalignment

as far as alignments, its always good to get them checked even if the car is brand new...i dont think the mass production line has time to laser align a car or even road force balance them as well

my .02

 

i am having a hard time imagining a warranty claim for that being approved unless it was to the tire manufacturer. it's been known for ages that prius are hard on tires, and that the oem's are absolute s*%t... and that tires are wear items that aren't included in warranty.

but good on your dealer... sounds like they're worth continuing to do business with.

our oem tires were very unsafe at 28k. meanwhile we've got about 20k on our michelin energy mxv4+ tires with barely any treadwear. half of it was that we forgot to rotate the tires last time (life's hectic and we DIY) so the rears had a tiny bit more edge wear than the fronts when we swapped them front to back.

 

Not to get off topic, but is there a warranty on alignments? my Prius has 1500 miles on it and i've had it 1 month and 3 days and its starting to pull to the right and the steering wheel isnt straight when i'm moving straight

 

I'm approaching 17K miles on my '07 and the original Integrity's are looking great. Must be the psi I'm running in them.

 

I have an 05 pkg 9 with 140,000 miles on it and I got 50,000+ out of the stock tires and I drove like a mad man. Actually can get the Prius into a four wheel drift. (for like 2 seconds before VSC kicks in)

I did have one tire failure within the first 36,000 miles (sidewall ripped when hit curb) and the tire was replaced for $20 because the Toyota of Hollywood guy said that Toyota wanted to keep the stock tires on the car as long as possible because they were chosen specifically to get better mileage.

 

Mine is pretty worn at 25000 miles.
Hope to get the dealer name from Bob or Patrick

 

OK, I'll bite What psi are you running in them. In my experience the tires that are manufactured for new vehicles do not have the longevity of the retail version. It must be a cost thing.

I'm not shocked the dealer paid for the alignment, but new tires to boot? I'm shocked. Good for you.

 

What PSI readings are you running? Alan

 

Before I answer, I first want to say that this is in no way meant to be a recommendation. I'm simply reporting what I'm doing and the results I'm getting. On the day I drove off the dealer's lot, I went across the street to an air pump and put the tires at 60 psi. For the last approximately 10K miles they have been at 70 psi. YMMV, don't try this at home, etc.

 

i dont think there is
but you may want to check the tire PSI, just in case, they can also cause the feel of having a misaligned car

also try not to hit curbs and parking blocks while parking, those things will def throw your car off alignment

 

Isn't it possible to get 1 free alignment within the first 1 year/20000 miles?

 

I have 62k on my car but I've had two sets of tires during that time yet both sets (the stock Integritys and the Kumhos on the 17" wheels) still have a ton of tread on them. I think the higher pressures may be responsible for the reduced wear. Otherwise I do not know how to explain the reason for everyone else claiming baldness at 25k.

I estimate I have over 30k on the stock tires at least.