Tire replacement.....which tire?

Yesterday, the mpg with my new tires (Bridgestone Potenza G019) improved form the initial 32 to 40.6 after 6 days.

Re Triple Treads: I never had them, but my dealer recommended strongly against them, from his own personal experience. I told him about all the raves on this forum, but he still recommended against them.

 

How much pressure did you put in the TTs on the Prius? Did they wear unevenly, or did they wear evenly and just faster than expected?

 

The TTs are actually louder than my Hakkapeliitta RSI snow tires.

Now, to the term 'cold'. How the heck cold does it get in Clearwater Florida? 50 F? That's what we called cold when I was growing up in So. Cal. I have a slightly modified definition now.

I don't think you need to worry about snow and ice traction in Clearwater. I'd run the Integritys into the ground then buy something better when you need to replace them.

 

I don't know what kind of 'snow' people drive in when they say the Integrity tires are fine in snow. Sorry, but they are NOT. My car:

1. Would slide to a stop on any small amount of snow left over from plowing. Maybe it is because they use salt here and the residual is kind of 'greasy'? Never happened with the TTs.
2. Could only make a paved ~6 degree driveway that had been plowed if I had a 10 to 15 MPH start, and even then it was TC kicking the whole way. When I tried it from a dead stop, I was pedal to the metal. The car would stop due to the T/C then SLIDE down the hill to a drier spot, go up a short way, rinse and repeat. It was LITERALLY 6 feet forward, 3 feet back. The Integritys were off 2 days later.

The TTs did GREAT for 3 winters - approx 30K miles. The only time the car got stuck was in 12" of unplowed snow. It bottomed out, no tread on the road. Still, I had gotten farther than a lot of cars with dedicated snow tires. Prii rock in snow. I put the RSIs on when the TTs hit 50K last fall. The TTs now have ~60K and look to be good for another spring/summer/fall.

The Integritys are in the basement with 5K miles on them. The Integritys on my wife's car have never seen a snowflake, I learned that lesson.

 

With regard to miserable mileage in the cold. Yep. You will start to notice a drop as soon as the temp goes below 50F. If your commute happens to be short, 5 or 6 miles, you are a hurting pup when it gets into single digits. Even if you don't run the heater, the ICE will run just to keep itself warm. Figure a minimum of 10% drop from summer to sub freezing weather. 20% when you get to single digits, maybe even low double digits. You can put in an Engine Block Heater to help out, especially if your commute is 5 to 10 minutes.

 

Today's temps were up almost to 50, and my mpg continued to creep up (43.5 today from about 40.5 yesterday). It just amazes me. Ironically, running the A/C in the summer seems to have absolutely no impact -- mpg stayed stable.

 

At that time, I was running on the recommended pressure of 35 / 33. The tires wore evenly just much faster than they should. (About 2X too fast). The tires handled fantastic but I don't think it's worth the cost. Again, I had the same issue on my Intrepid as well. Stock pressure as well on that car.

I now run 42 /40 with my Kumho's

 

I am using Michelin MXV4 on my ride. Grip and traction is good.

 

Hi Fred,
Yes, I like Tire Rack also, but they do not talk about any tires that they do not sell. Since the Michelin Radial X is exclusive to Costco, Michelin make them for only 'club tires,' which means Costco, - that is why you will not see them at Tire Rack, nor will you see it anywhere else. I bought mine and I already ran them up my hill driveway that was covered in Michigan snow and ice..... and what a difference. Working really well and feel good. They seem to be great. Costco also told me they have an 80,000 thousand mile warranty, and costco said they would balance them anytime I want for free - and free rotation every ...I think he said every 7400 miles, and also free tire repair. If I get a nail or whatever in the tire, they will fix for free. Also, the tires were $60.00 dollars off until Dec. 2nd. Geeez can't beat that. They seem to be running great on dry pavement also. I'm very happy with this choice. I studied this for a long time, because I love my Prius and will never get rid of it, so i knew I would be driving on these tires a long time and did not want to make a mistake. I think to keep the 80,000 mile warranty you need to go in and have the tires rotated every 7400 miles, but it is free so...... . anyway- , I was also happy with the high rolling resistant score the Radial X got. Good luck.

 

PS. I kept the 185/65/15 size because I didn't want any drop in MPG. I always get a bit of a drop in MPG when the weather gets cold, but that is Michigan. The MPG goes back up in the the summer and MPG does not seem any different than last week when I had the integrities on. Costco also filled the tires with nitrogen, which I have heard is better than air??? I've already driven these tires on Hwy 75, on gravel road, snow and ice driveway hill and slushy roads and dry pavement. (That is Michigan) and are working great.

 

I run Goodyear Assurance Comfort Treds for the summer months mainly for the quiet smooth ride. I still can average around 56 mpg with my somewhat conservative driving methods.
For our Western NY state winters I run Michellan X Ice tires which I purchased mounted and balanced on steel rims..... All were purchased fromTire Rack. I liked the Comfort Treds so much I purchased another set for my Toyota Sienna Van!

 

Just keep an eye on them. I live in the Akron Ohio area and last year was my first year with the Prius, the Integrities were fine early in the season and I thought of the criticism as being unwarranted. But as my tires got to about 20,000 miles of total miles the tires became completely unsafe in any signicant amount of snow or slush even though all 4 tires were showing about 50% wear, since it was late in the season I decided to tough it through last year and didn't replace the Integrities until this past month with 44,000 miles out of them, if it were summer I would have been able to stretch them to 50 without thinking about it.

 

Fred:

Did you go up any hills?

 

OK - I'm off to start a little experiment.

2008 Prius #2 is getting 185/65-15 Firestone Winterforce tires
2006 Prius #1 is getting 195/65-15 Firestone Winterforce tires

Both sets were used only one season for about the same mileage over almost the same identical route on each set. The 185/65-15s were on the 2006 Prius and the 195/65-15s were on a 2006 Saturn Ion last winter.

I'll post the results after we put the summer tires back on in the spring.

Rand

 

I have a 2007 Touring with the 16" tires; I replaced the original tires @ 22500 miles. The stock tires were fine here in Upstate New York for the first winter (Prius delivered new in May 2007). However, this winter they just failed to get me through even slush in the parking lot. Due to the 16" size & the fact that I wanted to avoid an extra set of wheels & tires, I went with the Nokian WR-G2s. They match the 195/55-16s exactly (rotate @ 848 revs/mile versus 854 revs / mile on the stock tires) and they are just super!!! Found out last night that they are pretty good on ice as well. They coast just fine on the level: Go to the Nokian_dot_Com site & look @ the WR-G2s ... I've used these for years on my Honda Element.
You'll Love These If You Live in Snow Country