Tires

I don't think tire manufacturers have any problem with warranty on tires. They prorate the tire from full retail price and you pay the difference and they make more money. This is the cynic in me coming out.
Remember it's still their bat and ball.

 

We had a set (Harmony?) get down to wear bars at 60K km, when warrant was 120K. Went to the tire place we bought them at, they had logged the odo reading: they talked to Michelin and we got replacement meant set for half off.

Nowadays with snow tires in the mix, and our low usage, mileage warranties kinda fall apart though.

 

Yeah, even for a typical driver like me who drives 15K miles/year, but 5K of which is with winter tires. That makes 10K/year at most. 80K tread warranty comes with year limit, I think 5 years. I have to run down to 2/32 inch tread in less than 5 years to get warranty issued. Another problem is that I never run my tires down to 2/32 inch legal limit. 4/32 is more like when I change tires. And at that point, they will not issue any warranty.

 

I wonder if you need to run them to wear bars to collect. Probably.

Our always age out now. I'm probably gonna do the same, but hang out here for another decade. Minimum.

 

My old Volvo that I use only on highway trips, I had to change tires due to age not wear. I had about forty thousand miles on the tires and they looked like they still had 60% of the tread. Problem was the tires were over ten years old and coming up on eleven. Michelin recommends not running their tires if they are over ten years old.

 

Yeah same here: the OEM Michelin Pilots had about 6/32" left, but coming up on 10 years, cracking a lot: decided to replace.

 

Mine were MXV4 Energy's

 

I bought my 2009 Gen II used, back in 2014. The Michelin Energy Savers were about 60% worn, but after another year (and the 2015 winter (remember that one!), I decided to replace them. I looked for another set of Michelins but couldn't find the ones I needed, and my tyre expert told me that one problem with Michelins was that their tread was longer-lasting than the side-walls. This was born out by the micro-cracks which had started to appear on my car's set, so instead of squeezing another summer out of them, I went with a set of Antares (who they?) and am just about to swap them in for their fourth season (about 20k miles so far). I used Bridgestone Blizzak WS-80s )) for 3 seasons, and changed to Antares Ice-60s (studded) back in October 2018 (with all the snow and ice-storms we've had last winter, I'm quite happy with my choice)

 

My 2006 Dodge Dakota has 7,500 miles on it and original tires. I only drive it local in the summer.

 

Its funny. Since I went to used, bigger than standard tires, these tires make my cars handle better, point better, brake better AND get better MPG! I would never have been able to afford all these experiments that I have conducted with many different brands & sizes of tires if I bought new tires.
& now to go with my recent acquisitions of a free large sized tire (which I have already determined its size suitability), & a $10 "new" tire, yesterday I got two free snow tires, mounted on two alloy rims. I've never bought snow tires (& still haven't), but now will see what the hoopla is about snow tires.
Yep! Along with my used tires that give better performance than ALL my past new standard tires, I've discovered their safety, due to their large size & now with my never-bought-before snow tires.

 

Better to use 4 snow tires. I think some States it's even illegal for tire shops to just sell/install two.

 

My only advice to you might be to get 4 rather than 2, and read all you can about advantages/disadvantages of snow tyres. "All Season" tyres are a compromise (IMNSHO), and is a prime example of "Jack of All Trades, Master of None". There are hundreds of threads here on PriusChat, and rather than repeat them here, I'll leave that research as an exercise for the reader! I hope you find what you're looking for! Good Luck!

 

WilDavis been there done that. I'd never run a car without four snows in the winter. When I was younger 18-20, I thought two rear snows (RWD) would be fine. Yeah that worked out, especially when you want to turn, and car kept going straight on packed snow.

 

The way to get around the law it is to bring in rims without the car. They can't install only two on a car, but the can change isolated rims.

But you haven't explained why it's not a great idea to install only two.

If you get two pairs of significantly different tires, you want the better grip to be on the back. Otherwise the front could grip, the back might not, the weight transfers forward, and you fishtail.

With old rear wheel drive cars, the wheels that got you going matched the ones that you wanted the better grip.

With FWD cars, you want snows on the front to get you going, and snows on the rear to keep from fishtailing, so that's two sets. If you only have a pair, and you put them on the rear so you don't fishtail, then you don't get the benefit of better starting grip or steering, and only marginal benefit while braking since there's not much weight in the back to help the tires bite.

 

Back when I was replacing the Defenders I had,(Green-X), I found they were no longer available. The Defender T+H has a lower tread warranty and a higher cost. The speed rating on them was increased however. Not that I need a tire with a speed rating of 130+ mph.

 

As stated, I jes' took their bat & ball away from them. Now, with 50,000+ miles on two cars, both on all used tires, I've paid 15% (less?) of new tire costs. My used tires? All used tires have been superior to standard smaller new tires that tire dealers would sell to me, superior in handling, cornering, braking, & safety. Used tires have been so superior that, if I were a "performance" driver instead of a feather footer, I would be faced with greater wear of suspension & braking components. But, just the knowledge that my cars have greater handling, cornering & braking ability, makes me giddy with happiness.
My last 18 tires?...... 5 have been free(two mounted on alloy wheels, & two have been Goodyear Eagles [GA?] with lots of tread), one "new" tire(not Chinese, but American made) cost $10, two 4 tire sets cost $20, each & my best tires yet(oh, the Yokohama GeoLanders are great, too), have been 4 Goodyear Eagle GTs ($50).

 

I'm still running on the discontinued green-x tires, it's 4/32" now. I noticed the same when comparing specs. of tires available vs. discontinued green x. And most of us don't even go near 100 mph. Profit margin is way important that quality of product.

 

For what it's worth, I just researched this today and purchased 4 General Altimax RT43 T tires. Came here to pass on what I learned.

My primary goal was best value, measured in tire-miles per dollar installed, and permitted myself some holistic nudging based on other factors like brand name recognition, Consumer Reports rating (I subscribe to CR and that's my starting point for most purchases research), etc.

I created a spreadsheet with the 20 tires reviewed by CR. For the 13 of those offered by my local tire shop franchise, I priced out total installation cost including tax, rebates, etc., and sorted on cost per mile (as per CR's in-house testing of tire life). Turns out the Altimax RT43s were within four miles per dollar of the best mi/$ tire, cost only $9 more installed, and were actually CR-recommended with an overall score of 70, which was their highest rating in the data set returned for my vehicle (basically all 195/65R15 all-season tires they tested).

The only factor I didn't figure in was whether I would own my car at least as long as the 80000 mile lifetime of the tires. But, I intend to own my Prius as long as it runs and remains economical. It's a 2011 with about 120K and I think I can get 200K out of it.

 

It would be interesting to see that spread sheet. I tried to base my decision on actual value but stopped short of putting any ink to it.i know for a fact I underestimated what NTB thought was a good value for installation.

 

Well, if it's not too late: Are you sure you don't want to spring for H-rated RT43's? From what I recall, H-rated tires tend to have stiff sidewalls, which should help with MPGs. Someone else mentioned the T-rated Altimax's were a lesser beast. I had the H-rateds on my Prius (now transferred to my newer Prius) and on a Civic. I like them.

As far as CR... they are a good starting point if you don't have any other resource, but car enthusiasts have tended to question their methods and conclusions in the past on other forums, as in, their "lab" tests seem to not correlate with actual usage. For tires, I'd use TireRack.com as a better reference, though when reading reviews, compare similar vehicles. I've noticed some tire models (?) seem to get good reviews from one type of vehicle (say, larger cars) but generally bad from another class of vehicle (say, compact cars).

For $2 per tire more, the H-rateds were generally 0.2 points higher on most ratings, and they are manufactured in France vs. Romania, if that matters.

Also, the behavior of the tire can change over the lifespan. Many tend to lose traction as they age (rubber can harden, or tread pattern changes), so don't just go to the wear bars if you notice you are starting to slip when it's wet and/or cold.