upgrade to 17 " Pirellis

My car came with some special wheels and 17 inch Pirellis. I've never had the original tires so I can't compare. Overall, I think they're fine...but it's not like I'm driving a sportscar.

The Prius isn't the quietest thing on the highway (road noise). but nothing horrid.

 

Well, I speak from some experience on the tires business. The standard tires are Goodyear Interities. If you click on the link on the left of the page, you go to Tire Rack, and they have user feedbacks on tires. The comments on the OEM tires are poor to awful. The tires have little rolling resistance, and have slid on me on dry pavement when pulling out onto a five lane road under brisk acceleration.

In my search for a better tire, I settled on Goodyear Comfortreds, but the salesguy talked me out of them in favor of Bridgestone Turanza's. The feedbacks on tires on the Tire Rack site can be filtered by car maker, and the feedbacks for those tires were fair to poor for Toyotas. That collection of feedbacks proved optimistic. I had an immediate 18% decline in fuel economy, a harsh and loud ride, and road vibration was transmitted throughout the vehicle, which loosened things up and caused some rattles I did not have before.

These wretched tires came with a 30 day refund warranty, so I traded them for Goodyear Comfortreds. Quiet, comfortable, and that touted 20% reduction in felt vibration is a minimum figure, its actually quite a bit more than that. Absolutely quiet below 40 MPH, these tires deliver the finest ride on the planet from the car. Wind noise can be heard(tire noise drowned it out before), and my volume levels for music I have dropped down considerably because of the great reduction in noise.

Do not pay a bit of attention to the number ratings on Tire Rack, pay attention to the feedbacks for a tire by maker.

Here is what I would do:

Buy the standard 15" tires.

Take the vehicle immediately to the official Goodyear store. You can trade in those poor tires for Comfortreds if done within 500 miles of purchase when new.

Noteable quiet car, on par with my wife's Town Car now. The only negative feedbacks about these tires on user feedbacks is a comment about "marshmellow" feel. Indeed, they do have that feel somewhat but its not an issue for me, I love the very comfortable ride and quiet that comes from them.

Vibration is the enemy of component life, therefore these quality tires will extend the time that rattles are introduced into the car by extending the life of the body integrity.

Those 17" tires are low profiles that likely can never perform to the quiet standard of a full sized tire. I would not pay for them, spend the money on a proven system.

You won't go wrong on this one, check the feedbacks by make on Tire Rack.

Do a search on this site for Comfortred too, you will see other comments.

Do not pay above MSRP for anything, the supply situation has gotten better, keep searching other dealers. Order exactly what you want. Red is super nice, but shows the dirt real well. The white makes the car look bigger, just as it does rooms in your home. Silver is the most popular, but has little standout ability.

The interior isn't tan either, its ivory.

A package five is a nice choice. I have the BC or package six and just love the additional systems, but package five is a very nice choice. You do want that vehicle stability system, it works.

 

I'm still puzzled why folks would want to Plus 1 or Plus 2 the stock tires on a family car. Unless you're racing around a track somewhere, all you're paying for is looks.

Most low-profile tires deliver harsh ride, absolutely zero dangerous winter traction, and substantially lower fuel economy.

I've spoken to folks with the Goodyear ComforTred tires and they appear very satisfied with them, especially the low noise level and the much softer ride. They also appear to offer good three-season traction.

Once you've driven on the potholed and frost-heaved streets here, anything that helps in the cushioning of the ride is a major benefit.

As Robert mentioned, getting ride of the harsh riding tire will help prolong the life of the suspension components and also reduce the incidence of rattles.

 

It's not an option for many as Toyota dealers install them with new rims and you either buy it or you don't buy the car.

The low profile tires I've had on my cars in the past have actually given pretty good traction...especially on wet roads. I haven't had to deal with winter driving as I live in South Florida.

Now, if I had the choice I would have never bought the wheels/Tires...but that's it.

Fuel mileage...it appears I'm getting the same that others with new Prius are getting that post here and on other boards (42.5). We'll see what happens after a few thousand miles.

 

Re: upgrade to 17 " Pirellis - ground clearance questio

[first time post from a new green car shopper]

I live on a dirt road, during mud season the ruts can be 4-6 inches deep. I am afraid the Prius' ground clearance of 4.9 inches will be a disaster.

Is it possible and reasonable to increase ground clearance by purchasing larger tires? Any other methods? I understand this will reduce gas mileage. Thanks for any insights. -Noel

 

won't changing the rim/tyre dimension stuff up the trip computer's measurements and make your speedo "wrong" ??

 

Re: upgrade to 17 " Pirellis - ground clearance questio

Hi Noel:

I'm afraid with ruts that deep, any car would be in trouble. The only exceptions I can think of are the Audi AllRoad with the air suspension jacked all the way up (This is set via a switch for low-speed operation) or a Subaru Outback.

I doubt you could put on larger OD tires. The wheel well clearance with stock OD tires is minimal.

Again, with ruts *that* deep, your options are limited. What are you driving now??

 

That is true mostly for the Southeast Region where Toyota Motor Corporation, USA, is not the distributor.

 

Yes and no.

If you change the tyre size by "plus" or "minus" sizing the OD of the tyre remains the same. If you put on a tyre - irregardless of wheel diameter - with a different OD, the speedo will no longer be correct.

The only limit to "minus" sizing the wheel would be rotor clearance. The OD for stock tyre in North America is 24.4 inches.

 

Just to clarify:
Package #5 (AI) may be a nice package if you want the upgraded music, alarm, HomeLink and auto-dimming mirror . . . but the VSC is only available in either the #4 (AM) or #6 (BC) package.

 

I have put 10,500 miles on my '05 Prius and am really wanting to switch out the Integrity and replace it with either the Michelin HydroEdge or the Goodyear Triple Tread. Any feeback on the triple tread? I do not have to worry about ice or snow in Houston, so just need good tires for humid/hot conditions and rainy conditions....oh yeah, one more thing..I drove to Pensacola, Florida, this weekend from Houston(about 71/2 hours) and a rock hit the windshield and it's being replaced today with an original Prius windshield(total cost $750.00..but with insurance, only $200..boy did I luck out)...