I am spinning the tires more often from a standing hard start then previously. The tires are clearly spinning, and the traction light comes on. Thread is still 4/32" which indicates some wear, but that depth doesn't usually suggest worn/replace. Any ideas why this would be happening now with the only change being wear down to 4/32"??
Check tire pressure. Over inflated tires means smaller traction print to surface area. A 4x4 rock crawling trick is to "air-down" tires to get better traction over rocky terrain; but be careful - Prius side walls are thin. Unlike multilayered off-road tires.
But the Prius doesn't have to worry about climbing over large objects or running through 4 inches of mud or loose sand. With standard car tires on standard paved roads, that little "trick" will likely give you worse traction not better.......and cause unever wear too. As winter approaches, the nights are cool and that leaves the road cold in the mornings......which will collect condensation as the air warms up. That will be particularly noticeable at the stop line entering intersections. And the painted stop lines too. If it REALLY bothers him, maybe he should stop doing "standing hard starts".
I get the tires slipping on quick acceleration from stationary on wet roads when I purposely hit the accelerator quickly half way downing even on new tires.
Just be thankful you are not driving a rear-wheel-drive vehicle that fishtails every time. In this area, most RWD operators like gunning it, to make their vehicles fishtail during turns. What annoys me most is when people are exiting a side road or driveway, and turning onto the main road so when they gun it they will fishtail out into the oncoming lane of traffic.
It has gotten cold here and the new slippage is much more pronounced in wet conditions. The current pressures are always OEM, I check often. I've been looking at the Bridgestone Turanza Quiettrack as my #1 concern is comfort and quiet. They seem to have good ratings on Tire Rack, especially from Prius owners. But I'm cheap enough that I didn't want to throw away my old tires too early -- almost hoping that the loss of traction meant time for new tires.
I don't know anything about that tire, but if you like it now is the time to pull the trigger. You aren't leaving any meat on the table. For what it's worth, my favorite quiet/comfort tire for a small car is the General Altimax RT43. Proved itself on our little Hyundai, and I plan to hang a set on our Prius later this year.
People who don't put the needs of a high mpg tire for Prius lose huge at the gas pump... I've seen many friends buy a Prius and when buying tires want safety, comfort and quiet and get sold an over-priced tire that's not designed for a high mpg vehicle. Then they're like "something is wrong with my Prius will you fix it for me? I've never gotten better than 38 miles per gallon." And I'm like there's nothing wrong with your Prius, the problem is with you ignoring my advice about buying either Ecopia 422 Plus or Michelin Energy Savers so you can get 50+ miles per gallon. When you're losing 12 miles per gallon because you got scammed at the tire store for the overpriced and incorrect tire type the difference over 60K miles adds up: -- 60K miles divided by 50 miles per gallon equals 1200 gallons of gas at $5 per gallon is $6,000 -- 60K miles divided by 38 miles per gallon equals 1579 gallons of gas at $5 per gallon is $7,895 Do you really think road noise and "comfort" is worth spending an extra $1,895 in planet destroying gasoline over the lifespan of your tires. Way to many people actually do... It's so wasteful and irresponsible and brings dishonor to the high MPG potential of your Prius!
Also keep in mind that the electric motors in Prius have way more torque than gas engines and there's nothing abnormal or unsafe about tire slippage when accelerating from a start, that's not where traction is essential. It's also super easy to address by not accelerating as fast, wait till you get new tires to do that. For the sake of our planet get all the value you can out of your existing tires before buying new ones!
With my hard starts, I don't get 50 mph now. This world has chocolate and vanilla ice cream for a reason. To each, their own.
No, I don't think "DUH" is fair. As I said, the slippage has increased is across the board, although wet conditions accentuate the amount that my previous wet traction has decreased. That is the post I like. I think cheapskate me was looking for permission to purchase and overcoming the feeling that I was just indulging myself.
You are "indulging yourself" by acting like a race car driver. If you STOP doing that, you won't need new tires. AND those wide, white "stop line" strips can be wet/damp enough to cause some loss of traction when you could swear that they are dry. Sometimes they will cause some loss of traction even when they ARE perfectly dry. But in the end, you will do whatever YOU want regardless of any advice you get here........so I don't see the point in asking in the first place. But that happens a lot too.
@Johnny Cakes Out of curiosity how old are the tires? My suggestion to replace was factored by: you're obviously slipping more than you want to these could potentially be the original tires aged 7+ years it's early in winter it's not like spring will be dry in the Eastern US
At 4/32", that is essentially the same thing I've been experiencing my entire adult life. At least on certain wet uphill starts on glazed or painted pavement. While still legal down to 2/32" (or even 1/32" in certain dry southern states), most pundits this century have been recommending replacement at 4/32" in areas that experience rain. Because that reduced traction also shows up during emergency braking, he needs new tires even without acting like a race car driver.
