Which Tires get absolute BEST MPG on Prius?

The originals, inflated to 44/42 PSI front/rear.

 

I tend to agree with Richard if fuel economy is your highest priority. There might be reliable reports in the forums of other models doing better, but I don't recall seeing any.

I have Hydroedges. I noticed a small but noticeable drop in fuel economy immediately after installing them, an estimated 5-10%. Now with about 14K miles on them I have regained some of the loss but probably not all.

You mention safety too. IMHO, the Hydroedges are safer than Goodyear Integritys: better grip and handling on wet and dry pavement.

 

MXV4 S8! My next tire when I get to a suitable point! awesome tires!

 

Ok, here is one report:


The follow up with wheel alignment and tweak the front and rear toe to minimum and camber to about 0.5 degrees. Now I'm partial to Sumitomo since they can run 51 psi. However, you may have other requirements.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

This looks like a Consumer Report chart. Is that where it came from?

 

I knew I picked the best tire with the Michelin X.

The ONLY one on the chart to rate excellent on handling.
It also rates excellent on rolling resistance and noise.
And it's the ONLY tire to rate good or better on all items.

10 x = WINNER!

 

looking at the chart above the Michelin X is best for CA weather, anybody using "runflats"?

 

Where I live I need to have an all season that has a bit better rating in snow, otherwise I would agree with you. It looks like I may have to get me the GY Triple treads, but the Hancooks may be worth a look if they are significantly cheaper. By the way what does the star next to a few of the brands mean on the chart.

 

Yep and they are VERY protective of their copyrighted material.

 

YES, YMMV.

If I lived in snow/sleet/ice/freezing rain country, I doubt I would have purchased the Michelin X - but, since I live in Sacramento, they are pert near perfect!

The stars signify "Quick Picks" (an easy, good choice) as shown written vertically at the top of that column.

 

I like the HydroEdges. After 60K miles on them, my average is 48MPG, maybe 1-2 MPG less than on the OEM tires. I drive mostly on the interstate at 70 MPH. The handling is much better than the OEMs. I expect the tires to last 70-80K miles before I replace them. I run them at 40/38 PSI most of the time.

I am tempted to try those Michelin X tires next time if I can find them.

 

I can help you find them in your area . . . just type in Richmond, VA after clicking on the link below.

http://www.costco.com/Warehouse/locator.aspx?cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Right_Nav1-_-Top_locations&topnav=&whse=BC〈=en-US

And you get free nitrogen too. :fear:

 

Take a look at the Tire Rack charts. For about 1/2 the price of the Tripletred the General Altimax HP are an equal to the Tripletred which are better than the Hydroedge.
I'm getting a set locally for less than I can from Tire Rack after installation, shipping, lifetime balance/rotate, nitrogen air.
and they are more comfortable and quieter.

The drop in MPG occurs because the tires must break in or smooth out. Interesting to have someone actually notice that.

I have one question - what difference will 195 over 185 make?
the 185 HPs are on nationwide backorder.

 

Numbers are hard to come by (and are a bit fuzzy in my head now), but the best RR tires on CRs charts seem to run in the 0.08s, while the stock Integrities run in the 0.07s. I believe Hydroedges and other CR tier 2 RR tires run in the 0.09s. Pretty much the best tires you can get are the Bridgestone B381s which get down into the 0.06s, but they are only available in 14" for the Civic Hybrid. IMHO a lightweight set of 14" rims (I believe there are 8-9 lb rally rims out there) and a set of B381s would be really interesting to test on a Prius.

Most manufacturers canceled their true low RR tires years ago. We may see a come back though, with the way things are going.

Rob

 

If I read the charts correctly, the Bridgestone Insignia SE200's have lower RR numbers than the Integrity. They unfortunately only come in the P195 size though.

 

How about some real data. I have 120k miles on my 2004 Prius and am now on my third set of tires. The Integrity tires that came with the car (not great) went 44k miles, I then replaced them with Michelin MXV4 "energy saving" tires (actually advertised as LRR, much better handling and traction) and they lasted 55k miles (could have gone further, but winter was coming and the tread was a little low). My current tires are Nokian WRs (also LRR and great handling/traction in any weather) from Finland.

1. The Michelins matched the GY Integrities in MPG in the summer and did a little better in cold weather since they have organo-silicates in the rubber compound which maintains flexibility in cold weather. They improved average MPG about 1%.
2. The Nokians again match both in the summer but do even better in the winter than the Michelins. The Nokians appear to be heading for a 2% MPG improvement over the GYs but I have to wait till they are a year old before I can quote a calculated number.

See the attached Excel spreadsheet for the actual data.

If you don't require the snow performance of the WRs (they are as good as most snow tires), you can opt for the Nokian WRg2 tires or one of their LRR summer tires.

JeffD

 

Wow! That's some seriously impressive data! Thanks for posting!!!

John Parrette
08 Spectra Blue, Pkg. 6 (on order)

 

Ok, here is a little more specific data:
Low-rolling resistance tires - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A few notables:
0.00615 Bridgestone B381 P185/70R14
0.00758 Goodyear INTEGRITY (OE) P225/60R16
0.00855 Michelin ENERGY MXV4 PLUS 235/65R17

Looks like I was off by ~10x but you get the idea.

Real world data is cool, but pretty anecdotal. There are way to many uncontrolled variables to make any general statements though. You'd need to collect data from many different sources, or conduct trials that eliminate or account for all variables to start to develop something statistically meaningful.

Rob