Replacement tires

 

Hi Everyone,

I have lurked her often and primarily contibute to the Prius Chat
forums. But I have been doing research on replacing the OEM Goodyear
Integrity tires & I wanted to share.

I currently have 26K miles on the OEM's and the dealer patched one of
the tires without telling me. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me. So I
started loosing air. I tried to keep up with that, however I had
excessive wear on the outside of the tred pattern. I should have
noticed that an annoying tick tick tick on my passenger side had
dissappered.

I normally keep my tires at the TOP end of the PSI range to maximize
my MPG. So I will vary between 40-45 PSI. (Yes! I know that is too
hard) The ride is noticeably harder, I accept that for the MPG.

The Integrities have a Low Rolling Resistance factor of  .00965. So
that falls in the bottom third of the LRR scales that I have been
referencing. My research yealds that there are a number of options for
our car's tires (2005 Package 9 Tideland) that yeald substantially
better performance than the OEM.

My priorities for tires are Estimated Mileage, LRR factor and Price
(in that order). The good news is that I found a replacement tire that
is quieter, with a higher estimated mileage, lower LRR factor, and
costs less than OEM's. I live in Southern California and foudn the
best price at Discount Tire.

Please consider the Contintal Pro Contact. It's LRR is .00825, it is
estimated to last 60K (vs OEM 50K) and I paid $
6. per tire (OEM's are
$
9)

After I got over my self flaggilation for allowing so much wear on one
of my tires, I have leqarned that there is a LOT of information out
here on tires. I am substantially un-impressed with the tire wear and
the LRR factor of the OEM tires. I am hopeing to report substantial
improvment in my mileage in the very near future.

If any of you have any more information to add, or recommendations on
replacement tires, I would appreciate yoru feedback.

-John

 

John:
  Where did you find the Rolling Resistance info for so many tires.
  I haven't been able to find this info.

Dick

 

Hi Dick,

I found much of my information by searching the Prius Chat forums for
"Tires". There are a number of posts concerning this subject.

I am accessing the Usenet NOW using Google Groups so I can't upload
the two PDF's that I have that really got me interested in LRR tires.
They are the "Green Seal Choose Green report" and the "RMA data
report. Both are available in PDF format. I also googled LRR and
checked Wikipedia too.

Part of the problem is that the Green Seal Report is a few years old
and the manufacturers have discontinued some of the tire models. That
publication also does NOT identify any compatable tire sizes for our
chosen vehicle. So some "interpolation"  was required. That means I
had more research.

Once I compiled a "short list" of tires, I made a chart that listed
estimated mileage, cost, LRR factors, and the cost at local
retailers.

-John

 

John:
  Thanks.  I'll need to do some more thorough research when it is time
for me to get new tires.  Since my Prius is only 6 months old.  I hope
have some wait before I need to replace.  By then, I suspect
that current information wouldn't be any good.

Dick

 


"John" maintains a site of good Prius data at http://john1701a.com/
Look under "Prius info" and then Tires-H for the 2004+ model or Tires-C for
the 2001-2003 model. All you ever need to know about Prius tires :-)

Mike