Which Replacement Tires?

[frankdkatz]

I just got ComforTreds yesterday and I have twice been back to get them balanced right. They chatter on the highway and transmit every pebble on the road to the steering wheel and floor. I have read a bunch of reviews of the tire that praise it to the sky, and maybe a half dozen who find they can never get it balanced or round. I am wondering if every once in a while there is a bad tire in the batch that screws things up. Any thoughts?

I head back to Discount Tires for one more try tomorrow. May then have to move to another tire.

[dvdirv]

Like other posters, I too replaced my Integrety tires with the Goodyear ComforTred tires in the exact same size--185/65R-15 before the first 100 miles.

I bought mine from Discount Tire which charged $81 a tire and gave me a $40 trade credit for each tire. Grand total came to $255 including Discount's free replacement warranty (optional).

They definitely make it work upgrading your tires!

[Recovering Gas Guzzler]

Originally posted by ChiaPrius@Oct 13 2005, 12:39 PM
When my 2004 was serviced yesterday, the dealership told me my OEM tires had 'edge wear' and should be replaced (at about 20,000 miles!!).  They offered to replace them with Integrities for $420.  They also said there was no milage warranty on the OEM tires and that they would offer none on the new ones.  Lovely.

I drive in San Diego, and we have no weather that I'm aware of, so the discussions on tires in extreme weather areas are not terribly useful.  Mainly, I just want the tires to be quiet, grip reasonably well, not make my milage appreciably worse & not be horribly expensive.  In that department the Falken Ziex ZE-512 were looking good at about $65 per tire and 50,000 mi wear but I just read a post that said they adversely affected the milage.  Any other experiences?  Or should I go with the Michelin HydroEdge at $110 and 85,000 mi wear?  I've heard some good things about the ComfortTread as well.  Or should I use the Integrity because of the low resistance (although crappy wear)?

Thanks for any thoughts or experiences!

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Edge wear? LOL. whatt??

They might be talking about camber wear. Uhh. If your prius is exhibiting camber wear cause of too much camber then they should align your car free cause it wasn't adequate from the factory. Not saying they'll do this, but I think this whole edge wear thing is a scam.

If your tires are legitimately worn out more on one side than the other you should consider an alignment, but you dont have to replace your tires at 20k. Not on a Prius, especially with the stock tires.

[greg4wv]

I just replaced the OEM Integrity tires with a set of Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds. I would have kept the original tires, but had the bad luck of two being damaged due to unfortunate encounters with road debris (one had a 8 inch piece of welding rod stuck through the sidewall).

The TripleTreds come in 195/60/15 (as opposed to 185/65/15). They are very close to the same size (24.2 inch diameter | 24.4 inch diameter). I have had the TripleTreds on our Subaru for over a year and have been very happy with their performance.

I have taken a slight hit in fuel efficiency (dropped from 58 mpg to 55 mpg), but this could be due to a number of other factors including tire break-in, slightly cooler temperatures, etc. I am currently running 40 psi front and 38 psi rear.

The tires cost me just over $400 for a set (mounted and balanced), but I got a $50 rebate from Goodyear. The two good ones were donated to one of the tire shop employees, so at least they are not heading to tire disposal for a while.

[Sean & Ian]

I replaced the Integrities (around 7K miles on them) with Assurance ComforTred this past weekend, as GoodYear was running a promotion with a free $50 gas card for a set of four ComforTred tires. On top of that, I brought in the prices I collected at other places (TireRack & another tire reseller nearby), and they reduced the price to $287.50 including the credit for the Integrities. With the $50 gas card, the total cost goes down to $237.50, which is less than $60 per tire, including all labor, balance, etc., with free tire rotations!

So far I'm happy with the tires, certainly less noise. I haven't driven enough to see any impact on the MPG...

[bruceha_2000]

Originally posted by datavortex@Oct 13 2005, 04:02 PM
and they seem to have the same kind of grip as the OEM tires.

Geez I hope NOT! There are 2 reasons I can think of for replacing the OEMs:

• You drive in snow
• you want better grip on wet roads or the occasional patch of sand/gravel when you need to start a bit faster than usual.

The ComfortTred should be MUCH better gripping than the Integrity. I found CRs report intertesting in that it gave a better snow rating for the CT over the TT. Makes NO sense to be based on tread design comparison. Goodyear's own internal ratings are opposite:

Dry traction, Wet traction, Snow traction, Ride comfort, Quite Ride
CT 9, 9, 9, 10, 10
TTs 10, 10, 10, 9, 9
Integrity: 7, 6, 7, 8, 8
Personally, I would give the Integrity a 3 for starting and stopping on what snow is left after plowing.

[amped]

Here's a thread about the Goodyear TripleTreds.

[JackDodge]

Originally posted by bruceha_2000@Oct 14 2005, 10:01 AM
Geez I hope NOT!  There are 2 reasons I can think of for replacing the OEMs:

• You drive in snow
  
• you want better grip on wet roads or  the occasional patch of sand/gravel when you need to start a bit faster than usual.
  

The ComfortTred should be MUCH better gripping than the Integrity.  I found CRs report intertesting in that it gave a better snow rating for the CT over the TT.  Makes NO sense to be based on tread design comparison. Goodyear's own internal ratings are opposite:

Dry traction, Wet traction, Snow traction, Ride comfort, Quite Ride
CT 9, 9, 9, 10, 10
TTs 10, 10, 10, 9, 9
Integrity: 7, 6, 7, 8, 8
Personally, I would give the Integrity a 3 for starting and stopping on what snow is left after plowing.

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Of course, bruce, CR is also known to have made the ridiculous report that you can't get the mileage out of a Prius that is on the sticker. They want the government to change the way it reports estimated mileage because most people drive like maniacs and couldn't get the stated mileage on any car if their lives depended on it? I used to think that CR actually knew what they were talking about but now I take whatever they say with more than a grain of salt.

[artie]

i am in san diego, have 36K on the OEMs so far, and dealer says they're good for at least 7K more miles. i have rotated them every 10K. i'm thinking the Falkens next, my main goal is not to lessen mpg.

[datavortex]

Originally posted by bruceha_2000@Oct 14 2005, 11:01 AM
Geez I hope NOT!  There are 2 reasons I can think of for replacing the OEMs:

• You drive in snow
  
• you want better grip on wet roads or  the occasional patch of sand/gravel when you need to start a bit faster than usual.
  

The ComfortTred should be MUCH better gripping than the Integrity.

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Well, as I said - I'm quite a bit less sensitive to that sort of thing that probably most the people on the board. I have never really been a greasemonkey, and I didn't know much about cars in general prior to getting my Prius.

The main point of the new tires for me was actually neither of the above - it was noise. The Integras are actually quite loud, and while I'm not apt to notice big differences in grip and handling, I can detect minor changes in sound quality and volume. I am trying to build a listening chamber on wheels, and the difference in level of ambient road noise is appreciable. Secondary benefits like snow/rain traction and things are good, but much harder for me to quantify.

Monday my b-quiet comes in, and then on Tuesday the Infinity Kappas.... mmmm...