Tire Upgrade

[nyprius]

Originally Posted by Highly ImPriused

OK, I bit the bullet and put my order in on TireRack for a set of Pirelli P4 Four Season tires 195/60/15 (came to $308 shipping incl.).

The P4 looks like a great tire. 85K warranty is great. Looking at the tread, it seems they'd be low noise and handle well on dry and wet surfaces. The only question I'd have is how they'd handle on snow and ice. The close tread blocks and straight grooves would lower noise and work well for dry handling. But it doesn't seem they'd have lots of biting edges for the snow. Not sure though. I look forward to hearing how they work for you.

[cary1952]

Kuhmo Solus KR21 are what I just put on my 2006 Black number 8 yesterday. My first day, i had to drive 350 miles. (A trip I have made several times.) I notice no decrease in mpg.

Cost was $302 locally including lifetime balance, flat , rotation and free alignment.

These can be purchased for $59 on tirerack.com if you wish to order online.

I got a better deal locally i think (if you factor in shipping and mount and balance)

So far so good, i have 43 psi in front, 41 in rear.

Check them out. Awesome price, looks, reviews, rating and 85,000 miles warranty to boot.

Cary

[patsparks]

I don't understand how they can warranty a tyre for 85,000 miles, that is like 136,000 kilometres. I am wrapped that I have got over 90,000km from the Michelins on my Prius, normally I struggle to get 60,000 to 70,000km from a set of tyres.

Is it the roads?

[mrblaise]

Kumhos are very hard tires. I bought a set once and absolutely hated them. The harder the tires the more they'll last.

[Highly ImPriused]

Originally Posted by nyprius

The P4 looks like a great tire. 85K warranty is great. Looking at the tread, it seems they'd be low noise and handle well on dry and wet surfaces. The only question I'd have is how they'd handle on snow and ice. The close tread blocks and straight grooves would lower noise and work well for dry handling. But it doesn't seem they'd have lots of biting edges for the snow. Not sure though. I look forward to hearing how they work for you.

Yeah, that was my one concern. The user ratings on TireRack are in the good to excellent range for snow and ice, but still a bit lower than some of the comps. In any event, as I mentioned previously, they are sure to handle better than the Integreties in winter conditions. I managed just fine last winter with those.

I will try to remember to report back here once winter hits. It seems to me that it's a hugely subjective thing though. Some reviewers on TireRack say the P4s handle great in snow and ice and others say they couldn't get out of their driveway with them. I think it all comes down to what you're used to and how comfortable you are driving in winter conditions. I'm quite used to it with small cars as I had driven VWs for the previous 10 years up here with "regular" all-season tires. I don't even remember what brand they were, something I got cheap at BJs (Uniroyal maybe). I thought the Prius handled just as well as my little VWs had if not better this past winter on the Integreties. The only problem I had was one instance where traction control prevented me from getting up a steep and icey hill. But once I experienced that, I was ready for it on future occasions and didn't have the same problem again. I'm guessing I'll be pleasantly surprised with how well the P4's handle this winter. We'll see...

Originally Posted by patsparks

I don't understand how they can warranty a tyre for 85,000 miles, that is like 136,000 kilometres. I am wrapped that I have got over 90,000km from the Michelins on my Prius, normally I struggle to get 60,000 to 70,000km from a set of tyres.

Is it the roads?

No, I don't expect to get 85K miles. 60K would be fine. They can offer such warranties because there are so many restrictions that it's almost impossible to make a claim. For instance, I just looked at the details on these Pirellis and you have to have them rotated every 4,000 mi at an authorized Pirelli dealer. They can go screw, I'm not going to be bothered with doing that. That would be 20+ rotations in their lifetime and would cost at least $400. I'll rotate them every 10K or so myself and end up ahead in the end even if they "only" last 60K miles.

[morpheusx]

I'm trying to decide between the Goodyear Assurance Comforttreds or the Michelin Hydro edge in the OEM 185/65/15 size. Its a about a tie for me right now, and I need tires by the end of summer.

[GatorJZ]

Originally Posted by patsparks

I don't understand how they can warranty a tyre for 85,000 miles, that is like 136,000 kilometres. I am wrapped that I have got over 90,000km from the Michelins on my Prius, normally I struggle to get 60,000 to 70,000km from a set of tyres.

Is it the roads?

The mileage warranties generally exclude road hazards and wear caused by improper alignment, balancing and/or inflation. Some require proof of periodic balancing and rotation. If you get get by all those hurdles, it is prorated and you're lucky if you get $10 off per replacement tire (which you would have gotten anyway if you had just asked).

[rigormortis]

i went to sears.com and even though it could not be ordered because it was not in stock, they called michelin up and had a set of pilot primacy tires shipped to my local sears store. during the wait i got a coupon in the mail from sears for 10 % off everything in the store and after i paid for the tires, i remember i had this 3 day limited coupon, and i was able to score a 10 % discount on the set of tires, even though they were a special order. this brought the price down to 145, which was only $5 more then what tirerack charges.

they did not seem open to allow me the 10 % coupon and a price match to local
tire dealers at the same time, so the 10 % was good enough and more then what i would of gotten on a pricematch alone, this 10 % off only covered the tires and sears only price matches on tires and not road hazards or install work

i didnt feel like having someone put clip on metal weights on my rims and hitting them with a rubber mallet, so i asked for the adheisive tire weights

if balacing is so important then how come the tires do not come balanced from the factory??

i almost cancelled the entire order and got falken ze 912s instead, because there is no treadlife warranty on pilot primacies like they are on falkens. really sucks i think.
only the primacy mxh4s have that.

so the primacies come with 10/32" and those guys at the local toyota dealership just inspected the car as part of thier 5,000 oil change, and they wrote down 6/32"
did i really loose 4/32" in a week? hahah

[Backwoodsprius]

I am a new member. This is a great thread, but now I'm really confused.

First, I have 90,000 miles on my '05 and have had nothing but problems with OEM tires. My problem was aggravated by buying a package that included 2 sets of tires- the same crap the car came with.What a relief to find this is a general problem- what an idiot I feel like for not researching sooner.

I am about to get fourth set of tires. I will get 195/60 R15s. I was leaning to Goodyear TTs, but then nyprius was having some noise issues as the tread wore down. Kumho KR21s are quite a bit cheaper. Has anyone had the KR21s for any significant period of time?? I don't care too much about warranty. I want better handling, very little mileage reduction, quiet ride, and performance with SNOW- we had lots this winter.

[spf]

Originally Posted by Backwoodsprius

I am about to get fourth set of tires. I will get 195/60 R15s. I was leaning to Goodyear TTs, but then nyprius was having some noise issues as the tread wore down. Kumho KR21s are quite a bit cheaper. Has anyone had the KR21s for any significant period of time?? I don't care too much about warranty. I want better handling, very little mileage reduction, quiet ride, and performance with SNOW- we had lots this winter.

I've had the kr21's for several months and they are great. Quiet and handle very well. Since I'm in southern CA I can't speak for snow, but they are the number 1 rated tire in their category at tirerack.com, based entirely on their consumer opinion survey. I've attempted to copy the survey below, but it may not come out in the proper format. Overall they are rated as being "excellent" to "superior" in each categories:
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/sferdyn/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg[/IMG]
Results based on 277 submissions of our online tire survey.
Surveyed Averages 1 100% 8.4 8.5 8.5 8.4 8.9 8.5 8.3 7.7 7.5 8.7 8.4 8.6 1,004,995
Would You Buy This Tire Again?
Most said: "Probably" (Average of 8.4 out of 10)
How Did This Tire Rank In Its Category?
1 out of 27 tires (Score of 8.4 vs best tire in category score of 8.4)



Color Key Superior (8.6-10)
Fair (2.6-4.5) Excellent (6.6-8.5) Unacceptable (0-2.5) Good (4.6-6.5)