MPG drop with touring wheels?

[arvind]

Hi, I recently put some touring wheels without the covers on my 07 non touring prius. I noticed initially that my MPGs were about the same. However, recently i noticed a massive drop off. from about 48-50, im down to the 30s. i reset my miles after about 100 to retest and its still about the same. same gas, no deflated tires. the tires were put on professionally and mounted and balanced with the old TPMS monitors. Has anyone else found this to be the case? Do I need to get the wheel covers to help make up the MPGs? Any help would be great. Thanks

[doubleg2005]

not to that extent... you can see in my sig that i've only had one tank in the 30's and that was my wife driving (and probably a fluke considering the next tank i had)

however I do think my mpg's are probably lower than a base Prius, but probably only by 5ish (if that)

oh, and the wheel covers won't have any effect at all, either way

[Boo]

Hi Arvind,

When Consumer Reports tested the Standard Prius, it found that it got 44 mpg average.

When it tested the Touring Prius it found that it got 42 mpg average -- only 2 mpg less than the Standard Prius.

Assuming you didn't change the OEM tires on either the Standard or the Touring's wheels, your mpg difference should correspond to Consumer Reports'.

BTW, for that 2 mpg drop, you should get improved handling and about 10 feet shorter 60 - 0 mph braking distances.

One of several interesting threads on the subject is this one: consumers reports tests touring!

Also, as Pablo said, the Touring wheel covers will make no difference whatsoever.

[arvind]

The tires were changed to fit the 16 inch rim. The rim is the toyota touring rim with Falken tires. V rated. Im just stunned at this drop off and pretty concerned. Ive never seen this before. The Prius is in tip top shape. Recently serviced too at Toyota. I made sure I swapped out the TPMS when i put the new tires on too. Im mostly a highway commuter for work and dont really use it in the city. IVe been lucky to avg around 48 or so. Im a newbie pretty much when it comes to the Prius but I wonder if I had to reset some switch or something. I wonder what else it could be...

[F8L]

Merge this thread with the one in "Economy" please. Posting the same topic in multiple forums is kind of a no no.

[Boo]

Maybe the Falkens have a higher rolling resistance than the Touring's OEM Bridgestone Turenzas.

Also, did you change from the Touring's OEM tire size of 195/55/16?

[misslexi]

I'm running touring wheels on a non-touring 06. Falken Tires 195/55-16.

My worst tank was 43 mpg. Best 49.

5000 miles so far.

42 psi front, 40 rear.

Mostly city short runs < 10 miles.

[arvind]

Hi Sorry for posting in 2 places. Wasnt sure where the topic fit most. First post too. Im running the same tires 195/55/16. I will try to refill the tank tomorrow and retest again. I hope to get the MPGs back in the 40s. THanks for the help. I think the fellow said he filled to 35 PSI. Maybe that is too low?

[doubleg2005]

the question is: do you have bridgestone turanza tires? or just the touring wheels? running 35 psi in the turanzas would definitely cause a mpg hit since they are rated at 51...

[arvind]

Im running Falken 195/55/16 tires. V rated. THe wheels are the OEM touring wheels.