Recently visited dealer for "free" Prius maintenance clinic. Vehicle OK (at 114,000 miles) except they were concerned about tires. These are indeed wearing out and need to be replaced soon. Dealer states that my tires (Goodyear VIVA 2) are wrong type for this weight car, and that I need to have tires made by Dunlap for this vehicle (and they happened to have Dunlaps in stock for $118 each). I declined offer. My Goodyears are P175/65R-14 81S, which is what the manual recommends. Question is: are the existing tire types OK, or is the dealer correct. I'm inclined to think the dealer is full of crapola.
Just ordered the Michelin Energy Saver A/S for my Prius. I have the touring model so needed the P195/55/16 tires that were a special order in our city. Hope they work as billed. Good luck with your search.
here is a very useful info from john's website about your tire concern. John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Tires I think your dealer is kinda right about the tire choice though since our prius (2001-2003) do equipped with extra load (175 65 R14 XL or 175 65 R14 84S) tires from factory. But only bridgestone, firestone and dunlop offer the right size with the right load rating. If you ask my opinion, I will rather stick with the right load rating because they will have less chance to blew (or other damage) when it hit a pot hole compare to a lower load rating tire.
Many good mfrs offer 185/65R14 tires with OE load capacity or better. There will be a small fuel economy reduction but I bet you'll like the way it drives with bigger tires.
I ordered Sumitomo HTR T4s at $50/each from Tire Rack based upon Consumer Reports reporting them as low rolling resistance tires. The first set ran 50,000 miles before a side wall puncture took one out. I'd already ordered a pair of larger diameter Sumitomos for mileage testing. So I replaced front and rear and the best of the first set is now my full-size, spare. I live in North Alabama so we don't have much snow or ice, the weakest part of the Sumitomo ratings. Bob Wilson
This is what I ordered (and are going on my 03' this morning) as well. Glad to hear you don't yet have any complaints. I get plenty of snow/ice, but I also switch to Blizzaks because I've yet to see a set of all seasons that will let me go to work every day. Levi
I just bought those Sumitomo's, and they are awesome tires. Great handling and very quiet. Great fuel economy as well, I can easily hit low to mid 50's. Good decision overall!!!
