all season tires?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(geminirat @ Aug 20 2007, 02:01 PM) [snapback]499222[/snapback]</div>

With over 24,000 miles on the tires, we are still extremely happy with our ContiProContacts. I just measured the tread depth and found it was 7/32 of an inch, less than half worn through. Everything that I've said before here and elsewhere still holds true.

At this rate of treadwear, I expect them to last around 50,000 miles. As the tread depth has decreased, the handling and traction has improved markedly and the tire noise has increased slightly.

I was delighted to see that SilverVolt had the opportunity to perform coast down tests comparing the 185/65HR15 with the OEM tires and report his experiences
here. I haven't been driving the Prius as much as my wife recently. She drives much too fast and only averages 45 in the Prius. (But then she averaged only 26 mpg in her 2001 Civic! Her speed is the reason that I installed larger 195/65HR15 ContiProContact tires on the Prius, for better dry traction and safety.) I obtain over 100 mpg regularly on a 30 mile round trip of pulse and glide driving (with a couple hour stop half way.) In more regular driving I'm getting around 50 mpg driving fast (65-70) on the highway, 60 mpg driving conservatively (55) on the highway, and around 60 mpg in city traffic. I can't compare my tires with the OEM Goodyears, as I drove them only 1 mile (straight to the tire store). Thank you SilverVolt for your comparison, using more scientific coast down tests.

I'm a strong believer in dedicated snow tires. I was planning to use Michelin X-Ice snow tires on the Prius last winter, but the traction with the ContiProContacts was so far above my expectations that I didn't switch them out. (I really love the VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) in the winter and don't think I'll purchase another car without some form of stability control!) Most good all season tires have siping that is only partial tread depth in some spots. This allows for much siping on the new surface without all the tread deformation or 'squish' that comes with snow tires and full depth siping all over. Since last winter, our ContiProContacts are have worn past the siping at the exteriors of the tread blocks. I expect this to impact the ice and snow traction and plan to follow through and use Michelin X-Ice tires this coming winter.

We are still delighted with the ContiProContact and expect to replace them with the same when they wear out in another 20-30 thousand miles. The only other tires on the market now that I might consider are the Dunlop SP5000 (in 195/65HR15) and the Falken ZE-512 at tire stores and the Michelin's Pilot Exalto A/S and new Primacy MXV4 if Costco is running a $60 coupon sale at that time.