Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred?

Hello all! I am picking up my 05' Prius this weekend and I'm looking at swapping out the tires with either the Hydroedge or the Good year Comfortred. I live in the SF East Bay and do not drive in snow.

Does anyone have exerpience with both of these tires and has any recommendations? Any advice is appreciated. I have search the archives and found favorable reports on both tires. I'm mainly looking for an option by anyone who has experienced both tires and can comment on the pluses and minuses (if any).

Thanks in advance!

Patrick :mrgreen:

Patrick:

I switched out my tires at 11,500 miles and purchased the HyrdoEdge's. They feel much better on bumpy roads and very smooth on the freeway. I like the way they corner better and of course in the rain, it's night and day. I thought about buying the TripleTred Assurance's but stuck with Michelin because of their quality and durability. I did see one comment about the hyrdoedges and the fact that they may not be as good as the TripleTread in snow but we do not have snow on the Gulf Coast so it's not a concern for me. I would first try the HydroEdge and then if you don't like them, you typically have a 30 day trial to go back and try the Assurance Tred. Hope that helps....

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

You might want the double check with your Goodyear dealer and do the reverse of what Craig suggests. As I recall you can get full price credit for the OEM tires from Goodyear if you exchange them within 500 miles. This might not be an option if you swap to the Hydroedge first.

I considered both and went with the Comfortreds. My friend and tire guys only comment was that the Hydroedge is a unidirectional tire and couldn't be cross rotated. I know the manual says to rotate front to back but I don't know why unless you were using a unidirectional tire. The Comfortreds are a regular touring tire but the Hydroedge sure looks cool.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

I have neither of these tires, but I traded my OE GoodYears for Michelin Harmonys. The tire dealer I did this with gave me a good trade in on the OE's. My experience with GoodYears has been less than acceptable on the last two cars I had, and all my problems disappeared when I replaced them with Michelins. Buy the Michelins - forget the GoodYears!

You may want to go to TireRack.com or other online tire places and see the reviews of people that bought the various tires, and the rating for the various factors you choose tires for, e.g. wet traction, wear, ride quality, noise, etc. If you decide on Michelins, another owner said to look for "Energy" tires from Michelin (MXV4 ??) as they have lower rolling resistance hence more mpg. I read this after I bought the Harmonys.

Good luck on your decision - whichever way you go it will be better than your OEs. The handling and ride quality of my new Prius with the Harmonys is fabulous. It hasn't rained yet, so can't comment on that. (Am I allowed to drive my new [440 miles] baby in the rain?? )

Don

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

Thanks for all of the great comments. I really appreciate the feedback. I'm going with the HydroEdges as Costco has a coupon starting on 6/6/05 for $60.00 off any set of Michelin tires. That puts the price even below the Tire Rack, which is a bummer since I've bought the past four sets of tires from them and love their service.

Just as an FYI..I called my local Goodyear Tire store and they will not allow a trade in of the orginal tires since they have already been mounted on the car. I thought that was a weird policy...but whatever :roll:

Thanks again.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

[font=Comic Sans MS:8588c31c2c]I wanted to trade my OE tires as soon as I got the car and wandered home from the dealer on the freeway in the rain. I looked for the same size tire to not mess up the gauges and to use the same wheels. When I called my local Costco, they didn't have the right size Michelin tire. Good luck, every monolithic big-box warehouse store has a unique inventory.[/font:8588c31c2c]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that only bias-ply tires can be cross-rotated and that radials should only be rotated front to back.

If you look around at tire sites, it's a mixed-bag of rotation information. Lots of sites have x-pattern rotation diagrams, and front-to-back-only is just one option. Didn't see any warnings that radials need to be treated differently, but they might be out there.

TripleTreds being uni-directional, an x-pattern would require remounting which hurts the tires, so it ain't happening here...

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

Patrick,

Call your salesperson before you pick up the car and see if you can swing a deal:

Some of us, as part of the sale, got the dealership to keep the stock tires and put on one of the two tires you're looking at. This gets you out of having to deal with the stock tires afterwards and finding a place that will take them.

I paid the difference between the stock tires and the Hydroedges after getting the prices from tirewharehouse.com.

You can tell them that you've read horror stories about the OEM tires and have no desire to use them until they wear out and, that if they keep the stock tires, they can put them on a used car the at comes in which will add to the resale value of that car (He, it worked for me!)

Good luck!

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

Thanks BobC! :clap:

Awesome idea. I'll post what happens when I sign papers later today.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

I went and signed the papers today and tried to get the dealership to do a tire swap and they wouldn't go for it. :roll:

I got a great deal so I didn't engage in a debate with them over the tires. I'll try the stock Goodyears and plan on swapping out next week for either of the alternatives. I won't have the car until Wednesday or Thursday so I still have time to call around to Goodyear stores and try to find a willing shop to take the trade.

Thanks again!

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

well, guys im going to be in the miority again, but if they wont let u trade up for the hydroedge dont worry about it. im at 15000 miles and my goodyears are surprising me in that they are ok. great no but they do not hydroplane (yet) and handle adequately. as ive said a million times im a performance car guy and this is not a performance car in the traditonal sense.i thought originally from all the horror stories that id be all over the road, unable to stop and flying thru the air during rain storms.but happy to report not a prob. i do think that when i change which could be as soon a s at the 20000 mile mark that i will DEFINITELY change to the hydroedge. john 1701a highly recommends them and the reviews are fantastic. when i get closer to changing ill try to figure how to get the best deal which im sure all my prii buddies can help with 8)

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

I picked up our Prius yesterday and switched to the Comfortreds today. I had called 3 Goodyear dealers ahead of time and 2 of them were will to do the swap for $200, including balance and mount.

Since we are in snow country and this will be my wife's daily driver, I didn't want to take the chance with the OEM tires.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

I have a 2004 Prius with almost 40000 miles that has been averaging approx 54 mpg over the last 25000 miles. I recently replaced the original tires which were not completely worn out but getting to that point. They wore evenly at all four positions. I purchased a set of Goodyear Assurance Comfortreads and they have been a MPG disaster. My gas mileage fell 6-8 mpg which was completely unacceptable. You can literally feel the high rolling resistance when on level ground and going both up and down hills. It feels like the car is dragging a weight behind it! My Prius actually slows down when going down an incline unless I use the accelerator to keep speed and then you lose the benefit of having a hybrid. Before you see responses that blame my car or say that I got a bad set of tires, I had everything checked out at the Toyoto dealer and spoke with the Goodyear Rep who supplies the tire store who admitted that high rolling resistance tires are not the tire of choice for the Prius and will cost anywhere from 10-15% decreased MPG. He had the dealer take back the new tires and I had a set of the original Goodyears put back on and PRESTO! 55mpg on the last tankful...So beware of using the wrong style of tires on your terrific little technical marvel. Also, inflating tire pressure beyond specs is just plain dumb. The tires will run hotter and will wear unevenly and will ride rougher than properly inflated tires.

I changed to the hydroedges about 5000 miles ago and took about a 2 mpg hit. For me, it's worth the 2 mpg for the added security and better handling.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(925PriusGuy\";p=\"95183)</div>

Pardon my ignorance, but I was wondering, when you purchases tires from tirerack (or any other supplier for that matter), who do you get to mount the tires onto the car? I ask because I don't know of any shops around here that would mount them unless you purchaed the tires from them? I haven't called the dealership yet but wasn't sure if they would or not.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

[font=Comic Sans MS:c1f585d075]I think a lot of "tire shops" would mount them for you, and charge the $15 per tire mounting fee they would charge if you bought your tires from them. They might also tell you, politely, what an idiot you are for buying those tires, instead of the great deal they could have given you. But they would do it. What if you moved up north and brought your snow tires with you - you wouldn't have to drive back to VA to get them mounted, now would you?[/font:c1f585d075]

Has anyone else seen poor MPG with the Comfortreads? I was going to switch to them but now I'm not sure.

Re: Michelin HydroEdge vs. the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant\";p=\"98582)</div>

Actually, I have called around to the local shops and none of them will unless you purchase the tires from them. I have not called the dealership yet but wondering what other's experience has been?