Choosing tires

Doing a search on Prius Chat reveals the following information on the Harmony.

Online resource for the Toyota Prius offering discussion forums, research, and shopping. - Search Results for Michelan Harmony

Doing a search on Prius Chat reveals the following information on the Energy Savers

Online resource for the Toyota Prius offering discussion forums, research, and shopping. - Search Results for Michelin A/S Gas Saver

Hope this helps you in making a informative choice.

Ron (dorunron)

 

Hands down, Energy Saver A/S of those two. The Harmony will cause mpg to drop and Energy Saver A/S will produce a gain. This is as compared to your OE tires. The fuel savings and lower cost of the A/S will save you money compared to the longer lived Harmony. Besides, they are discontinuing the Harmony with the Defender.

 

I am happy with my Energy savers so far ~5000 miles I can feel a little hunting in groves in pavement, but not bad. they seem quiet, and I feel I coast further.

I have not used the Harmonies.

 

You are going down the rabbit hole now.....

You are better of either covering your ears and just buying one of the tires or taking the red pill and seeing how far the rabbit hole goes.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...esistance-replacement-tires-current-list.html

 

Sounds way too big. If you don't want to adversely effect your fuel economy I recommend staying with (or near) the OEM size.

The most commonly used sizes are 185/65/15 or 195/60/15, both of which have similar rolling circumference. Also, although it's a slightly larger rolling circumference, 195/65/15 is fairly popular as it tends to correct for the speedo which normally under-reports speed by a few percent.

In the US 185/65/15 is the standard OEM size, while in Australia and some other countries 195/60/15 is the standard prius tire. Both work well.

 

With fuel prices rising fast don't under-estimate the cost of reduced MPG if you make a bad tire choice. I've estimated that, over the life of the tires, it costs over $100 for every 2% loss of fuel economy.

Compare even the small change of 49 MPG versus 50 MPG over 65000 miles. The extra fuel used is 65000*(1/49 - 1/50) = 26.5 gal. With fuel likely to exceed $4/gal over that time then that's easily more than $100 saved. None LRR tires are false economy.

Basically this means that some non-LRR tires could cost you an extra $500 over the life of the tires.

 

Yes both the Ecopia EP100 and EP422 have a proven track record in giving good fuel economy. The EP100 is a summer tire (and excellent if you don't have snow or ice) while the EP422 is an all seasons tire. I'm not sure if it's been proven, but it's thought that the EP100's have slightly lower rolling resistance but the EP422's are slightly longer wearing. I put the EP100's on about 6 weeks ago and have been very happy with them.

I'd say both the Ecopia's and the Michelin Energy A/S have the most proven track record in LRR and fuel saving.

 

uart...are the EP100's quiet on the freeway? I think that they're a great deal.

 

I don't have a lot to compare them with, they seem about the same as my previous set of Hankook k415's. Honestly I don't notice any excessive noise.

 

I recently replaced the factory Yokohama AVID tires to the Michelen Energy Savers. Ride is quieter, hydroplaning is reduced and handling is about the same or slightly better.

I have confirmed over the past 1800 miles on the Energy Savers a 1.8 MPG increase using gas receipts to calculate MPG, not the mileage lie-o-meter.

 

Very quiet. However they may not currently be available in the Prius 15" tire size.

 

Yeah...I just found that out today. I bought 4 on eBay for 285 with free shipping and no tax, but then the seller tells me he has only 3 of them...damn!