Used Prius tires and service

you would want to go with some low resistance tires

Low Rolling Resistance Tires and Fuel Economy - Hunter's Ramblings about Performance wheels & tire | Tire Rack

 

As the above poster states be very careful when buying tyres for the Prius. Buying the wrong tyres can and will knock as much as 8 mpg off you your fuel figures making them very expensive tyres in the end.

John (Britprius)

 

I suggest you look at Costco, Bridgestone Ecopia EP422. Costco frequently offers $70 off a set of four tires. That might be a bit higher than your budget but not terribly so.

If you buy some of the tire models on your list don't be surprised to find the mpg drop considerably.

You do not need a front wheel alignment if you find the current tires are wearing evenly. You don't need fuel induction service if you don't notice any driveability issues. Use the money saved there to help you get a decent set of tires.

 

You definitely want a LRR type tire. The tires in your list r619 are not LRR tires. They will cause the MPG to drop as stated.

You bought the Prius to save money on gas. Don't waste gas money because you bought cheap tires. Spend a little more and get LRR type tires. The tires Patrick Wong suggested is what you really need. There are a couple of other's out there, but for the price and the fuel savings, the Ecopia's are pretty much the one's to have. If you had money to burn, I would have suggested the Michelin Energy A/S, but those are way out of your price range.

 

Here you go... All LRR tires listed for your vehicle on Tire Rack. You can sort the reviews to view only reviews from Prius owners too. The above thread is very good too.
LRR Tires

I've got a new set of Goodyear Integrity tires on mine that would be close to your price if you found a local deal. They were installed by the dealer prior to sale so I didn't have any say in the choice. The reviews aren't great but I've been completely happy with them in rain & dry conditions.

 

Check the wear on the front tires. If it's even across the tread then you don't need an alignment. As to how often you need an alignment - once to twice in the lifetime of the tires. If you don't smash into curbs and pot holes at 20+ mph then you will not need an additional alignment.
I would not deal with that Firestone shop since they gave you such bad advise.

 

FWIW, one of the few thing I have done at the dealer aka stealer is front end alignments. Maybe I have been lucky, but so far the two dealers I have used here have been competitive and seemed to do the work correctly as I did not have to take the car back again ie: problem solved.

The Prius can easily have the 12 volt battery run down since it is low amp/hrs. Also some of the shops don't have the proper equipment to set everything from what I have read here on PC. Where ever you take it, ask them if they regularly align Toyota Prius.

There are a lot of posts here on PC where shops have done alignments and then the poster has problems with broken speed sensors, VSC lights and so forth.

Alignments two to three times are year? Someone is feeding you a line... As long as you are not jumping curbs or running off the road your alignment should hold up well if it is done properly the first time and the parts on the front end are not worn. Our Prius has over 75K on the clock now. It was aligned when we bought it @45K - realigned after wife ran it off the road and ruined two tires - checked @ 70K was still in spec but tweaked the toe slightly.

The main thing you really want to do is this. If the car is pulling and or the tires are not wearing evenly, then have an alignment done. After that keep the tires aired up properly and rotated regularly. It is best to rotate them every 5K. Also quite a few here including myself recommend air pressure of 42 Front, 40 Rear for best MPG. 35F 33R is what is on the tire placard. That is MINIMUM and gives the best ride but sacrifices MPG. Set the pressure where you are comfortable with the ride and keep them maintained.

If you follow those tips you should get reasonably good MPG along with good tread life out of the tires.

Best of luck to you, and I hope this info helps.

 

I'm a big fan of Discount Tire and they will price match, they've done it for me several times and even on special order tires.

Also, you should take a look at your tires, it's pretty simple to see if they have life left in them. Here's a good description on checking your tires. If they are 60K tires and you only have 47K on them, it seems a little early for them to be toast. Then again, some tire companies put long warranties on counting on the owner not keeping the car that long. 60K isn't that long, however.

Lastly, if you have the receipt from the other owner, I'd take it in to Discount Tire and ask them if they'll honor the warranty. It can't hurt.

 

r619,

Sounds like you got a great deal on the tires. Excellent shopping for sure. You mentioned an oil change. If it was your Prius, check the oil level NOW on the dipstick. If it is over the top dimple, it is too full (overfilled). A little over is okay one time, but if you find it more than a 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch, you should drain off the excess oil. It is not good for the Prius to be overfilled with oil.

As per the manual 3.9 quarts is MAX with a filter change - Four (4) quarts is too much.

3.5 quarts works great for the change. Monitor oil level regularly by checking the dipstick when you refuel. From the bottom dimple to the top dimple the volume is 1.6 quarts. It is best to keep the oil level close to the top dimple, but not over it. If you ever find the oil level is at the bottom or below the bottom dimple the ICE is running low on oil. (3.9-1.6=2.3) As you can see by the formula at the bottom dimple the ICE will only have 2.3 quarts of oil in it. With all that said, just keep a eye on the oil level and top off if you need to between oil changes.

I only mentioned this stuff because you said something about oil change @ Firestone.

 

That's the first time I've heard of Discount Tire not price matching. I was fairly certain that was their policy, in fact I've taken advantage of it against Tire Rack online. Nonetheless, it seems you got a good deal and were able to get some money back on the old ones. Good for you.

 

It may be that Discount Tire cannot price match with the rebate, I don't know. I know I've been very happy with almost everything they've done for me, and that's wheels & tires for the T'bird, 2-3 sets of tires on my Odyssey, a set on my Outlook and 3 sets on my Mazda3.

 

That is not the way to do business. I have no doubt they won't get any word of mouth "good" advertisement from you. If a company is not willing to do what a paying customer requests, then they should not be in business. If you are going to have someone change the oil for you, try giving them the oil and only giving them 3.5 quarts

It really blows when people think they know more about your car than you do. It would be different if they were factory trained. Even then sometimes those folks don't know their a** from a hole in the ground.

Hope next time you have better luck with the oil changes.