Prius Fast Tirewear - Important Update

I've read more than a few complaints about the edges of the tire wearing out quickly. Isn't that a classic sign of under-inflation?

 

Radial tires have to be nearly flat before their degree of inflation will affect tread wear. Their belts keep the diameter almost constant regardless. Thus uneven wear usually means misalignment (or a defective tire).

 

I disagree with this comment with respect to Prius. If you adhere to the Toyota-recommended 35/33 psi inflation, the tire shoulders will wear faster compared to the center of the tread. If you increase inflation to 42/40 psi, then treadwear will be relatively even. This is true for the original equipment tires as well as replacement tires.

Yes, this is generally the case. I have posted the only Prius-related tire extended warranty program that I know about, limited to certain 2001 models. This program applied to my 2001, so the first set of replacement tires was provided free of charge. Presumably Bridgestone helped to fund this program.

 

Dealerships are funny that way. They would tell me not to put a turbocharger and nitrous on my truck or an aftermarket stereo in my Prius too. lol

 

alignment i think is 12 mo/12k miles. you get one freebie because of the shipping tiedowns. it is not, however, applicable beyond that or for multiple times during the 12/12k, because alignment is something that needs to be done regularly anyway on any car.

we had bald edges at 28k even with 42/40 psi in the tires so it's not that.

 

I've had other front wheel drive cars that were hard on the front tires, especially wearing down the shoulders. When the front wheels have to provide traction and steer, that's a lot more load. My Michelin Harmonies are wearing ok, the winter studded Goodyear Nordic are wearing ok too

I keep my pressure at recommended. I find the ride to bonejarring on our poor roads to chance maybe +2 mpg improvment

 

I reckon that Prius eats front tires about twice as fast as rears, even at optimum inflation. So your two choices are frequent tire rotations, or just replace the fronts twice as often (the British way).

 

My original Integrities were shot after about 17,000 actual road miles. I say road miles because the car had 26,000 on the odometer, but a significant portion of that mileage was racked up on snow tires/wheels, which wore fine.

The local dealer wouldn't warranty the alignment at 20K miles when I moved down here. I had the alignment checked at a local shop and all the measurements were in spec, except for the left rear toe which is borderline. None would be described as "bad". They didn't even charge me to check it. My steering wheel isn't perfectly straight, but it's pretty close.

I ditched the Integrities and now have Kumho Powerstars, which are very quiet in comparison. FWIW, I'm pretty fanatic about making sure my pressures are good at 40/38.

 

I've got 34K on my original Goodyears and they look fine. Overall I don't see why most put down these tires. I've been in bad winter conditions with them and I have no complaints. I also push them hard in corners and do okay.

 

No. Touring Edition has Bridgestone Turanzas. But I hear they're the same middlin' quality as the Goodyear Integrities.

 

Wheel Alignment Is Warranted

The wheel alignment issue has been a long known problem. There are many threads here about it. Apparently, a lot of Gen II Prius are being delivered to dealers with the wheels out of alignment. It was the subject of a Toyota Service Bulletin that said if an owner complains about the wheel alignment, then the dealer was to do a wheel alignment for free. It is now (and has been for a while) also expressly stated in the Warranty Booklet -- front alignment is warranted for 12 months/20,000 miles.

Other than the wheel alignment issue, I am not aware of anything else related to or inherent in the Prius that leads to premature tire wear.

 

Same here. I've got 21K on mine (OEMs) and they're fine. A little bit rounded on the edges, but nothing unusual. I'll re-evaluate them next October before snowstorms hit. When they had 18K on them I took them out in the snow to deliberately make them slip, and the Prius worked better than my wife's Accord. I've kept them at 39/37 pretty consistently.

 

hmmm. over 25,000 miles on my OEM's... still have 80% of tread left. bummer to see so many having issues at 20,000 miles... gotta be hurting mileage as well

 

I have over 77,000 miles on my originals and am not getting serious about a new set yet. I'm guessing 80k, 85k maybe. Probably November at the lastest and then I'll change them out before winter this year.

I rotated them at 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k, 55k, and 70k miles. Never had an alignment or anything other than oil changes, filters and gas. Bought it new 2/2006.

 

galaxee got WAY more life out of the skumbag GoodYear integrities than WE got. Integrity ... HAH !! Where was Goodyear's integrity in making those things! Evan after babying them, we STILL had to stretch the "bald" boundry, by leaving them on until 20K ... but man-o-shevits, they were ready for the scrap heap at 18K.

The mystery to me is that there are a few of us PC'ers out there that actually get a moderate amount of life out of 'em. That sure aint the usual scenerio.

 

I have 23k on my Integrities. They have about 50% of tread left. I still have not rotated them.

 

I'm wondering if road texture has anything to do with it? Perhaps those with very long Integrity mileage are driving on very smooth pavement or cement.

Where I live most of the roads are tar bound macadam. This is a very cheap way to "pave" a road, but the surface texture is quite rough. Not only does this impact fuel economy, it probably eats tire tread

 

according to the whitepaper by cummins (a trucking company)
http://www.everytime.cummins.com/every/pdf/MPG_Secrets_Whitepaper.pdf

pavement does have an effect on fuel economy.

 

maybe road conditions and average speed plays a part. on my 2004, i had 7-8 mm of tread left after 30,000 miles also.

but most of my driving is predominately 40 mph and under. so might be a possibility, couple that with living in the state capital where the freeways are very noticeably nicer than the surrounding areas...