Best FE tires nowadays?

It appears that only North American Classic Prius were equipped with the XL-load rated original equipment tires. European Classic Prius did not come with those tires.

I personally would not be concerned about the XL-load rating and would buy Bridgestone Ecopia since I have been very happy with those tires on both of my 2G Prius.

However if you like to load up your Prius with the maximum allowable weight capacity and drive at high speed in hot summer weather then maybe you need the XL tires.

 

OK, since you have five travelers and all of their baggage then the car is probably fully loaded and it would be wise to maintain TMS USA's recommendation to use XL-rated tires.

 

Hello I would recommend the Ecopia as well. I have had no issues with weight as I would be one of your larger prius drivers. My family and I drive all over the place and weights are 290,120,54,48 and vehicle has no problems.

 

Fast tire wear indicates wheel alingmment problems. When did the car last have a four wheel alignment?

 

what can you tell us about the enginer 4kw mod? sure would like to be able to drive my car a few miles on EV......

 

When I was curious enough about 2 1/2 years ago to hit the library about the tire loading issue, I wound up with these conclusions:

1. The glove-box specification of 84(XL) vs. 81 load-index tires does not seem to be explainable as a load-capacity decision. Reason: at the glove box pressures of 35/33 psi, the TRA-published load capacities of 84 and 81 tires are equal.
2. Increasing inflation pressures if using 81-index tires instead of 84 does not seem to be necessary or useful from a load-capacity standpoint. Reason: while TRA-recognized load capacities for 84-index tires do increase beyond 35 psi, for 81-index tires they do not.
3. Whether using 81 or 84 tires, it is important not to let the front pair drop below 35 psi. Reason: the weight on the front is very close to the allowable limit (equal for 81 or 84 tires at 35 psi), leaving very little tolerance for underinflation.
4. There may be other reasons besides vertical load capacity behind the choice to recommend the 84(XL) tire. One possibility is the apparent benefit of XL tires on tallish, narrowish vehicles for improved lateral stability.

Point (2) does seem a bit weird, since it is hard to believe on any simple physical model that an 81 tire's load capacity really increases with pressure right up to 35 psi and then stops. I suspect what it means is the TRA uses a less simple physical model taking other factors into account, and that is why they will not recognize any increase in capacity of an 81 tire beyond what it offers at 35 psi.

Of course there's nothing there to discourage inflating either flavor of tire beyond 35 for fuel economy reasons, or just to keep it that much less likely to drop below 35 between pressure checks.

-Chap

... the post I linked at the top also includes the numbers and math you could extend to your own family weights if you were curious.