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OEM tires lasted 26k miles

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by eklabbers, Feb 10, 2006.

  1. eklabbers

    eklabbers New Member

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    I had a flat yesterday. Tuesday evening I drove the car into the garage. Went to work by public transport on Wed, and on Thursday morning I roll out of my garage onto the gravel driveway and once I hit the road at the bottom of the hill, found out my front left tire was flat! Luckily my fiance was with me, and he put the spare on for me. I have no clue how to do that. BTW, the jack that comes with the Prius is a piece of ***.

    Anyway, I drop him off at work, hit the closest Toyota dealer. Unfortunately not a tire center, so I go to Les Schwab. Have always had very good customer service there. The guy that looks at the tire seems very knowledgeable about the Prius. He tells me the tire is done and the other ones will be worn out pretty soon. So he advises me to buy 4 new tires. He tells me the OEM tires aren't very good and that they are very small compared to the size and weight of the Prius, so 26k is about all they can handle. I think he's probably right. So I bought new Eclipse all-season tires with siping for just over $400. And I got free beef! Ha, ya gotta love free beef month at Les Schwab ;).

    I couldn't find any posts here about other people's experiences with their OEM tires. Was curious to know how much mileage you normally get out of them. I was just surprised to hear that it was normal for them to be worn out at 26k miles.
     
  2. oxnardprof

    oxnardprof Member

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    For what it is worth, I have just passed 37,000 miles, and the tires are still OK, just verging on needing replacement due to wear.

    I do mostly freeway driving, and keep the pressure about 38 to 40 psi.


     
  3. artie

    artie Member

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    i have 46,000 on my OEM tires, still ok, hope to make it to 50K, then Falcons.
     
  4. longjohn931

    longjohn931 New Member

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    You got ripped. Your OEM tires should last an easy 50k unless you don't keep the proper tire pressure or you never rotated your tires. Even if you never rotated, the rear tires should have been like new, the front does all the work.
    The prius is not that heavy for these tires, it weighs between a Corolla and Camry.
    Sounds like that tire dealer saw you coming.
    Sorry.
     
  5. Ray Moore

    Ray Moore Active Member

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    Mine lasted 42,000 miles with one rotation and 42/40 psi from vehicle pickup until now. They would have still passed a state inspection but they failed mine.

    The rain grooves disappear at about 25,000 miles so if I lived in a rainy climate I would have replaced them sooner. The tire dealer may not have been completely wrong, considering that factor.
     
  6. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    but i bet the guy went and replaced the oem tires with tires of the same size... too small, my a**.

    unless he sold you new wheels too...

    sounds like a ripoff. it makes me so mad that they bs women into buying all this stuff simply because we're not male. argh! maybe the flat was repairable then, and dude just wanted commission...

    but, the oem tires are definitely not of the highest quality available, i'll give him that.
     
  7. TucsonPrius

    TucsonPrius Member

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    I ended up replacing mine at 34K of mainly city driving, as the wear bars were almost showing. It is possible that I could have got another 3-4K miles out of them, but....

    And just so you know, I did rotate every 5K (did it myself, so there's no doubt), and kept them properly inflated (checked every weekend). The Integritys just seem to wear pretty fast.

    Thanks,
    Shawn
     
  8. Ron Dupuy

    Ron Dupuy New Member

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    Don't diss Les. Mine (40,38) were worn to bars at 20,000- Rough roads and 3000 foot daily climb.

    The larger size does not apply to wheel size as implied, but to footprint. A larger footprint means more resistence and therefore less mileage, but better control. The siping will also give you better control, but also less mileage due to greater traction. I know because I siped mine and lost 5 mpg.
     
  9. Liam

    Liam New Member

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    I replaced mine at 52,000. The wear bars were just starting to show evenly on all four tires. I probably should have replaced them about 2k earlier. I travel mostly on paved back roads about 45 mph. Gas mileage was great when the tires were smooth, but now I have tread again which is much safer.
     
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    US$400 for a set of new tyres?!?

    We got a set of Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus in 215/60R16 size and it cost nearly Cdn$900 for the set of 4
     
  11. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    Mine lasted 20k miles.. the sucked. i'm now riding on Goodyear Comforthreads.
     
  12. RonH

    RonH Member

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    I've got 31 kmi on mine. Look like they'll last 40 k. By the way, what's wrong with the jack. I used it to put my BT tech stiffener on and it was okay. The small pitch required quite a few turns of the handle, but if you don't know how to change a tire, why would have an opinion about the jack?
     
  13. eklabbers

    eklabbers New Member

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    Sure, I don't know how to change a tire, but my fiance does and he changed it for me. The pitch as you call it, bent as he turned it to crank up the jack. I don't think that's suposed to happen.
     
  14. voltoy

    voltoy Junior Member

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    26K Miles on my OEM tires - The inner and outer edges on all 4 tires are worn out. Rotations done at every 5K mile service. Had dealer do a 4 wheel alignment and found that the left rear alignment is out, with no adjustments. Going back to dealer next week to have them determine and repair the cause - Free this time - it appears that the alignment was out of spec from the factory. We will see.

    Planning on either the Bridgstone Turanza LST or Michelin Hydroedge as replacements.
     
  15. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    probably means you had them sadly underinflated most of that time..
    .
    _H*
     
  16. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Don't be so fast and thinking the owner is to blame! At Toyota's spec's for air pressure the outer edges will wear very quickly, and even at 42/40 the outer edges will still wear first, just not as quickly.
     
  17. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    heh.. I call toyota's doorframe-label spec "sadly underinflated".
    And the edges-first wear is living proof.
    .
    _H*
     
  18. tetris

    tetris Junior Member

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    Excuse me for jumping in but what would
    you consider the proper inflation to be
    for front/rear? Haven't had my car long
    & would like to maximize tire life (&
    mpg's if both can be maximized together).
     
  19. Crossbones

    Crossbones New Member

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    Newbie here, no Prius yet. I want to have a look at the '07 Camry Hybrid before diving into a Prius (but that's besides the point!)

    Les Schwab has tried to sell me new tires plenty of times before the old ones actually needed replacement. I've also found that you get what you pay for with their rubber. OTOH, they've been very good to me in honoring brake job warrantees and patching flats. As with any company you just have to be careful about what you choose to believe.

    I've recently switched to Michelins (from Costco) and couldn't be happier with them. After about 8K miles I can tell that they're going to last a whole lot longer than any of the many Les Schwab tires I've bought.

    - XBones
     
  20. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Hi Tetris, The proper inflation is 42 front/40 rear. Several long time Prius owners here and me have noticed better tire wear and my Prius tech also told me to use this pressure.