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Decent, affordable tires?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Myrdraal, Apr 14, 2014.

  1. KeinoDoggy

    KeinoDoggy Member

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    Maybe in LA. Still feels like winter here in Ohio. 18 degrees last night.
    :(
     
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  2. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Brrr. Used to live in Gahanna. I remember those cold winters. I am a damn yankee now...
     
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  3. B. Roberts

    B. Roberts Hypah Milah! Ayuh.

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    Conti Pure Contacts are very good tires. Conti Pro Contact... also a very good tire, but quieter with better MPG results than the Pure on a Prius. If you're gonna use these as summer tires, they are fine. Ecopia 422's came on the Honda Insight that we just bought. They are OK as well. Fairly quiet, although can't compare to the Continentals that I've driven on Gen III Prius, since they're on a Honda.

    I did try out the Ecopias on the last dense 3-4 inch Spring snow fall we just had a week ago, just for yuks and giggles. I just drove around on the driveway, since it had no sand or salt on it. They did better than I thought they would.

    There's no way that I would want to drive on snow without a good snow tire. Canada's right on this, for sure. The best all season tire doesn't come close to measuring up even when compared to just a fair snow tire in the snow.
     
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  4. Stratman

    Stratman Member

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    Interesting thread. As someone who used to work for GoodYear and lives in the south I can't imagine anything but buying tires, driving them till they're worn out, then replacing them.

    Having said that, I have relatives in Pittsburg, they don't change tires, they change cars. They all store their nice summer cars in the winter and drive rusted out, bondo patched Junkers in the winter salt covered roads (couldn't pass inspection with rusted through panels, hence the bondo).

    I can remember visiting in the summer with the family as a child then my sister and I flew up one winter for an uncles funeral. We both were thinking the same thing. Other than the really nice neighborhood my uncle lived in, it was as if the entire city was driving cars they got from Macon county Alabama. A zombie apocalypse of vehicles.
     
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  5. B. Roberts

    B. Roberts Hypah Milah! Ayuh.

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    I do the same thing!!:) Prius is a 3 season car for us. No rust or sand/stone chips. Our Prius hasn't even seen a snow tire!

    The salt car, or what I call our "winter sacrificial anode" is done for. We go through inspections every year here in Maine, and our old 1999 Saturn SW2 Wagon will not pass inspection one more time. So we're donating it later this Spring. License and inspection sticker are good 'til November.

    It was a great snow car. Did lots of snow storm commuter and ski trips. With snow tires, slightly taller aspect ratio than OEM spec, the thing never once got stuck, and I never had to turn back. I worked rotating shifts, and my 12.5 mile rural commute sometimes took place at night and especially on weekends, when the plows would not go out until 4 or 5 in the morning. I broke lots of snow trails on the way to work and back home, with no problems.
     
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  6. neez

    neez Member

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    Prius is also a 3 season car for me too. Got my subaru for the winter months, it's awsome in the snow. As long as i'm not pushing snow with the bumper, i'll drive out in it.
     
  7. car compulsive

    car compulsive Active Member

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    I'm running PureContacts. They provide much better wet traction but I lost about 3 MPG compared to the factory GY Assurance Fuel Max.
     
  8. B. Roberts

    B. Roberts Hypah Milah! Ayuh.

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    The friend who had Pro Contacts put on his car temporarily since the shop didn't have the Pure's that he wanted, noticed that his MPGs were not lowered by the tires right from the start. He had them on his car just shy of a month. We found them to be very quiet and good riding tires, but did not get a lot of snow to test them on.

    After the Pure's came in, he had them installed and lost about 2 MPG. He did inflate the Pures to 39 psi front and 37 psi rear. The Pros were probably inflated to the mid 30s or so. Noise difference is slight... with the Pro being slightly quieter than the Pure Contacts. The Pure Contacts did quite well, handling the few times we drove them in snow.
     
  9. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Right now, my vehicle is still relatively new. I consider anything less than 15000 miles and 1 year...still relatively new. So caveat all my statements with knowledge of this truth.

    But I'm wondering why people don't recommend the Good Year Fuel Max tires more often? Those are what came OEM on my Prius and so far, for an OEM tire I'm really impressed.

    The gas mileage is good, the handling is good. Does well in rain. And so far, seems to be wearing at a reasonably durable rate.

    I'm usually prepared to hate OEM tires, but the early returns for me on the Good Year Fuel Max Assurance seem good to me, but I notice few people ever recommend them.

    Am I in for rapid deterioration? Am I missing something?

    They are NOT good in snow and ice. But with knowledge that they are simply NOT an extreme winter tire, they seem to be a good option to me for the other 3 seasons of the year.

    The other caveat would be I haven't priced them new. So I don't know how they compare to Michellin or the Bridgestone Escopia's as far as price. But if they are significantly less, my albeit limited experience with them so far has been good.
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    ^ Could it be there's an OEM version of the Fuel Max, with lower rolling resistance? All I've read regarding replacement FM is their RR was so-so, not bad, but there were better. Not saying this is the case, but it's possible.

    There was a similar case with Bridgestone Insignia SE200. They were one of the stock tires used on second gen Civic Hybrid, and had a diminutive _02" on the name, as in: SE200_02". The OEM SE200 had very low rolling resistance, but some owners found mileage dropped when they replace with (supposedly) the same tire, but without the "_02".
     
  11. striker308

    striker308 Three time Prius owner

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    Goodyear assurance (Wal-Mart grade for best cost)

    I drive a lot of miles and these tires go great in all weather and have a tread life of 600 from the Wal-Mart grade tire I found that I got more than 68K from a set without any traction loss in the winter. The car that was wrecked (2012) had the newer high grade comfore-track tires, I didn’t have the car long enough to see how long they would last but they were rated well and really cut down on road noise.


    These are the higher grade ones I mentioned but the Wal-Mart grade cost less and worked well for me in two cars with a total of more than 270K miles between the two.
    Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring