Tires - reccomendations please

Why do you think you are going to get sound advises now. LOL

I am on the same boat as you are, looking for replacement tires for my PRIME comes spring. My criteria is very similar to yours, comfort, safety, mileage, and the cost.

I currently have narrowed to possible short list of tires to consider, Yokohama Avid Ascend GT, Yokohama Avid Ascend LX (this is new model with substantially longer thread life than GT), Continental TrueContact Tour, Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring, Michelin Defender T + H All-Season. I have not had any of those tires for my cars, so no personal review (or BS?) here. On sale with rebates and discount, I am looking at $65-75/tire for any of those tires on the list or less than $400 installed.

Good luck.

 

I have two sets of tires and one is bumpier than the other because of the tire profile. The low profile has less sidewall height and more rim. The higher profile has a higher sidewall height and more air to absorb the impact.

215/45r17 (Prius optional stock size). 17" wheels, so more steel and less tire. Better handling, but bumpier because there is less air in between rim and road. Tires cost more. Lower fuel economy because more rim means it is heavier.

195/65r15 (Prius stock size). These are my winter tires. 15" wheels so less steel and more tire. Crappier handling and feels more squishy. Less bumpier because there is more air between rim and road. Better fuel economy because tire is lighter.

The differences between tire brands apply to smoothness, road noise, rolling resistance, traction, stopping, threadwear, and handling. You won't get much improvement on bumpiness between brands but I guess there is some quality differences.

 

Maybe I don't value "handling" that much, but alternating between our stock 215/45R17 (Canadian Touring model) and 195/65R15 snow tires, I see little difference. The ride is smoother on the 15's.

 

I agree with the above. I have 17” for the summer and 16” for winter - stock for gen2. I’m going to replace the summer tyres to 16” too.
I think it’s acceptable for both comfort and handling.

 

Direct answer...Michelin Defenders.

 

Good luck, BS runs this forum.

 

Tell me about it..I’m on new 185/65/15s After a month break in, MPGs are back to 63 mpg per commute, no offensive driving in the country side for this fella.

 

My BS vote would be for the Defenders. The Ecopias that came on the car from the factory were fine except tire life was quite short. second set were defenders and lasted very well, were not ever noisy. Third set was Sumimoto or something like that. Did not last long and got very noisy. Back on another set of defenders now.
Another BS opinion from me is that the ride has more to do with wheel size than make or model of tire. Lower profile tires will have a firmer feel to them. There are lots of good tires out there. Different features are more important to some than it is for others. Pick the features that are most important to you, and hopefully you pick a winner.

 

I put Michelin Premier AS 195/65/15 on my 2012 Gen 4 last November. With a softer compound I sacrificed longer tread life for smoother ride, better traction on wet or slick roads. We'll see how they do on ice and snow here in Boise.

I haven't had the opportunity to really test them in weather because I left Boise early December and I'm currently enjoying Summer in New Zealand with a 6 day side trip to Fiji on the way home.

 

How about mpg?

 

I’m gonna start posting incomplete replies like him whose on the vacation.

 

Premier A/S were the first things I put on my Gen 3. I liked everything about them, except when I checked the tread at 20,000 miles they were already half gone, projecting out to maybe 40,000 at the outside rather than the rated 60,000. They were not inexpensive either, so I did a bit of arithmetic that put them at about 2.4 cents per mile, or $335 per year the way I was driving.

After those, my next thing was General Altimax RT43. They were well reviewed, less money, and I have quite enjoyed driving on them, no complaints. I have not checked the treadwear lately, so I can't report yet how they're doing on that front.

 

We've been happy based on research and performance of Michelin's at Costco, I think we buy the 80K warranty ones but could be 60K. Purchased for several vehicles and great experience compared to other tires in the past we purchased based research. There is often $70 off for the purchase of four. We have purchased at least three time

We still get about 45 mpg with quite a bit of freeway driving for our 2012 Prius II.

 

Here is my history.
Purchased 2010 Prius 2 at 60K with Goodyear Assurance, made it to 80K miles with them.
Next 2 sets were all Bridgestone Ecopia 422 and 422+ from Costco. Got 65-70K miles from each set. Never saw any noticeable change in fuel mileage between the Goodyear and Bridgestone. Bridgestone's seemed quieter than the Goodyear's.
Have a set of Goodyear Defenders on our Honda Accord. First set did not last 90K as advertised and Costco prorated them. New defenders have reduced the 90K warranty to 80K I believe. They seem louder than the Bridgestone.
I'm at 32K on my Prime with the original Toyo tires. Will see how long they last. Most likely will install Bridgestone Ecopia tires on it when they wear out just because of past history and ease of dealing with Costco.

 

Goodyear has Defenders? You'd think that'd get Michelin's noses out of joint.

 

They might get defensive...

 

Didn't they used to recommend the Michelin Energy Saver tires for fuel efficiency around here? I think those are the ones I got last time. I didn't really notice any increase in mpg but that may have been because my traction battery was starting to go around that time, and they say a new tire has a little more rolling resistance than a worn one. After that was replaced it went back up a bit. Before that I had the Yokohama ones and they didn't seem to last long.

 

Still is recommended, just depends on which replies or thread.

Yokohama, which tire and specs were they?

 

Reminds me of the old punchline and joke...

The food here is terrible...
Yes and the portions are so small....

So you are getting too many BS recommendations, but are asking for MORE recommendations?

This past Fall, I started looking for replacement tires for my Honda Fit. Then I decided that I had one more Winter. But I'll be replacing this Spring or Summer.

IMO, Discount Tire, Tire Rack...both have intensive review systems available.
The amount of information you can get about a specific tire is amazing. I tend to like longer period, owner reviews, in aggregate.

But the key is...you know what attributes, in what order of priority you want.
You should be able with little effort, to track down tires and evaluate which one fits those attributes the best, at a cost you can afford.

With my pre-replacement investigation, with my Honda Fit, I think I've decided to go with Yokohama Avid Ascends GT's. But this is for my Honda Fit...NOT a Prius and NOT a Hybrid. Not even sure these are a viable replacement for a Prius.

In the meantime, just for fun I check out Discount Tire and Tire Rack, for tires in my size, and IF I find a great deal? I can jump on it. I think the Yokohama's are a good choice for me, but they don't have to be the ONLY choice, if I can get a good deal on another well rated tire.

If not...probably late Spring or Summer, it will be the Yokohama's.