Best Tires for 2009 Prius Please

Continental true contact! No all season tire is really good on ice but the Continentals did fine in snow for me

 

drive slower on ice, if you absolutely have to go out.

 

i have michelin energy saver a/s. i don't think they are rated well on ice though. other than that, they are smooth, quiet, great mpg's and good in wet weather. i'm retired, so don't drive much until the roads are plowed.

 

can't argue with that. does michelin premier work? i put those on my wife's hycam, and we have been very pleased.

 

I have another thread here, that I actually started about a year ago on General Altimax RT43. They went through a nasty winter, with snow, ice and LOTS and LOTS of rain and they were Champions through it all.

I was considering the True Contact at the time I bought the Generals. I am very happy with them and they are much cheaper than the Conti.

You might want to read through that thread before you spend the big bucks on the Tubby Tire Man tires or the Conti.

General Altimax RT43 -- review | PriusChat

If history holds true, General is either having a rebate on them now, or will shortly.

But, in my opinion, after a year, buying any other tire is a waste of $$ unless it is cheaper.....

Great treadwear so far, on the Altimax, also.

It's a sleeper tire. Everyone overpays for the Michelin Man or the Continentals, but the Generals are a great find.

Read through the thread referenced above...off soapbox....

 

Some people get confused, the earlier version of the Altimax had terrible treadwear -- wore out early. According to all reports, the new RT43 has much improved treadlife.

I know you said you had a couple of different sets of the Altimax, probably the first set was before the newer RT43.

Whatever. I am very happy with it, but Michelin and Conti will be quite happy to take your money for any of their tires and no issue with me. For me the $200 in savings was quite an incentive for the Generals.

We got about 23K from the OEM tire when the car was new. Depending how and where you drive, and whether you rotate regulary 40K is not horrible.

I thinking I will probably get some 45K to 50K out of these, which I am happy enough with. Understand, that puts the car at 150K, which is when I would probably be thinking of getting rid of it anyway.

 

I have defenders on both of mine right now, and I like them. The mileage suffers a little bit vs some of the LRR tires, but it's not a big enough difference that I think it matters. Ride is good, and they're supposedly good for 90,000 (I'll be happy if my cars live that long). Before that I had Pirelli P5s (liked them a lot) and the bottom of the line Firestone (did not like, they just came with the car when I bought it). I can't speak to ice or snow performance, but the Defenders seem good enough in the rain.

 

I had Defenders on my 07 but found them very poor on packed snow and ice in Minneapolis. The car couldn't get going from a stop on packed snow. Just sat there transferring power back and forth between front tires. That gets scary making turns in front of oncoming traffic. The Continental true contact are much better in snow and ice. Both brands have worn well and mileage is similar. I currently have an 06 and 07 Prius with true contacts on each. The one drawback we have had with the true contacts is hydroplaning that has been scary enough to make me plan in switching to something else. I absolutely loved these tires until that happened a couple times on both cars. Perhaps Generals next round.