Do I have a legitimate complaint

no. buy a new oem and have the originals re installed. sell the defenders. or do the math on a few mpg's to see what it will cost you over 90k. it's probably around the cost of a new set of tyres. sometimes mpg's will go up a bit after break in.

 

no problem. original equipment manufacturer. you think they tossed 4 tyres with 55 miles on them?

 

Defenders are a couple of steps down from Michelin's most fuel efficient. I don't think the dealership's on the hook. Obviously they could have steered you better, but it's your responsibility. Live and learn. For what it's worth: there's a number of members here rolling on Defenders, happy. They are a dependable, hard wearing tire. But they're not the most fuel efficient. If it's any consolation mpg does improve, a bit, as they wear in.

Shop for Passenger Car/Minivan Tires | Michelin Tires

By the way: what was your flat like? A nail in the tread? Maybe repairable??

 

In defense of the dealership (I never thought I could say that), your Defenders ARE LRR tires, the tradeoff is vastly increased tire life for a small loss in mpg, probably not a bad deal.

 

Give those defenders a few tanks of gas and I bet your MPG will improve. Keep them filled up with air to the max. That alone will help more than anything. Have patience. The Defender is a LRR type tire, however it does not roll as easy as the best LRR type tires do. But the longevity of the tire and minuscule amount of MPG loss will not be noticed when you consider the amount of fuel. Think gallons used, rather than miles per gallon.

At 45 MPG vs 50 MPG, the gallon usage is almost non recognizable. However 20 vs 15 is a whole different ball game.

Relax, and enjoy the ride AND the peace of mind of having a SOUND set of tires on the ground. Michelin is the best IMO and the Defender is a solid tire that will last you a LOT longer than the OEM's did. Remember you got 50K out of yours. The Defenders are a 90K rated tire.

Just sayin,

Ron (dorunron)

 

How much air are you running now? If you are not at maximum pressure, you will not achieve maximum mileage.

DO NOT stop at what the placard says on the car.

Fill them up to the max pressure on the side of the tire. Maintain two pounds more in the front than the rear.

Learn how to hypermile if you are really interested in GREAT MPG.

 

Food for thought.

500 miles traveled divided by 10 gallons of fuel equals 50 MPG.

500 miles traveled divided by 11.1 gallons of fuel equals 45 MPG.

500 miles traveled divided by 25 gallons of fuel equals 20 MPG.

Like I said, think gallons used, NOT MPG. There is a BIG difference.

At 50 MPG vs 45 MPG you are saving a little over $3 per tank if gas is selling for $3 per gallon. At 50 vs 20 MPG you are saving $75 per tank. It is all about the numbers and how you look at things.

With all that said, your loss of 3 or 4 MPG only means a couple of bucks per tank. Add that up over time, and you will see that the difference is less than that set of tires you paid for. And those tires will last you a long time, so even with the difference in the MPG, the value is still there. One other thing to think about. You had to buy tires. You could have done a lot worse. IMO, you are good to go now for a long time with peace of mind.

Just sayin...

 

I also have Michelin Defenders XT (from Costco) on both of my 2010 Prius vehicles. I generally get 52 to 54MPG, but I religiously keep the cold tire pressure set at 42PSI (Front) and 40PSI(Rear). Keeping your tire pressure high will change your overall MPG especially with the Michelin Defenders. I do not trust the dealership mechanics and/or tire shop people to set my tire pressure, there are too many inconsistencies. Get yourself a good tire pressure gauge (not a cheap pencil air pressure gauge) and check cold tire pressure at least once a month, especially when there is a change in temperature and/or barometric change.

 

Uh yeah, I am saying you are shooting yourself in the foot running the pressure you are running. Try 42F 40R and go from there. The placard on the car is for comfort, not great MPG and longevity of your tires. It is all about rolling resistance. The more air in the tire, the easier it rolls. Have you ever tried to pedal a bicycle with a flat tire down the road? I bet you found it was real hard to do. Same thing with your tires on your Prius.

Pump them up and keep them full of air. Also reset the TPMS system when you pump up the tires. What's a TPMS system? That's the light on the dash that you mentioned.

 

Yes,
I Run 44 psi front and 42 psi rear, my tires are rated at 44 psi max.

Just tell your dealer what psi you would like to run in your tires, it's your car.
Defenders are nice tires, I think you will like them.

 

Keeping your tire pressure high can also prevent hydroplaning and help get even wear on your tire tread.

 

Sometimes the dealership and/or tire shops will refuse to set tire pressure higher than the one stated on the door panel, therefore I would suggest that each owner set his/her own tire air pressure.

 

You are correct on checking the psi after getting home from the shop, just to make sure they do as you request.
They do make mistakes from time to time. I have used the dealer and also tire shops they have always put in what I have requested for in psi, they have always done as requested, as they should! It's my car.
But I agree, check psi when you get home.

 

Just to clarify, did you mean to say 55,000 miles, in the above? How many miles did you have on the tires, when you got the flat? Also, any idea what those tires were?

 

If you wait for the light to come on, you are waiting too long for best overall mpg and tire life.

Don't simply assume that the dealership is taking care of it. They have their own agenda that doesn't match yours, and the pressures are usually checked and set by the newest technician lowest on the totem pole. If you are trying to maximize or optimize something, you need to take control of the pressure settings yourself.

Many of us take the door label number as a minimum, and the number on the tire sidewall as a maximum. Pressure choice is a tradeoff between conflicting goals, and different people place different weights on the various goals. The car makers tend to weight ride comfort much higher than many of us who desire high mpg, so they set the door label recommendation lower than we like. Some dealerships stick to that label, others (e.g. the shops were my household's cars are serviced) automatically go several pounds higher unless the customer requests something specific.

Use the cold morning pressures, before the car moves any distance. The tires warm up with use, raising the pressure several pounds. If you top off while the tires are warm, the pressure will be lower the next morning.

New tires generally produce slightly lower mpg at first, getting better with break-in.

Beware also that if the new tires have a different 'RPM' (revolutions per mile) specification than the old ones, your odometer calibration will change. This corrupts any MPG comparison based only on the odometer readout, because the exact same trip on taller tires (lower RPM) will appear as less distance on the odometer. A true comparison needs to be made by some other method independent of the tire diameter, such as a GPS or highway mileposts.

Winter is coming, the weather is cooling, the roads are getting wet, the seasonal gas blend has changed, and all this hurts MPG. In most climate zones, your MPG now is lower than it was during summer, regardless of tires. It will improve again next spring and summer. (This pattern doesn't apply to places with warm dry winters but hot summers needing lots of air conditioning.)