HP259 Tires (NTB house brand - made by Yokohama)

One possibility might be for you to buy a set of four winter tires for winter driving, but that would require you to have room to store the unused set of tires when not in use. If that alternative is not feasible due to cost and/or lack of storage room concerns, then it would be reasonable to buy a set of four high-quality all-season tires now, rather than risk your safety to Brand X tires. Good luck with your choice.

 

If cost is a major concern at least replace the older tires. Tire Rack is a very good resource to use when studying the rapidly changing market.That should help some. Also plan to drive a little more cautiously in wet conditions. A few dollars can be saved when purchasing there but most dealers now days seem to be cutting their tire prices while inflating the installation and balancing cost which seem to run around $35 to $50 per tire. That reduces the bargain that mail order tires used to represent.
You can find excellent tires for your Prius but I'm not sure you can get an excellent or even significantly improved performance with only replacing 2 tires. Besides , most of the "highly" rated tires seem to cost nearly twice your $62 price at NTB.
FWIW I just purchased 4 Bridgestone Ecopias and I'm very pleased.
The tires were less than $100 each but I spent over $140 for their installation

 

Any input from the forum would be really appreciated.

Raymond G

It appears these 259's are Yokohama made, have an H speed rationg (130 mph) and have UTQG ratings of A for traction, A for temp, and 320 for treadwear. To me, all these facts are good except that last one of 320. In today's market that's an abysmal # for a general use passenger car tire. Having said that, I see two options: (1) Buy 4 new ones and trade the 259's in. You'll get something for them. (2) Buy 2 new 259's and plan on getting only 25k miles out of the tires. Good luck to you.

 

Seems like a cost-effective solution. I suggest you put the two Michelin X tires on the rear axle, so that the NTB tires on the front axle will wear out first.

 

I have Michelin X tires Michelin X tires on my 2008 and really like them.
But, I fear you may induce handling problems with mismatched tires. First try the Michelin's on the rear. you may need to reduce the air pressure on the front tires if you have excessive under steer. The Michelin X's on the front with your no-name tires on the rear might cause drastic over steer. Which could be dangerous for high speed driving.

 

I was in a similar situation with a new-to-me '06 Prius with nearly worn out Goodyear Integrity tires. I put up with them for about a year and then started noticing that I was losing traction on wet roads. I bought four Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds (P195/60R-15 87H and they are much better, with great traction. It was somewhat expensive ($570 for all four installed), but I would do it again.

 

Good point Patrick. I think having your weakest performing tires on the front also will give you earlier feedback on traction and thus perhaps help prevent loss of control.