Inexpensive tire suggestions

Go to TireRack.com and check their suggestions. You can sort by price. You can enter the model and year of your car if you don't know the tire size. Then print this quote and take it to your local Discount Tire (or local brand tire store) and have them match the quote.

If you want to skip this step, just go to your local Walmart or other discount store that does tires and tell them you want their budget branded tire.

 

Two points to state (…and then I'll shut up!) (1) You get what you pay for! (2) the tyres (tires) are the last thing between you and the road, whether it's raining, snowing, or in the middle of the summer!

In over 50 years of motoring (on both sides of ThePond) I have never regretted buying the best I could afford! (…see (1)) - hope this helps - Wil

 

Yes. Tires need to be replaced at the outside every 7-8 years regardless of mileage and perceived "condition".
Are you a member of Sam's club, by any chance ?
Have you done any online searching ?
Often "tire shops" will price match but watch out for shipping charges.

Look for an "independent" tire shop in your area.
They sometimes are more honest about "whats a good, cheap tire" than the national chains.

 

If you liked Yokohama OEM tire, you may like this one. Yokohama AVID Ascend 89T Tire P195/65R15 - Walmart.com For sale at Walmart at $66.30/tire. That would be $265.20 for tires and with installation, should be little over $300. If your local Walmart do not have them in stock, buy them online and they will ship free to the store or to your home. I had Yoko Avid Ascend on my Civic Hybrid and really liked it. Great mileage (LRR tire), great treadwear (5 Years / 85,000 Miles warranty), quiet and comfortable. Not the greatest tires on wet or even worse on snow, but I had snow tires for winters. At least for your location snow is not an issue.

 

This is pretty much like buying the cheapest shoe that's labelled "running." It's where you make contact to the ground and those shoes labelled running that normally sells at $25 are the worst. So that being said, I would buy average priced tires that are LRR.

In your shoes, I'd shop around and keep prices in your head then wait for labor day holiday and figure out which deals are really deals.

 

I also have a 2010 Prius, I drive proximally 6000 miles a year so so big buck low-rolling-resistance tires are not important to me.
Last year I bought a Firestone firehawks at $47 a piece ,excellent wet traction and , braking and cornering. I get 45 to 50 miles per gallon in the summer and 40 to 45 in the winter I,m a happy camper
They outscored the big buck tires on Tire racks comparison charts.

 

More expensive tires are often longer mile rated and better handling --- not necessarily safer. Years ago when talking about bias ply -- safety/ cost was true.

Frankly -- Michelin makes some of the worst tires for rain use. Can't kill them .... it's the hard rubber. I hate them and consider dangerous. The Primacy on the Prius is Ok .. I'm assuming due to weight

I run a fleet of cars .. occasionally on one of the older ones I will try out something less expensive if I know they are only for a year or so and 20k -- I did a set of Kumho on our old C class MB office car a couple years ago -- they were fine. Gave it to an employee -- they were shot by 35k

With your use/climate the Firehawks would be a good solution.

I have been buying mostly Continentals for quite a while now -- because of the wet weather handling .. but not always available in Prius size.

 

Probably outside of your expense ceiling (which is very low btw), but the first thing that comes to mind: Bridgestone Ecopia EP20.

They're shite in snow once the tread is half-worn (not a factor for you?), and do get noiser as they wear, but a decent tire, only come in 195/65R15, and excellent for mpg.

 

How much for that shite? And they get noisier?!? I'll put my noisy Michelins up against anybody's!!

 

Treadwear doesn't matter for this case. At 2-3k miles per year in southern heat, these tires will age out before anything noticeable happens to the tread. Sort the rankings inversely by tread life, and have a look at the best of the cheap ones. Probably a few winners hidden in plain sight there.