Lost 5 mpg when replacing Integrity tires with Hydroedge

It's interesting that any brand of tire has to "wear in" before giving their best mileage. I changed to Falken ZE-912's, and it took a few thousand miles before I was back up to about where I was with the Bridgestones (plus better ride, handling, and quieter).

 

Does that mean that I will also get better mileage from my Prius after the Yokohama tires break in?

 

There are a lot of factors you see worse mileage with new tires.
- The well worn tire's diameter became small, then you saw better mileage.
- The well worn tire's rolling resistance became small, then you saw better mileage.
- As others wrote, the new tires need to break in.

Also, temperature is getting colder.

Ken@Japan

 

My experience was similar; I estimated a 5-10% loss. Much of it has been made up now that I have 35K miles on the Hydroedges.

 

That is the consistent opinion here - they certainly should.

 

I'd say it's worth a slight reduction in mpg for the increased safety of better tires!

 

They will probably never be as good as the Integrities. Integrities may be noisy, not wear very well and have mediocre wet traction, but they allow very good fuel economy and dry traction.

See TireRack.com for a comparison of fuel economy tire tests conducted on a Prius. Using their results, in my warm climate I will replace my Integrities with GY Assurance FuelMax.

 

i agree... the yokohamas on mine are getting better. i have about 2500 miles on them.

 

I did not notice such a large change in my MPG when I switched to hydroedge after about 35K miles. Less than 5 % reduction.

Also, I have been letting Costco set the tire pressure. They do not fill it to the higher pressure unless I remind them - and it seemed too much trouble to do so all the time.

My long-term MPG is 48 - 49 MPG, with a lower efficiency around town compared to the highway. I don't know if tire pressure would have more effect in urban traffic?

 

My hit with the hydroedges has been no more than 4 or 5%. It's unfortunate but I'm willing to trade-off for tires that don't scare me. Integritys were fine when brand new but became way too "exciting" in inclement weather.

 

I'm looking for black steel rims for the winter for my 2008. Does anyone have a site I can go to and purchase them?

 

There is no Prius-specific steel wheel, as the alloy wheels are standard. But the previous generation (2003-2008) Corolla wheel will fit. Maybe you can find a salvage set, or if not, a tire dealer might be able to order a new one for you. I got one for $50 to mount a spare tire on.

 

... and it IS only temporary. Our hydroedges needed about 8K miles to get back up over 60mpg. Welcome to the "lost mpg's when replacing tires ... but only temporarily" club.


.

 

I'm in the "New Hydroedge tires" club, having just replace my OEM Integrities at 25,000 miles. Upon reading that many PC members claimed low lifetimes on the Integrities, I'm amazed that the original poster reported getting 63,000 miles of wear! Mine were badly (and unevenly) worn at 25,000, even though I religiously rotated them every 5,000.

Well, it is too soon to really tell, but the first 50 miles is bad news for me. But, my lower MPG is in line with what everyone is saying. On my OEM tires, I was consistently achieving 55 mpg. On my new Hydroedges, it's a struggle to get 50 (same exact daily driving route, same temperature, same weather).

Still, I'm looking forward to the improved handling, ride, and quietness.

 

It's interesting that many people are reporting a similar story of "about 5 MPG" decrease for their new hydroedges, given that in the recent tire-rack tests (see When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green ) found only a very maginal difference (0.6%) between them and the GY Integreties.

Can we assume from this that the majority of the reported decrease is just the result of the tires being new and not yet "broken in"?

 

I think this is part of the answer.
Given the same percentage of wear, side-by-side, the Integrity has lower rolling resistance than the Hydroedge. Couple that with the fact that a tire's rolling resistance decreases with wear, and you get a double-whammy MPG hit when you install the new tires.