New '09 - couple of questions

Questions:

I noticed almost immediately that when driving the Prius (picked it up with 4 miles on it), that when on the highway, the steering felt "squirrely". The feeling you normally get when the tires are not inflated evenly. Not the feeling you get when it's out of alignment, but much more a tire related issue. The steering would be fine, start to drift a bit due to the road, you'd make a slight correction in the other direction, then it would almost overcompensate in that direction, have to pull it back, etc. A "cycle" of about 20-25 seconds going right/left, etc. This also didn't feel like it does when the tires are overinflated.

I checked tire pressure, and that wasn't the problem.

With 80 or so miles now on the Prius, it seems to be getting better. Could this just be due to getting the tires "worn in" or "worn down a tad"? I've never really noticed this on other vehicles in the past, or when replacing tires on existing vehicles. Has anyone else noticed this?

I also ordered the bumper protector from the Prius Chat shop. Strange thing during the order - I went all the way through, and instead of what I would have expected at the end - showing me an order number and receipt to print, it took me back to the shopping cart. I got the "glad you signed up" email, but haven't received an email receipt. Is this normal?

 

Thanks. PM'ed Danny.

 

Maybe, but I don't think so.

I can definitely feel the steering is different, and I'm not sure that's what I'm experiencing. There's a definite difference in feel due to the drivetrain, etc. compared to other vehicles, but this is almost certainly a "tire" thing.