NON-snow tires for Prius

Not quite true - NYPrius started a thread with a comprehensive analysis of tires, including their impact on MPG, odometer accuracy, snow/water performance, etc. Many folks posted their own thoughts and analyses and it looks like some tires will produce a 1 - 3 mpg hit initially, but that after they wear in, that impact is reduced.

His thread is here:
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/20573-tire-upgrade.html

 

I was looking at the tires on my new 2008 Prius Touring and they only have a rating of 260.

Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 UTQG 260AA Rating

I'm guessing this is a really soft tire and won't last too long. Surely no 80000 miles...

 

I am considering the Michelin Harmony tires for all season including snow. Would appreciate feedback from anyone who has these tires on their Prius and how they do in snow and ice.

 

I have this tire as a "three season" tire on my Prius. The tire is barely adequete on fresh snow, if there is slush, rutted snow, and especially ice, forget about it. My Prius is then helpless.

For real winter conditions, after trying a couple pricey studless winter tires, I got some studded Goodyear Nordic winter tires from Canadian Tire. THis is the same as the Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 sold in Europe:

Goodyear Eur-Winter Tire-UltraGrip 500

If you click on PRofile, a movie about the tire will load. This tire is excellent on ice and hardpack snow, and deep snow until the car itself bogs down. The tire is very noisy on dry pavement, but the directional tread design work well on wet rutted paved roads with standing water

 

Thank you Jayman. What I am looking for are tires that do not need to be changed out in the snow. Is there such a thing?

 

I'm sure there are those who will claim that a tire really is "all season." After 25 years of driving, I have found that to be false

If most of your driving is in a rainy area, you want tires that perform well on rain soaked roads. Extremely hot driving, ditto. If the temps are 0 F or colder, with snow/ice to deal with, most "all season" tires are pretty helpless

I've never been bothered by "wasting" money on having separate rims/studded tires for winter. I calculated for my Prius the cost of 4 steel rims and 4 studded tires to be about 1/38 the cost of my car. For my FJ Cruiser, the separate rims/studless snow tires are around 1/39 the cost of the vehicle

That said, folks on this forum claim that the Michelin Hydroedge and Goodyear Assurance perform ok in winter. Online sites like Tirerack also have customer submissions and those have more credance to me than an advertisement from the tire maker

 

I purchased the Nokian WRG2. The dealer told me the "WR" is being replaced by these. He said they are made in Finland and tested in the "artic" and were especially made for slush. This tire dealer was in Cleveland and he told me he had a man come from Michigan as he could not find them there. I did drive home tonight in the snow and ice with no problems. We'll see..............

 

That part is true enough, but keep in mind the Scandinavian countries have fairly strict winter tire laws and usually that means dedicated winter tires

I actually don't mind having separate rims and tires for winter. With the road salt, that means I save my nice factory alloy rims from filloform corrosion. With 2 sets of tires, I'm spreading the wear among 8 tires instead of 4, so overall the tires last much longer.

Rather than being a "cost" having a dedicated winter tire/rim set could actually save you money. Especially if they help keep you out of a ditch

If I lived in a mild climate, I probably wouldn't bother with separate rims/tires