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Replacement tires with positive camber like the orignals..

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by epoch_time, Oct 9, 2015.

  1. epoch_time

    epoch_time Active Member

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    I have 76,000 miles (still with 3/16 inch tread) on orignal goodyear integrity tires and have orignal negative camber front end alignment (tires leaning in at the top ) and have never inflated above 35psi front and 33 psi rear.
    Ihave rotated them myself (both our genII and genIII) at 5000 - 6000 mile intervals..

    I'm calling these orignal integrity tires positive cambered whereby the sidewall facing the engine is taller than the outside facing sidewall..Therefor the tread of the tire is not level. When the tires are off the car being rotated they will not stand upright.. they fall.. From the very first rotation at 5k to the current rotation at 76000 both (genII and genIII orignal tires) all cannot stand upright. (due to the positive camber tire construction).

    All tires on both my genII (goodyear) and genIII (yokahama) are cambered and will not stand upright when off the cars.

    Have any of you DIY tire rotators found replacement tires that have this positive cambered tires????

    I'm hoping to find the same cambered tires and leave the negative cambered alignment of the prius the same. So the new cambered tires will ride mostly on the high sidewall side of the tire (keeping orignal negative camber alignment) like the orignals did/do for improved gas mileage..

    My thought is there are no cambered tires made in the usa. And the Milage hit that many genII prius users have after purchasing new tires is from flat tire tread (contacting the full road surface) and the new (near zero degree) camber alignment preformed by the tire shop causing the load to be distributed across the entire tire tread rather than the tall sidewall side of the tread.

    SPECIAL NOTE; The genIII front end orignal camber alignment is straight up and down (verticle very near zero degrees) but still have cambered tires. but the back axle is the same as the genII with negative camber causing tires to lean into the car and unadjustable without shims..

    GenIII prius didn't need negative front end camber alignment to achieve 50+ mpg.
     
    #1 epoch_time, Oct 9, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2015
  2. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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    have you had alignment checked? Both of our Prii had too much toe-in from the factory, and were wearing outside edge (or as you call it cambering out).

    It is true that some of the tires handle excessive toe better than others and wear more evenly.
     
  3. thomus

    thomus Junior Member

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    This sounds a bit off. Are you saing the sidewall on one side of the tire is taller than the other because toyota had a factory alignment that made up for it?. Maybe you are noticing the change in alignment from drivers side to passenger side to make up for the 2% crown built into most roads? Perhaps you are seeing what happens to tires when the are drivin while out of alignment for a long period of time. I might be 100% wrong here but it just doesnt sound quiet right to me. Best of luck finding what you are looking for though.
     
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I've never heard of cambered tires. Does it exist?
     
  5. epoch_time

    epoch_time Active Member

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    Are you saing the sidewall on one side of the tire is taller than the other

    YES

    because toyota had a factory alignment that made up for it?

    Toyota had a factory alignment that took advantace of it. rolling 90 % on the highside (high negative camber). EFFECT much narrower tire contact and much lower rolling resistance... This wasn't nessary on genIII because of its better mph.. Toyota probably had these cambered tires custom made by goodyear of japan exclusively for the prius... Cause the intergity's made in the usa are not the same and wear out at 20k miles..

    If your suggesting that misalignment caused this.. I wouldn't have gotten 76000 miles sofar on these tires. and only now do I see any uneven tread wear on the high side of the tread that is contacting the pavement .

    Maybe you are noticing the change in alignment from drivers side to passenger side to make up for the 2% crown built into most roads?

    No.
    This was noticed on my first diy tire rotation at 5000 miles where there was no wear at all. and I'm still on this orignal set of tires which indicate someone (toyota) really knows there stuff.

    Our genIII prius first tire rotation I noticed the very same thing. Tires would not stand straight up-right when removed from car due to different sidewall heights and angled tread rather than straight level tread..
    Our gen III still has perfect tread wear at 35000 miles indicating excellant alignment. And I rotate these also at 5-6k mile intervals myself.

    Our genIII is on the orignal yokahama tires but wearing about twice as fast as my genII integritys. i'm estimating the yokahama's will go 45k miles again exibiting excellant front end alignment.


    Perhaps you are seeing what happens to tires when the are drivin while out of alignment for a long period of time.
    NO.
     
    #5 epoch_time, Oct 12, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2015
  6. epoch_time

    epoch_time Active Member

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    I first started researching this a couple of years ago. Found cambered tires for racing applications where the higher side sidwall is used on the outside of the tire for improved cornering. gen two prius puts high side sidewall in the inside for lower rolling resistance...And I believe this is the secret for true LRR tires... Not used in USA manufactured tires yet.

    Currently we see a few tires spec'ed as lower rolling resistance tires but without good mpg priuschat ratings.
    Wonder why....
     
  7. thomus

    thomus Junior Member

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    Fair enough, like i said im okay with being 100% percent wrong. Just because im unfamiliar with it doesnt mean its not infact the case. There are so, so much to these cars that can be overlooked. Thanks for showing me just one more of those things.
     
  8. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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    No. Tires with stiffer sidewall more sensitive to incorrect alignment and wear more.