Sigh, TPMS...

I was thinking Volt has the passive system, maybe they changed after 2012?

 

Even Cruze shows pressure/temp in each tire. If they got the data, might as well let it be seen.

 

Yup, the Prius is not entirely a "Perfect/Romance" ......but it does come close ....

 

I didn't know other cars with TPMS can display individual tire pressure. Our three cars with TPMS so far Toyota Sienna, Honda Civic, and Toyota Prius all have the "idiot light". When the light comes on, unless it is totally flat, I still have to check each tire with gauge. Are all the Japanese car with TPMS like that, I wonder???

 

...someone advised me Highlander and maybe other Toyota models do show it. But I think yes as an American mandate, perhaps Toyota is slow to embrace.

 

I'd much prefer Toyota to embrace making the damn system easily owner configurable, with clonable sensors available. As far as individual readings: if you get the light, it takes all of 2 minutes to go around with a gauge.

 

Or use a self-learning TPMS system, as many American-label cars use.

 

If it was a choice between displaying individual, and coming up with self-learning TPMS system (as @fuzzy1 mentioned), I would much prefer the effort went into the latter. It's trivial to check which tire is causing the low pressure warning, but absurdly maddening, the current "snow tire situation".

 

My solution - use an all weather tire that is as good as most snow tires in bad weather, Nokian WRg3. No need to change tires for each season. Did I mention that they are low rolling resistance as well.

JeffD

 

They're in-between, a big improvement from all-seasons, but still a compromise. Time before last when I needed snow tires, everybody was sold out, due to new regulations in Quebec mandating snow tires. So I got WRG2 (their precedessor, look more like their current Nordman WR tire).

Are all-weather tires a good compromise? - The Globe and Mail

 

How was fuel economy on Nokian WRg3? I drove my 2015 Prius with EP20 for two winters. I put Xice3 this winter for original EP20 was getting very low on tread. Even though we live in norther NE, they do very good job on plowing roads. For normal commuting I use my car, I would say I only have 3-4 days I really need winter tires on my car. Since my wife drives the car sometimes, i felt more at ease by having dedicated winter tires on this car, but I will consider using All-Season tires year around if I am the only one driving it.

 

Winter tires left on year 'round will wear fast through the summer months, and really should be replaced sooner, say around 7/32" remaining tread depth.

When Should You Replace Winter Tires? - Kal Tire

 

I have MPG data on using several tire models on my 2004 Prius. It came with Goodyear "Integrity" tires (very poor traction and handling) from Toyota. After 50k miles (yes they lasted that long due to raising the psi to 42/40), I installed Michelin MVX4 "Energy+" tires. These wer much better tires, Matched the Integrity tires in warm weather MPG and beat them by over 2% in cold weather for the next 55k miles. My next set were Nokian WR tires which matched the Michelin's in handling, had much better traction in all weather conditions and beat the OE tires by about 5% for the next 55k miles. My next two sets (over 100k miles) were the newer Nokian WRg2's which matched the older WRs in MPG, traction, and handling but generated a bit less noise at highway speed.

I blew out a sidewall in one of the Toyo Energies (bad pothole at speed) on my 2016 Prius 3 as bad weather was approaching last Fall, so I replaced both front tires with the newer Nokian WRg3 model tires (if anyone needs an almost new Toyo, let me know). I have insufficient data to fully analyze the impact on MPG but it does not appear significant (The Toyo's are highly rated as LRR tires), but I would not have survived driving min some of our late winter snows here in the NE with the Toyos. The Nokians managed the snow/ice quite well for me. I will rotate the tires later this spring to get the Toyos to the front and get some use out of them. I expect to buy two more WRg3's and retire the Toyo's by the Fall after next.

JeffD

 

Note that Techstream can read the individual tire pressures. The data gets as far as the TPMS computer - it just isn't displayed.

I saw a Lexus outside Costco that was equipped with "location specific TPMS". do not know any more, but it could be as simple as displaying the numbers that are already available.

 

Thanks for the info. I will keep eyes on WRg3 bargain. I was considering hakkapeliitta for dedicated winter tires, but found far better deal on Xice3 and got them on my Prius this winter at a local tire shop,. I also just purchased set of Conti Turecontact tires on sale, so I will put them next week However, I sure like the idea of not changing tires at all so I don't have to worry about this TPMS things.

Are there any other "All Weather" tires available in the US other than Nokian?