Tire buying question

I tend to have a hard time with using the search engine on these forums. I will post my question, but if anyone has a link to previous threads where this was discussed, i would appreciate getting the link or search terms.

I need to replace my tires, they are now worn out, i think the last tread was 2/32 on three of them. One of them consistently has 10/32, i replaced one due to road hazard.

i got the 2007 Prius in 09 and info on these forums led me to replace the Integrities that were on the car with Good Year Triple Tread Assurance P195 60 R15. i wanted the safest tires for holding the road because i was using the car for work with a lot of driving all over the place, lots of miles, all kinds of conditions.

I am not driving the car very much now, i have a different car i'm using for work which i will sell when i retire in a year or so, and will go back to driving the Prius full time but i don't think it will be very much.

The tires i got in 2009 are now discontinued, Discount Tires said they are replaced by Assurance Triple Tread A/S which are different and better. Does anyone have any info on this?

In spite of replacing the stock tires on my car with the more expensive Assurance Triple tread tires, i experienced hydroplaning for the first time in my life. Are there any tires that would prevent that? No other car i ever drove, same road, same conditions, had hydroplaning, where i was changing lanes even though i was driving straight and narrowly missed the car on my right because they got out of the way, very scary.

At one of the two Discount Tires i called today, they said they have Michelin Primacy XV4 which they said was better than the Good Year, costing slightly less, $117. The Assurances are $129. The Michelins have a 60K warranty. The Assurance Triple Treads have 80K warranty. I only put 40K miles on those tires and they need replacing now. I'm hoping Good Year will pro-rate them. Is the warranty meaningless? The guy at one of the Discount Tires said that if the wear was even on the tires, Good Year would probably not pro-rate them. i also have a Life of Tire warranty that extends the warranty on the tires. Is this all meaningless?

thanks for any clarity or guidance.

 

sorry, i just succeeded with the search engine, finding a couple of threads on tire decisions. From this one, Low Rolling Resistance replacement tires: Current List | PriusChat it sounds like what i want might be Continental ContiProContact with EcoPlus ? Would i get the 195 60 R15 size? i am going to see how much these cost. Also recommended on that thread are Hankook Optimo 727. i don't mean they are necessarily recommended, but these are described as Prius Chat favorites. One thing i notice is that my current tires which were recommended by a lot of Prius Chat people in early 2009 are not mentioned at all. I called the Discount Tire guy to ask about the Continentals and the Hankook--they are both way less than the Good Year Triple Treads. He told me that i should still get the Good Year because they're made in USA. I am not even able to afford to get four of the Good Years, i was planning to get two now and two more as soon as i can. But i could get four of the Hankooks at $85 each. The Continentals are $109, definitely more attractive than the $129 Good Years. I'm just very curious about why the Good Years are no longer making the Prius Chat favorites list....

 

Thanks for all the info, i appreciate it. i'm still deciding. Money is tight making the Hankook Optimos more attractive. Also making the Assurance Triple Treads unattractive, given that a lot of people are happy with lower priced tires. i can't really afford the Assurance tires right now, and they didn't keep my car from a really scary hydroplane in the rain and they only lasted about 40K miles. Maybe that's better than most? Anyway, the Continentals would be preferable, price-wise and having a good reputation. i'm still thinking about it. The Hankooks are not LRR. Are the Assurance Triple Treads i have considered LRR?

 

It was raining hard, going about 65 in the car pool lane, driving straight ahead, everything appeared and felt normal, other traffic going same speed, very wide freeway, the traffic was light but slower than usual because of the rain, a typical condition, i think, i've driven those roads under those conditions all my life, it's like the car just came up off the road and went sideways, i don't remember any unusually severe wind, there may have been wind but the main thing i remember is there was a lot of rain. But not to where the other traffic was slowing down much. i did not see that coming at all. It was a couple of years ago, the tires should not have been worn, i got them in early 09.

Since i last consulted Prius Chat for tires, the term LLR has come, i hadn't heard that before. My impression is that this means better gas mpg and fuel economy? i haven't had a chance to resarch it (my daughter is having a wedding saturday, busy) but still need to get tires, or at least an alignment, i was going to do both at the same time, but maybe if i want to learn more about tires before buying, i could just get an alignment, i have to drive from LA to Santa Barbara and back, about 90 miles each way i think, and the tread on three of the tires is 2/32.

Wouldn't LRR suggest less traction if the tire is not 'resisting'? it just sounds like it could mean that. I'm short on money at this time, and am normally not driving this car, i use another one for most driving, so i want to get a low priced tire but still a reliable tire, have to find that balance,i don't want to get a problem tire, but i can't afford the Good Years this time. When the Prius Chat post on LRR tires lists most popular Prius Chat tires, ending with the Hankooks, saying they are not LLR but still a good tire, can anyone say what might be meant by 'good' in that description? I looked at the tires on the Hankook site, they post a comparison with a competitor in which they have higher ratings on 4 or 5 things, but i don't know what that really means. I don't think it said who the competitor was, i couldn't find it, so meaningless.

All i'm going on is this tire being included in this list on Prius Chat and described as 'a good tire.' and also, a post by a Prius Chat member reporting a very good experience with the tires in all kinds of weather.

How does the Micheline Hydroedge (catchy name traction-wise) compare? How does it compare to the Primacy, which Discount tires says is as good as the Assurances but costs a little less? What does GreenX mean?

i'm writing down questions as i go through the list on the LRR tire link.

 

On the list, under the 195 size, it has the Hankooks and it says that it's " reported to be great in snow". Does being good in snow have anything to do with being good in rain?

 

Thanks for all the info. i got the Hankook Optimos today, i needed the tires by today and the alignment, because i have a 90 mile drive tomorrow. i thought i was just going to replace the tires with the Assurances but they are discontinued and i don't really have the money for those now anyway. I'd never heard of Hankook before. i would've thought that the wider tires would have more traction, so i will keep that advice in mind for next time about using the standard 185 Prius size. And it makes sense that speed would raise the risk for hydroplaning. I just have never had it happen before and while the speed i was going was fast in the rain, it was probably 10 mph less than usual non-rain speed and given never having this problem before, it seemed like an OK speed, i was totally unprepared for what happened and am associating it with the car, not so much the tires--the Prius doesn't seem as stable sometimes as all the other cars i've ever driven with the exception of the VWs, it seems kind of like the VWs in a way. i hope it won't happen anymore. i tried the tires out, going fast into going around corners and seeing where they would skid. They seem the same as the tires i replaced. Thanks again for your help.

 

Thanks Allen, that's a helpful suggestion. i always buy pre-owned cars, saving a lot of money and getting great cars that run forever and make me just as happy as if they were new. i would love to save money on tires, especially since the warranty doesn't seem to mean anything. When i got my tires yesterday, with a 100,000 mile warranty and a Life of Tire extended warranty, i expect that except for road hazard, that means nothing, it's probably worthless, based on my current experience. The tires i just replaced with 2/32 tread had a 80,000 mile warranty and i've only put less than 40K on them. The Discount Tire guy asked if i wanted them to dispose of the tires. I said i wanted to get a refund from Good Year because they didn't last as long as the warranty miles. He was very discouraging, saying that they never back up those warranties. !! good to know. He also said that because i'm getting a different brand, i won't get any kind of refund, it's only if i replace with the same tires (which are now discontinued). i pressed the issue so he called Good Year and asked them, and they told him to send them the tires, they would back the warranty. He asked them if they would be issuing me a check. The answer seemed to be yes. The Discount Tire guy told me that it would take them up to 6 months to make a decision about a refund. He said "They always have some excuse not to back it up." I asked what and he said like the tires haven't been balanced or rotated. Anyway, i insisted that he send the tires to Good Year and he said he would do it, and that i should expect to wait 6 months, and there was no receipt he could give me or any follow up number i could use with Good Year. He said Good Year would not contact me, they would contact Discount Tires and let them know, and they would let me know.