Tire Rack, Bridgestone Turanza's, Goodyear Comfortred

After finding out that the OEM tires had become cupped because the car was delivered in such bad alignment, and needed to be trued such that few good miles would remain on them, I went looking for a replacement set of tires. In using the feedbacks on Tire Rack, I found that the Michelin Hydraedge was highly regarded as a three season tire (I do not live with snow or ice, so such tires are good year round for me). And another highly regarded new product from Goodyear was its Comfortred product.

When looking at the user feedbacks on Tire Rack, you can filter the feedbacks to just the same car producer that builds the Prius, Toyota. By doing this you can compare feedbacks for similar cars to yours, as opposed to what a tire does for a light truck or heavy V8 from Detroit.

When I called Tire Rack to order the Comfortreds, the salesman sold me on getting the Bridgestone Tiranzas instead, saying that he had driven both, and this was the better tire, although priced much higher. After I agreed, I had my first misgivings since the feedbacks were fair to poor for this tire on Toyota's.

Installed last Thursday, these tires have exceptional resistance to rolling, which was amply demonstrated by the prompt 18% drop in fuel economy(from 48 average to 40, a new low for me). These tires were installed on a Prius that had just had a full car alignment done, and also an oil change from dino oil to Mobil 1 synthetic oil. The other procedures did not cause this dramatic drop, as the car simply does not hardly roll at all unless under power. The handling changed as well. The OEM Goodyear Integrity tires felt nimble to me, but these new Bridgestone's reminded me of the handling abilities of my truck, an F-350 dually crew cab. The tires were sold to me as being very quiet, and they proved to be vastly louder than the OEM's. I have grown accustomed to excellent hands free phone calls in the Prius from the NAV Bluetooth system, but the howl at highway speeds precluded conversation, the roar drowned out the conversation, even with passengers it turned out. I was told they would "settle down". That never happened, but the number of apparent rattles in the car increased sixfold as every bump in the road was transmitted to every part of the vehicle.

The Tire Rack people sent me some replacements at my insistence, the Goodyear Comfortreds, since the Bridgestones came with a 30 day satisfaction warranty.

I had them installed this afternoon, and the difference is night and day. Incredible quiet, and a very nice reduction in felt noise, most all of the various rattles that were cropping up ceased, this while the car had the same Toyota recommended tire pressure, the same outside temps, the same roads. Fuel economy also took a jump and the tires have already shown better grip on dry pavement than the OEM tires.

The ride comfort has gone from mildly harsh to mild, and when you need to consider new tires for your Toyota or Toyota Prius, you cannot go wrong in the comfort and quiet areas with these new Goodyear tires. They reduce some bumps to a mere flutter and the cabin interior has a very notable reduction in noise while at any speed. Below 15 miles per hour these tires are near totally silent, and at highway speeds wind noise is now notable that was not previously.

The entire Tire Rack experience so far has been pretty well, except taking up the recommedation on tires that were poorly rated by users for Toyota's.

The lesson learned is to rely upon those feedbacks and make some decisions based upon feedbacks from users.

Speaking of users, did you see where there is a record high satisfaction with the Prius reported by Consumers Union? Well over 90% said they would buy this vehicle again.

 

After 400 miles there should not still be an eight MPG drop. The new comfortreds already have the fuel economy up to nearly where it was, pre Turanza's.

If I lived where my brother does, in the Seattle area, with its numerous misty days, I would go for the hydraedge.

I am still estatic about these new Goodyear Comfortreds, they bring the ride to a near Town Car quality, road tire noise is negligible at or below 40 Miles Per Hour.

Unfortunately, the rattles the harsh Turanza's introduced are still there but now seldom heard. Maintaining body integrity was one of my major concerns for finding the smoothest possible tire for the Prius.