Tires and mpg

Because I live in the mountains, love to ski, and hate to buy gas for my thirsty pickup, I decided to upgrade the tires on my Prius from the OE Goodyear Integrity tires. The first thing I noticed was that the OE tires were almost bald after only 23K miles. My pickup did better than that on its OE set. The dealer said it was because of the torque of the electric motor, but it's not like I've been laying rubber. In fact, I drive more conservatively to enhance mileage.

That brings me to my second issue. I did some research, realizing that rolling resistance would impact on mileage. But I also needed a grippy set of treads for snow driving. I wound up buying Michelin Hydroedge tires, which do seem to handle the wet and slippery very well. Consumer Reports also rates them as very good in terms of rolling resistance. Ever since I installed them, however, my mileage has turned to crap. The first tankful (~42 mpg) I attributed to headwinds. My second tankful was better (~49 mpg), but much of that was downhill. On the current tankful...all in town...the computer has not climbed above 40 mpg (currently 38). Of course, it's colder and road conditions are less than optimal, but last winter I averaged close to 48 mpg.

So I guess I'd call this a cautionary tale. You may have to sacrifice some mileage for the sake of safety. <_<

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Are there grippy tires that don't significantly impact mileage? At $400 a set, I won't be swapping the Michelins anytime soon...assuming they fare better than the OEs did.