Tires: Dealer let me switch (poo for poo, but still)

So did they just switch them with another car that was in inventory? I have really been lucky over the years and was able to find cars that had tires I liked, too. Both my 07 Tundra and 07 Camry had Michelin. I removed the Bridgestones and opted for Michelin Pilot Sports on my new Prius.

Good choice getting rid of those Yokohamas.

 

Very cool they did that. I know alot of people buy cars without looking at what kind of tires are on there. I always look, and try to pick one with good tires.

I upgraded to 17s, and the Michelin Pilot Sports seemed to be the best in that size for me. I was surprised they were only $132.00.

In the 15s I have heard good things about the Michelin Energy Saver. Not sure how much those are.

 

Of the three OEM tires available on Prius, the Goodyear bests the Bridgestone and Yokohama. Good choice getting those Yokos off......Aweful tire and noisy as all get-out once you get some miles on them. We had them on a Suzuki Aerio SX4 and in a word......They "sucked".

Craig

 

I have had nothing but problems with Yokohama. The final straw was when we put them on our 06 Mazda3. Could never get them to balance. Finally figured out two of them were bad from the factory, and could not be properly balanced. They replaced those two, but then the car was so noisy we hated to drive it. They removed all four and replaced them with Goodyears.

Many people will argue that they are good tires, but I have never had any luck with them.

 

You made a good choice. Fuel Max are a excellent tire! H

 

FWIW, the Yoko Geolander's they put on Subarus are very good. Easy to get over 60k on OEM versions. Never lose traction, etc. Not sure about the noise though.

Given my experiences with them on my Subarus, I figured they were better than the Good Years I currently have. Glad to see I lucked out in this regard.

 

I used to buy nothing but goodyear tires, until about three years ago. I put a set on my '07 Camry Hybrid and after about 5000 miles, I started having all kinds of weird problems. I kept having one flat after another and chunks of rubber would just fall out of the tires. One tire blew out in the tread area, not the sidewall. The whole time goodyear kept saying it was the way I was driving and the roads I was driving on. I told them it is the same roads I have been driving on for many years and I still drive the same way as I always have, which is very conservative. One thing that really ticked me off at goodyear was the fact that they broke one of the TPMS sensors and claimed it was my fault because I ran the tire flat. That was impossible because I removed the tire before it was anywhere near being flat. That cost me almost $200.

I finally got tired of all the "bull-oney" from goodyear and decided to ditch them after less than 20k miles for another brand, which was Cooper. The Cooper tires were rated for 80k, I think. When I traded the car the tires had over 90k on them and they were still looking very good - no uneven wear, still enough tread left to go a good bit more, but more importantly, not a single issue. And I was still driving on the same roads and in the same manner.

To sum it up, I will never buy goodyear again. I have voiced my opinion with both the tire dealer and goodyear and they didn't seem to care, so I told them I would tell as many people as I could about my experience. I just believe people should know when something like this happens, so they can make an informed decision when buying tires.

 

I totally agree with you about Goodyear tires being garbage. I had a set on a pickup truck a few years ago, they just flat out could not be balanced. I went through 4 sets of tires and NONE of them could be balanced. Finally the dealer told me that all the GMC pickup trucks shimmied like that. I said ... REALLY ?? .... well OK then ... you have two rows of them on the lot, and I want to drive EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. If every single one of them shimmies like mine does, I'll accept your explanation .... OTHERWISE YOU'RE GIVING ME DIFFERENT TIRES.

About 45 minutes later I had Yokohamas on the truck, and the shimmy was gone.

By the way, I pick up my 2010 Prius II tommorrow night ! Looking forward to the forum.

REV

 

Well I'm afraid I have them on my Prius and HCH2 now so I hope I don't have those results. So far so good. I find them very comfortable and give great FE. H

 

If you live in areas with snow / ice (like SE Michigan) Nokian WR2G are a very good choice.

I wore out a set on Goodyear Assurance (35,000 miles - 1 winter) on 2008 Prius and switched. Winter performance absolutely flawless. Tires are winter rated but can be used all year, like I did.

Took new 2010 (Dec. '10) Prius 2 directly to dealer and swapped out (dealer discounted new Nokians $225. Winter performance again flawless.

Fuel economy did not appear to be negatively affected (both cars). Tires come from Finland where gas is pricey so efficiency is apparently part of base design.

 

I found we took a mileage hit whenever I swapped our OEM Bridgestone Insignia SE200_02 for Nokian WRG2, the latter being our "snow" tire, on separate steel rims. Mileage would typical drop from somewhere around 6.0 liters/100km to 6.5. This is with an 06 HCHII, short trips, around town. FWIW it didn't seem to make that much of a hit in highway driving, and might depend on the vehicle also.

Still worthwhile for the much improved traction and cold weather grip, but I would be itching to swap back, come spring.

 

Tony

I was going to buy the Nokian WR2g's, but decided on the GY fuel max instead. Basically because my Prius has GY on it and I liked the performance of them. We will see!!! H