[ruth]

I am new to the list and a brand new Prius owner. I am also moving to Prius from a Subaru (4WD) and am nervous about my first non 4WD vehicle, since I commute 45 miles daily, and winter conditions can be 'dicey.'

Based on my experience with another Toyota, good tires make a huge difference in handling, so I plan to purchase new tires for the Prius (probably Pirelli) right away.

Does anyone have any comments or experience with changing tires on their Prius? Mileage differences? Other?

I would appreciate it!

Ruth

 

[firepa63]

Look here under Prius Info, Tires H.
http://john1701a.com/

 

[hyperion]

Don't be in such a darn rush to dump the OEM's. They are great tires and work well in the snow.

 

[stevesol]

They don't work in MY snow.... maybe snow's different in Missouri...

 

[mrv]

Don't be in such a darn rush to dump the OEM's. They are great tires and work well in the snow.

The OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE92 XLs and the OEM Goodyear Integrities were OK in the snow when they were still new (first winter or so with them), but by their second winter (more wear on the tires) they weren't so great with the slush on turns... That's why my husband and I went with snows for this winter.

I'm surprised, as usually the Cape gets more slush then we do in the Metrowest area of MA, and last winter was a doosy for snow around here...

 

[hyperion]

I agree completely with your premise. And that's why I thought it not a very smart move to get rid of a brand new set of integrities. And as far as wx history is concerned I used to be able to play golf on the Cape for most of the year but no longer. Snow would disappear fast and the greens never froze but we got more prolonged snow here last year than we have since "78" and it remained on the ground for months.
Buy those "all weather" tires after you get 20,000 miles on the OEM's, which are very good "mudders."
Heating oil delivered today...... $2.40/gal,.... YIKES!......

 

[jshore]

The first winter here in Rochester, I just used the tires they came with. The car did pretty well but I have decided to get 4 snow tires put on this year. (I had them on my previous car, a Dodge Colt, and am I pretty big fan of them. A friend has a Ford Explorer and I have been playfully keeping track of the number of times that I could not get where I needed to go with snows on the Colt and he could. After ~8 years, that number stands at 1 time...and that was after a blizzard where those who did go into work generally regretted it.)

I am scheduled to get Blizzaks installed on Tuesday. My general thing with snow tires here is to put them on in the end of November / beginning of December and off at the end of March / beginning of April.

Admittedly snows on a Prius won't get you unstuck from the same sort of situations that having a 4-wheel-drive would. However, on the other hand, it will do more to prevent a skid. (Remember when you are not accelerating or are even braking, the fact that you have 4-wheel drive is worth zilch in preventing you from skidding!)

 

[Maurice Frank]

My Experience with Pirelli P400

Ruth,

On Nov. 1, 2005 I posted a message with the subject " New Tires, Prius Now Driving Very Sluggish???" (Sorry, I do not know how to link to a previous post.) I had recently replaced my original Goodyear Integrity tires with Pirelli P400s. I got 37,500 out of the Integrities, and could have kept them until 40K.

I've had Pirellis on my previous Camrys and they were OK. They are probably excellent tires for some cars, but I have been very unhappy with them on my Prius. The car feels like it is dragging all the time, I have to apply more pressure to the pedal to drive, and the MPG has fallen about 3 MPG. I've driven about 1500 miles on these tires and I still don't like them.

Again, they may be fine tires for another vehicle. I'm now searching for something to replace them with.

I have no experience with the Integrities on snow.

Good luck to you.

Maurice Frank

 

[ruth]

Pirellis on the Prius

Maurice,

i really appreciate that input. I do wonder about the type of tire that will be optimal for the Prius and look forward to continuation of this thread. Have been absorbing all the helpful info....

r