[John Dorrell]

Upon inquiring about Ziex replacement tires for my ’04 Prius, my local tire dealer said, “Oh, no! Please don’t say Ziex 512! I can’t tell you how many of those I’ve had to take back because people complain about poor performance on wet roads.” He suggested the Michelin HydroEdge instead (at a significantly higher price). He brushed off the Consumer Reports tests and stopped just short of suggesting that wacky weed was involved, because his customers’ real world experience has been very different. I’d love to hear from Ziex tire owners (Prius or otherwise) with their Ziex experience. If we can’t depend on independent testing like CU’s, then woe is us.

 

[Joel]

I have a set on my Prius - 17 inch wheels though. I have had them on their since I got my Prius this time last year and this isn't the first car I've had them on - my previous car, Lexus IS300, had them too. They were Consumer Report's top pick last year and I can't say enough good things about them. Wet weather traction with the Falken Ziex 512s is exemplary, road noise is at a minimum, and dry weather traction is very good as well.

 

[jsbarrios]

Ziex tires and bigger rims

I too got my Prius last December and having been wanting to upgrade the horrible OEM tires and wheels. How has the tires and 17s affected your mileage?

 

[hyperion]

You may be asking more of the car than it was designed to give. I've seen relatively very few posts from folks who are completely satisfied with their factory installed. Mine came with "Goodyears and they have been completely acceptable for eight months of New England driving.

 

[jsbarrios]

Tires / Rims / Mileage

I personally dispise GoodYear Tires. Myself purchasing 4 completely different cars that came with OEM GoodYears. Generally, they are 1.5 times the cost of a comparable type of tire and usually do not handle as well. When tires screech on my Prius going around a corner doing sud 15 mph that is not very good in my book. Of course, I come from more of a performance tire background. I have a 69' Camaro that I have had GoodYears, BFGs, and most currently Z rated Kumhos (Which are fantastic by the way!) I know large performance tires will diminish your mileage. I'm just curious how much. I sold a 4x4 Durango which averaged 10 1/2 mpg because it was killing me in gas every month. I hoping with bigger tires and rims my current 44mpg won't fall to much past 35 mpg. Anyone have any hard numbers to share!

 

[hyperion]

Just curious, but what are you striving for with bigger tires and wheels. I put "over-sized" tires on my pick-up for "looks" and have had to accept the fowled up speedometer because of it. But For "looks" it's worth it to me. Might be interesting to find out just how "17 inch" wheels would effect your consumption figures with the computer, and what difference it would make in milage. Or for that matter, how you would determine it without a "Nav" system as your odometer would no longer be accurate.

 

[jsbarrios]

Tires / Wheels

My thought was to move up to a plus one or plus two size if possible. This would, in essence, be the same overall diameter and shouldn't effect the speedometer or odometer. Mostlym I'm want a better look, but a little better performance from a lower profile and stickier tire would be nice too!

James

 

[stevewa]

Of course, a "stickier" tire will have more rolling resistance == less MPG.

FWIW...

 

[piccolo666]

Re: Tires / Wheels

My thought was to move up to a plus one or plus two size if possible. This would, in essence, be the same overall diameter and shouldn't effect the speedometer or odometer. Mostlym I'm want a better look, but a little better performance from a lower profile and stickier tire would be nice too!

James

If you want to see exactly how a tire size change will affect your speedo go to:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
it's a nifty calculator where you input the original tire size and the proposed replacement size and it calculates the effect on the speedo reading.