My 06 Prius needs a tire change. Ive contacted several places for new tires and some places wont put anything else but the tires that the car comes with Goodyear, other places say that Toyota recommends those tires but its not mandatory. I normally wouldn‘t have a problem buying the goodyear tires but im on a budget. The goodyear tires cost 120 each and Falkens cost 66 dollars each. Should I buy the Goodyear‘s or go with the falkens, Will going with a different tire throw off my MPGs on my hybrid. What to do?
Yes, agreed, the Goodyear Integrity is only an average tire. Not Goodyear's best offering. Loses grip only after 20k miles. You certainly can do better. Take a good look at the following: Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring Top quality grand touring tire. Best in it's class. Certainly can handle wet conditions as well as a good bit of snow. Comfortable and quite, good grip in most all conditions. A bit expensive at around $100 but well worth it. Continental ProContact with EcoPlus Technology New offering for Continental. Stay of the art standard touring tire. Yes, if gas mileage is a priority this would be a top pick. $82 a tire from tirerack. Pirelli P4 Four Seasons This tire has been around quite a while but is a proven winner. Only 75 bucks a tire. Great tire at a great price. General Altimax HP Best budget priced grand touring tire available in your size. Super grippy, both wet and dry. For $72 a tire you have to give it a hard look.
I wouldn't go with either. The Nokian WR-g2 (all season) is popular with Prius owners, I am running the WR-g2 now and mpg is much better than the OE tires. Michelin used to make an excellent MXV4 Plus tire but they stopped supplying them in the Prius' size. I ran the MXV4 Plus before the WR-g2 and it's hard to tell which gets better mpg, but both are far superior to the OE tire in mpg, tread life, and handling (which by the way isn't actually a Goodyear--it's made by the Ohtsu Tire company and branded Goodyear under an agreement.) Yokohama and Bridgestone have also just came out with low rolling resistance tires so you might want to look at those. Personally, I won't buy tires that aren't H speed rated (all the tires I've listed are). The reason is that to get the H speed rating the tires have to be made to tighter quality standards and they also have more material in them. So you get a far safer ride and will also have less problems with vibrations etc.
Those are a specially made tire for the Prius. they feature low rolling resistance for fuel economy and high load capacity - because with the battery the Prius is actually quite heavy for its size. what is absolutely necessary - is to KEEP the PRESSURE UP! make sure it is at the plate spec! if you ignore your tires over several months the pressure will decay and they will start to wear out fast! You can probably go with cheap tires - but you may lose several MPG. Over the life of the tires may cost more than the good tires.
