As much as I hated to do it, I had to get new tires today. As I walked towards the car, the morning sun was just right to show severe sidewall cracks on one of the front tires. I had just washed the car and shined the tires over the weekend and the cracks werent there at that time, I always check em carefully.

Buying tires for this car had to be one of the toughest decisions.

All sorts of factors were going through my mind, LRR, weight capacity, max inflation etc etc.

My MAIN criteria was treadlife warranty and fuel efficiency.

These are what I got http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...65&ct=&rf=true

The tread life warranty is in writing, I know this doesnt mean the tires will be able to last that long BUT I hope so, and the mpg remains to be seen BUT in the 20 or so miles I already have on em, the mpg has been steadily increasing almost 1.5 mpg in same driving area. I have 260 miles on this tank now so you know how slow it is to gain mpg quickly, but it is.

Interestingly, the max pressure indicated on the sidewall is 35lbs. This low max psi troubled my thinking for a while, but I already seem to be over it since the car seems to roll nice and it also seems to be indicating the ability to get better mpgs than it had been using the original BS Protenza's.

Granted, I just got em, but they seem fine.

Wish me luck

Tony

tony,

The load rating of these tires seems low for your car. They were very reasonably priced, but don't push them hard and stay away from pot holes.

JeffD

Hi JeffD

I agree about the rating of the tires I just bought, they were somewhat of a panic buy. I always pay attention to the experiences of others and plan my purchases accordingly but with the cracks in the sidewall popping up over night and seeing them when I was out running around, there simply wasnt time to do the best thing possible.

The tires handle well and the car no longer feels like its riding on fred flinstone solid rock tires. I filled the tank today and zeroed the mfd and the results are still exceeding what I had in the way of mpgs, YET, it feels like there is more effort required to get the car rolling and there seems to be less ability to coast which in my mind means less mpg's but this will take time to sort out more accurately.

take it easy

Tony

Hey JeffD -

Thanks to your comments about the load rating seeming low, I dug in and found it was very low indeed.

I returned the tires today and got these. http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...r=65&tc=ESCPT2

They are load rated at 86 !!

Max inflation capability on these is 51psi compared to 35 max on the Kuhmos.

The web ad has an error on these new tires, the warranty is 65k miles not 55k as the web shows.

They handle much nicer and the sluggish feeling of the other tires is gone.

The tire place had no problems changing the tires out.

Thanks again

Tony

Tony,

Now you're much safer. I haven't heard of those tires, but as summer tires (not all season) please take care in bad weather. I'm glad I could help.

JeffD

Living in Florida is kinda like summer isnt it? The tire website elludes to great in rain as well. Time will tell.

I just got back from a 90 mile trip with em and I am not impressed with the MPGs yet, but the ride is great.

The kuhmo tires were eager to improve the mpg's these have no problem pulling it down at the moment. Need to experiment with the pressure tomorrow. The kuhmos were at MAX, these are at 38, I have a large window of opportunity with these seeing max psi = 51.

I am kinda glad the one protenza started to crack and forced me to get me to get new tires.

Tony,

It's getting cold here in the North (CT). No fair living in Fla! (but I bet the AC takes down your MPG in the summer).

I went for the Michelin MXV4+ (88H) tires for my 2004 Prius at 45,000 miles. They actually improved the MPG somewhat, but were twice the price of your new tires. Another interesting choice for you would be the Nokian summer tires, but they are also a little pricey. Enjoy your PSI/MPG/Ride experiments.

JeffD

Yo Jeff,

I hadnt heard of the Barum tires either. Before I went to have the kuhmos replaced I did read what I could find on the Barum's. Here is their link. http://www.conti-online.com/generato...hichte_en.html

Seems Continental tire is partners or owners of this company now which isnt a bad thing. When I did the search before buying, most of the sites that came back were written in german and said it was anywhere from decent to very good tire.

I am currently running 45psi in the tires and all seems well.