I've seen a few comments from people buying new 2013 Camry Hybrids who shortly after purchase were looking for a way to switch their Continental tires for Michelin Primacy tires.

So I just wanted to save a few of the rest of you some headaches. I told my dealer up front that I would only buy a new 2013 TCH XLE if it had Michelin Primacy tires. So, the dealer agreed to swap the Continentals on the model I had ordered for the Michelins that came on a different Camry Hybrid.

And, for the record, when I bought my first TCH in 2006, I had them swap in Michelins (or was it Goodyear back then?) in place of (hmm, I've forgotten this also).

Regardless, if you're sure you want the Primacy tires, make it part of the terms of your buyer's agreement.

(I also made them agree to leave off all the dealer branding stickers/logos except for the license plate holder which I can easily remove if the mood strikes me.)

Hope this helps someone.

 

Good point. I used to buy my GM cars at invoice so they would not consider any swapping for a set of michelin tires. I have bought two Corollas in the past, a '94 and a '03 which I paid the average profit to them or it was a no deal. The manager said they didn't have any michelin tires on the lot that would fit my new Corolla.

I got a pretty good deal at the same dealer on a new '07 TCH end of the year purchase so I didn't even ask. I did put michelins on it around 22K miles. I bought the '12 TCH XLE new and again paid the average profit and he said he didn't have any primacy's on his other cars. I also looked as this was a small toyota dealer. I had the new '12 TCH for a couple days and it cost me $530 at discount tires to swap from the oem Bridgestones for a set of Primacy's. Michelin had their usual $70 debit card deal going on which sweetened the tire deal. We received the card in the mail a month or so later.

 

I think the first year the TCH was made was 2007 not 2006, and the OEM tires were Bridgestone Turanza EL400 or Michelin MXVS8 Energy tires. I got the Bridgestones, not knowing any better, and they lasted only 20k miles. Since then I have had MXVS8 Energy tires and get over $50k with great mpg.

 

I'll vouch for Yokohamas on mine. I bought her with 36k miles and owner "just had them installed".
I have 90 K miles on her now. Yoko-s are 40 000 miles trad warranty, and I am already 14 000 miles past it and tires have trad enough for 2 more years. I have no problems with my mpg, considering I live in hills land.

 

LOL, with those $100,000 CVT fluid changes and $50,000 tires, this has probably been a slightly more expensive car to maintain than you originally thought.....

 

I think the first '2007 Camry Hybrid' came out in late 2006 for sale maybe in November similar to the way they did the '12 TCH when it came out in late 2011.
I for sure like the mpg the michelin tires gives along with a smooth and rather quiet ride.

This below is for the 2009 model TCH. I really like the fuel efficiency and wear life comparison on this michelinman page.

http://www.michelinman.com/tire-sele...y/Hybrid/tires

 

Another vote for Yokohama's over the Michelins. My past couple experiences with Michelin have not been good on this car and others. Short tread life, checking (sidewall cracking) after only 1 year, weird wear patterns and lots of noise as they wear.

I currently have the Yokohama 580's on mine. Smooth, quiet, good steering response and incredible in the rain! Mileage is still up in the air as I have 10,000 miles on them currently. The car came with Michelins (garbage), I switched to Hankook's (ok, but not great) and so far the Yokohama's are the best initially.

Fuel economy is also a little better with the Yoko's, but I drive 80 MPH most of the time. So, fuel economy is kind of a moot point.

 

Could be your taking about the Yokohama YK580 tire. This must be a very new tire as tire rack and consumer reports has no information on this tire as yet.

I was curious if you had your michelins rotated and balanced ever 5000 to 7500 miles. With all the problems with your michelins you should have got a really good trade in for a new set paying little difference.

I bought my wife a set of long lasting michelin-X tires back in 1994 for her 91 Dodge Shadow after her oem's wore out around 20K miles. She drove those michelins off and on for like 9 years. I her miles was rather high but I forget how may. The thread depth actually looked great due to her easy driving. The car was parked a lot due to her going in my car. After moving to new mexico we took her car to a discount tire 80 miles from here in Las Cruces to also do some shopping. The discount tire store rotated and balance her tires using her original receipt for their lifetime rotation. This was back around 2003.

While parked in their parking lot tire tech slid under the front wheel looking at the back side of the tire. He spotted some tire rot. My guess it was caused from her car sitting out in the hot desert sun. Although those tires were that old he gave us a nice low price difference for a new set but was a different new mich tire name. The reason was that michelin no longer made that those long michelin-X tire.

I had bought the top line X-series tires at a low price in Garland, Tx from a just opened brand new discount tire store. They included a lifetime road hazard for a very little extra price. That may be why they worked such a good deal on the new tire replacement set. I do have my tires rotated and balanced ever 5000 miles. (oil change time) Now we finally have a discount tire store now a year old here in Alamogordo where we live. This makes maintaining my tires a lot easier.

Good luck litespeed with your new Yokohama Tires.

 

Yea, I had them rotated every 5000 miles religiously on all of my vehicles. I will not buy Michelins again anytime soon.

As stated above I had the same issues on previous sets of tires. One set was on a Mercedes Benz CDI I owned before the TCH. Tires checking in just over a year! No amount of rotation can fix that! That is a major Design Flaw! Then tires making noise after 30,000 miles and not wearing properly. Michelin would do nothing for the problem and my local store only offered to pro-rate the tires for me.

Same issues on my Dually that I used to pull a 17,000 pound camper around. Do you know how much a set of Michelins cost for a dually? It cost over $1,400 to put tires on that truck! NEVER AGAIN!! Same problems! Tires "checking" just after a year, weird wear patterns and noise after 20-30,000 miles.

The Hankooks solved most of my problems on the TCH. The Yokohamas have solved the others (so far). On the Dually, I went to Firestones. Problems solved! No more bizzare wear issues, no more cracked tires after a year and noise problems averted.

It is weird too... I used to swear by Michelins. I would always put them on every car. It seems that in the past 6-7 years they have been having quality control issues for whatever reason?

 

That is strange the many problems you had with the michelins. I do know the major tire companies experiment using a rubber compound that works best. I remember those tires on my wife's dodge was a very hard rubber.

I had some oem goodyears on my 2003 Corolla that quickly became noisy and had that dried out rubber look. I replaced them with michlins but I traded the car off early with only about 20K on the new tires.

Good deal you finding brands of tires that work best for you. I'm sticking with michelin as I have got improved mpg by using them. I get a nice ride and are quiet riding although as you know I drive slow. As long as they run like that for me I will stay with the michelins.