Original tires were chosen by Toyota because they have the lowest rolling resistance, which will result in best gas mileage, but not the best treadwear.
Hangin’ with a cerebral crowd…
I’d check alignment and tire pressure . . . as already suggested. 25,000 isn’t terrible, but not great either. Some folks over-inflate tires to get better mpg, but tire wear and rough ride are the result. I would betcha Toyota checked into brands to get the highest mpg possible. Rocketman
I have a 2002 Prius & have had the same issue with the tires. I was advised to keep inflation at 35. This has helped some. I usually get about 30,000 on the tires, but the originals were replaced at 21,000. I now have 135,000 miles on the Prius & have had 4 sets of tires.
I have a 2007 Prius that I bought in May 2007. I live in Florida, have driven it across the country twice, and have 55,000 miles on it. It still has the original goodyear integra tires though I will have to replace them sometime in the next few weeks. I have done nothing special except I always had them rotated every 5000 miles when I had the oil changed, and once, around 30,000 miles I had an alignment. I’ve heard horror stories about premature tire wear but haven’t experienced it myself. My brother has a 2007 prius and he just had his tires replaced at about 45000 miles. Like me, he had them rotated every oil change. I didn’t do anything special with tire pressure, just let toyota set the pressure whenever they did the rotation.
Oh, I very rarely have a passenger in the car, maybe 5000 out of the 55,000 miles I had someone with me, and never had anyone riding in the back (same holds true with my brother as he drives an hour each way to work every day by himself). Not sure if that is the difference?
Most tire wear occurs when cornering. In order to change the direction of all that mass, the tire has to develop a slip angle - and that causes tire wear. You can get the same effect if you have too much toe in.
So your having driven it across the country means you spent a lot of time driving straight ahead - good for tire wear.
[b][i]Buying Replacement Tires Every 25K To 30K Miles Is Ridiculous!
There, I said it! Somebody has to![/i][/b]
The OP is on the fourth set of tires at 88,000 miles! 88,000 miles! I replaced the original front tires on my wife’s full-size 31 mpg car at over 88,000 miles. I don’t subscribe to rotating tires because I “read” them as a regular part of my inspection ritual (I’m sure this will draw advice I won’t use), as one would “read” spark plugs. I have saved hundreds of dollars over the decades by not rotating tires. I just replaced the original rears at 135,000 because they were age-cracking.
Is it just me? I find this whole discussion unbelievable. Reading 26 responses, I have yet to read a meaningful solution to a very serious question about a very serious problem. I have read what others have written about similarly shocking experiences. I see that sales of these cars fell more than most others, a full 54%. I would sure hate to buy a new car and then get this kind of surprise with no prior warning!
These cars “trade-off” increased mpg savings for increased maintenance and associated costs. Which is a bigger savings, money not spent on the difference in mpg or the money not spent on a stack of tires that reaches your armpit? Don’t these cars cost more than their little Toyota conventional-powered cousin, to begin with? Add that on. Also, what is the environmental impact caused by the production of all these batteries and tires, even considering that most will be recycled? Nobody knows for sure, not even the “experts”.
If The Prius was a GM, Ford, or Chrysler product, this stuff would make the 6:00 o’clock news, headlines of all major papers, and people demanding congressional investigations and the resignation of CEOs. The Volt is not even out yet and I hear this kind of talk, already (not that I support the Volt).
P.S. Would somebody tell approximately how much a set of tires recommended for this car costs, installed? I have no idea.
All,
Reference brinnercw’s statement of 12/17/2008 (which I just read, again):
Did you take note of brinnercw’s statement, “…American advice, because this version of the English language is about as far removed from the English language as you can be without it being a second language.” Am I mistaken, or, does this sound elitist and arrogant? By a “second language”, did brinnercw mean that American English is an inferior language to “Proper English”?
Yes. Also, He Says That He May Be Deliberately Using Language Mechanics Errors Just To Annoy People! That’s Annoying, If Not Arrogant And Elitist!
Yes, his tone does sound rather elitist and/or arrogant.
When you combine that with his inability to spell “advice” properly (he used the term ADVISE, which is clearly incorrect in this context), his inability to use possessives properly (“sons teacher”, rather than son’s teacher) and his inability to take constructive criticism (even though it was not actually directed at him), he is just a one man festival of bad communication and contradictions.
I will say one thing for him, however. At least he did not commit the most frequent error that I see on this board, namely using the word “loose”, when the word “lose” should be used.
Folks, you do not “loose” your brakes when the fluid boils. When the drain plug comes out of your oil pan after going to Jiffy Lube, you do not “loose” your oil. The correct term in those instances is LOSE.
On the other hand, if you need to tighten your lug nuts, that is because they are LOOSE.
I’m sorry, but I had to point out these mistakes simply because they seem to be appearing daily on this board, and this misuse of the language is beginning to drive me to distraction.
U Maybe Need To Lite’n Up A Little B4 You Loose Your Mind!
You are right, MrPhil. I was told that about “virus” by a high school science teacher. I should have known better.
Prius isn’t a made up word. In Latin it means “before” or “formerly.”
Other English speaking countries still pluralize Latin words according to their Latin conventions. If you go to England, Australia, or New Zealand, you probably won’t hear the word “antennas.” You will, however, hear the word “antennae.”
English doesn’t hold fast to the pluralization rules of other languages when English words are derived from other languages. However, when we directly adopt a word from another language we sometimes use it without altering it. Sometimes the line between derivatives and adopted words gets blurry.
That’s good advice about talking to my dead uncle. I will keep that in mind.
At least he did not commit the most frequent error that I see on this board, namely using the word “loose”, when the word “lose” should be used.
Guilty as charged! Thanks for pointing that out.
Did You Ever Hear The Joke About The New Englander Who Moves To Texas?
No, but I’m sure that you can tell us the joke.
Please regale us!
You are welcome, Whitey.
Just as I enjoy learning something new every day, I also enjoy the opportunity to be able to educate people every day. As the old saying tells us, “You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher”.
Don’t do it CSA, I tried to post a related joke and it got deleted!
A Guy From Out East Moves To Texas …
During one of his first encounters with a local, a Texan detects an accent and asks him, “What part of the country are you from ?”
The Easterner replies, “I’m from a part of the country where we don’t end our sentences with a preposition !”
The Texan asks, “Then what part of the country are you from, Jackass ?”
;-))