Prius Gen 3 Tyres

[Only one Jimmy]

Help or advice please

On Monday I took delivery of a Prius T spirit on a 12 plate with only 17,800 miles on the clock. I am very happy with the car, updated the sat nav etc. and then I took a close look at the tyres.

1) The front tyres are Autoguard sa802. As I had never heard of them I looked them up on the net. The reviews I read are a bit frightening to say the least.

2) The rear tyres are Proxes R30. Again I have never heard of them but the reviews are not so bad.

My concern is this. Should a car with this low mileage have had to have all tyres changed already.

Before I go to the dealers tomorrow could I please have some of your expert advice. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

[cootuk]

If it's a mainly city car then it could have had the original tyres replaced through wear,or through punctures, or poor tracking.

My concern would be that there's been no attempt to put an eco tyre on, and they've also mixed a really poor all season tyre with an average summer tyre.

Who supplied it and what is it's history?

I would have expected a main dealer to use original spec tyres, though maybe the previous owner thought they were trading in soon and just bought the cheapest grot they could find?

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Proxes R30's are made by Toyo tyres - a Japanese tyre manufacturer:

"The TOYO Tire & Rubber - group is one of the leading tire manufacturers worldwide and is represented in more than 100 countries and regions. Established in 1945, the headquarters of the business is in Osaka, Japan. The global activities of the group are based on the three core competencies tires, chemicals and materials. Toyo Tires has been present in Europe for over thirty years and in 2005 established the company Toyo Tire Europe GmbH. The location of the business is in Neuss (Nord Rhine-Westphalia), Germany. From here, all business activities for Europe are managed. Core business of TOYO TIRES is the development, manufacture and marketing of high-value, High Performance tires. TOYO offer a range of tire patterns and dimensions for cars (summer and winter), vans, trucks and Offroad vehicles."

They provide OE tyres for some manufacturers including Mazda - we had Toyo tyres on a new Mazda Premacy we bought in 2003.

It looks likely that the tyres were purchased in two lots (ie front tyres and rear tyres), and there could be various reasons for the car having had the tyres replaced: wear (don't know whether the previous owner's driving style was particularly heavy on tyres); punctures; damage to side walls; etc.

[Only one Jimmy]

Thanks cootuk and Mike for your helpful replies.

The car was serviced at a main dealer on time for its first service with 11280 miles. that is about all the details I have.

However, have just read the PDI check which is dated 4th Feb 2014 and on the tyre tread depth this is what it reads:-

Front O/S 2

N/S 2

Rear O/S 7

N/S 5

Spare 5.5

without any stretch of the imagination I would say that these tyres have all been fitted by the Toyota dealer I bought it from. What do you think?

Ian

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The wear sounds scary at less than 18k miles.

I ran my car as a taxi and the front tyres were replaced around 18k-21k depending on how enthusiastic I drove and whether I bothered to swap my tyres around - the front nearside would wear earlier as it has in all my taxis.

When the fronts were to be replaced, I'd swap the rears onto the front and put the new tyres on the rear. I'd then get another 18k-20k out of what was the rear.

So for yours to all have been changed at less than 18k suggests someone has swapped off good tyres with cheap and nasty ones, probably to save a couple quid on the sale. Whether that was the dealer or the person who traded the car in, remains to be seen.

Oh, I forgot to say. You really do want to pay a wee bit extra and put LRR tyres on the Prius otherwise you won't be able to get the fabulous mpg's the car is capable of. Yes they really do make a big difference.

[cootuk]

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/135636-toyo-proxes-r30-tyres/

The Toyos might be original fit after all.

I might even guess that the spare was swapped for the rear o/s as the tyre wears don't match and the spare might have still been new.

As for those Autoguards?

Maybe it was shod allround with Autoguards with the owner retaining the original tyres.

(at one point I thought of putting allseason tyres all round, but would have used a decent brand).

The front Autoguards wore out, rears were put on front and have worn down, and owner then put the originals back onto the rear as they were disappointed with the wear and were obviously stingy?

They then had a puncture on rear o/s - swapped the spare tyre over so they weren't on a spacesaver and limited to 50mph.

That concludes the case for the prosecution.

[FROSTYBALLS]

According to a Toyota OE tyre spreadsheet I have, the Toyo Proxes R30's were one of three OE tyres on some RHD Prius (2009 onwards).

[johalareewi]

I might even guess that the spare was swapped for the rear o/s as the tyre wears don't match and the spare might have still been new.

2012 Prii (gen3) have a space saver spare (or if you are unlucky a can of goo).

With the front tyres down to 2mm and the uneven rears, I would ask the dealer to replace the tyres (although it sounds like you now have the car).

Definitely go for low rolling resistance tyres (also known as energy savers, or fuel savers, or eco, etc.). You will save a fortune in fuel costs.

[Only one Jimmy]

Thanks to you all for the help and advice.

After a lengthy discussion with the local Toyota dealership I now have Michelin tyres on the front of the car. The two rear were left with the Toya tyres.

So all in all, a fairly good outcome. But I say it was something that should not have happened. Those Autoguard tyres should never have been fitted. 'they are legal' was the stock reply. 'would you put them on your wife's car'??. Red faces and negative replies to that.

Thanks

Ian

[duncanda]

Regarding worn tyres and less worn tyres, the accepted wisdom is that new tyres or the ones with the greater tread should always be on the rear of the car. This is because if the more worn tyres are on the front, the car understeers as opposed to if they're on the back, the cars rear will swing out and you could end up spinning.

[MKS]

The dealer most probably swapped the car's original wheels and tyres for the ones you have. After all it is not difficult to sell a car with 17K miles with not so good tyres since most buyers will only look at the interior, engine and bodywork and assume the rest is OK since it is a low milage car. On the other hand good tyres on a high milage car make the car more sell-able.

[Only one Jimmy]

Hi All

From what I now can gather, the previous owner traded in the car for a new car. The front tyres were worn down to 2mm. (taken from the approved PDI check)

2 New tyres were fitted, namely Autoguard and to the front. You know the rest after I told them to basically stuff them and refused to take the car out of their showroom until they were replaced....... They were !!!!

Ian

[Duffryn]

Still find it hard to believe that new front tyres were needed at 17.8K miles. I suspect mine had been driven hard by previous owner, but fronts (Michelins) still lasted to 35K. Rear Michelins still plenty of tread at 41K.

[Dave R.]

Just building on what Grumpy Cabbie had to say.....

Oh, I forgot to say. You really do want to pay a wee bit extra and put LRR tyres on the Prius otherwise you won't be able to get the fabulous mpg's the car is capable of. Yes they really do make a big difference.

I'm on my 2nd Prius in 5 years (both company cars). In both cases, I had all 4 tyres replaced at around 30K miles. In both cases, I didn't get any say in the replacement tyres..... so did not get LRR tyres.... and so fuel consumption visibly went up by at least 5%, probably more. The effect has been instant... where I used to be showing 60 mpg on the trip computer at a particular point on my way to work, I now see as low as 47. Check out my fuelly stats for the evidence. Also - just 5% doesn't sound much... but spending around £50/week, that adds up to around £120 / year.

What is REALLY annoying is that this time I asked the tyre fitters (National) for LRR tyres... yes sir, of course... no problem....

The tyres were fitted at my wife's workplace.... she also asked and was told - yes, these are the energy efficient tyres.... I didn't double check at the time... but now I have the evidence in fuelly, I looked at the weekend... I have ContiSPORT not ContiECO tyres fitted..... D'OH! :(