Prius Photo Album #50

Last Updated: Fri. 2/18/2022

page #49         page #51         Themes         Index
 

photos of the original tires:  BRIDGESTONE POTENZA

 

Allegra tire photos at 20,729 miles  (Sat. 5/10/2003):

PriusTire_Allegra_20729miles_DriverFront

On the left is what the Goodyear Allegra tire now mounted on the driver-front looks like, along with the new spare placed beside it.  (The odometer is currently at 51,762 miles.)  It is the type of alternate tire I selected to put on my Prius when the original Bridgestone Potenza tires wore out.

The tire is not XL (extra load) rated, so additional PSI was needed to compensate for the heavier-than-average weight of the hybrid system.  I selected a tire-pressure of:  42 PSI front  &  40 PSI back

After 18,000 miles of driving with these alternate tires, I had observed how well they handled the weight, how nicely they gripped the road, and how evenly the rubber was wearing.  So I increased the tire-pressure to:  44 PSI front  &  42 PSI back

   

On the right is the tire now mounted on the passenger-front and the spare.  If you look very closely, you can see the "wear bars" between the vertical tread pattern.  They indicate that there is quite a bit of rubber remaining, much more then the original tires had at this point.  So I can confidently say that these tires will last quite a bit longer than the 31,000 miles than my Potenza tires did.

The tire is not LRR (Low Rolling Resistance), so MPG isn't quite as good as it could be with at the same tire-pressure.  However, I had to increase it from the original 38/37 PSI that I used anyway to compensate for the weight.  That fact, along with the fact that the Prius is much more broken-in (aged) now and that I've switched to synthetic oil, has pretty much cancelled out any MPG loss.

In short, these tires have proven to be an excellent choice.

PriusTire_Allegra_20729miles_PassengerFront

 

Photos of the other two Allegra tires at 21,274 miles  (Weds. 5/21/2003):

PriusTire_Allegra_21274miles_DriverBack

I waited until the tires got rotated to take the remaining photos, since being able to turn them makes it much easier to get close-ups with good lighting. 

This photo the left the tire that was on the driver-back.  Looking closely you can see that any doubt there may have been about using these alternate tires, or using any similar type of tire, has been eliminated.  This is strong proof that they work great.

   

On the right is what the tire that used to be on the passenger-back looks like now.

The condition of each of the tire is consistent.  With those really soft original tires, that wasn't the case.  The one mounted on the driver-front always wore a little faster.  Plus, the edges of all the tires were the first to go.  But with these Goodyear Allegras, the wear is uniform all the way across.  There's quite a bit more tread remaining too.

In conclusion, when your original tires need to be replaced.  Consider an alternate type like I did.  Follow this link for more comments & info... Maintenance Data: Alternate Tires

PriusTire_Allegra_21274miles_PassengerBack

 

back to home page       back to top