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Old 06-01-2017, 11:50 PM   #8 (permalink)
Andyinchville1
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Join Date: May 2016
Location: Virginia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH View Post
I'm running Bridgestone Serenity Plus tires on my 09 Prius in 195/65R15. I would have preferred them in 195/60R15 but Costco couldn't get that size. The tread width is 7" wide vs 5.9" for the stock Ecopia and the tire weighs 22 lbs vs 18 for the Ecopia.

The tires transform the car. Handling is much better, steering feel it better, the ride is better, they don't track rain grooves and the wet traction is night and day different. The downside is that the fuel mileage dropped 10% from 50 mpg to 45. Worth it to me but next time I'll look for a little lighter tire. I've also had good experiences with Falken ZE-912. Great tires without much of a mileage hit but they only last 30K miles.
Do you think the tire weight made the fuel economy hit that big or possibly other factors?

I've often wondered if a slightly larger diameter for highway use would change the effective gearing enough to offset any extra weight to net more mpg's...
what do you think?
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2003 Jetta TDI Wagon, 5 sp, 210K miles, Stock.....for now!
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