It is not repairable, being up on the sidewell... grrr. So, the question I have: can I safely just replace two tires now, and hit the other two up in 3-6 months as some of my side work pays off? This particular Prius is sporting Bridgestone Insignias (which I've never heard being standard, but feh) with what I would assume to be 32k miles. I plan on getting the Energy Saver A/S on all four corners, but I'm not sure if this would really negatively impact handling by only doing the fronts at first. Any opinions on this? I did this with my Elantra (for the same reason... damn nails) with no issues, however I was not using low RR tires for that car.
Put the new tires on the rear. You'll be fine. You put them on the rear so the car doesn't swap ends on you when the road gets slippery. It's one thing to slide forward, it's entirely another thing to slide sideways or backwards! Actually, the antilock won't let the car "slide", so you will slowly stop but be able to steer around obstacles, and the VSC won't be fighting the tires to keep you pointing in the correct direction.
The rule of thumb is to have the same tire on either side of the same axle, do different front and back sets if you feel like it.
Yes, I had a non-repairable tire at 15k and did not want to buy another Integrity, so I bought a set of Michelins for the rear. I finally replaced the other two at 29k because they were getting bad enough that I could break the front loose on dry pavement.
For additional details check this website. Go all the way down to the topic on replacing only two tires: Replacement Tips: Tire-saving Tips: Tire Care & Buying Guide: Michelin Tires
Thanks ya'll, it's been most helpful. Now, to figure out if SAMs truly caries the Energy Savers like the website claims.
Not only is it OK (if you stick the the same brand for the front, and the same for the rear) but hard-core autocross racers do this on purpose to fine tune the handling. They might put a looser tire on the rear, for instance, if the car is tight (sorry for the NASCAR jargon - for the road racers, they put a tire that's more prone to oversteer on the rear if the car has a problem with understeer). That said, the suggestion to put the new/better tires on the rear is probably safer. I used to put them on the front of FWD cars (being the end that powers and steers) but the post above makes a lot of sense and will change the way I do it.
