just wanted to fill in some of my experiences have an 08 touring bought at 13,000 miles, have put 52,000 miles on it in 14 months immed put the $1000 michelin set of tires on it when i got it, dont remember the name of them mileage was about right and the car handled extremely welll, even at high speeds/90 mph and in high wind never had the alignment done since tires wore evenly, car tracked great ran pressure quite a few psi over normal so right rear bearing went out at 65,000 miles last week took it in to have this done- warranty covered it originally the dealer thought the issue was the tires so i had bridgestone ecopias put on this time right before i drove it to the dealer and knew it had to be the bearing and not the tires, still had the sound had bearing done and alignment done my car is now not drivable over 60-65mph i now know what all those people on the forums have complained about i am all over the rd, very dangerous and the wind is light today i am 90% certain it is the alignment i just took down the tire pressure a good bit and will see if that helps are the ecopias sensitive to higher pressures? car will be back in the dealer tomorrow so on this one issue i would not mess with your alignment unless you know there is a problem i resisted every time i was told it needed to be done and now i am kicking myself so if you are new to the prius and having issues this is not normal prius behavior, my car was solid on the rd, very solid so dont let anyone tell you this car drives like that or it is normal it is not normal at all, at least not for a touring prius i have been super pleased with how my car handled 30mph winds etc until today i even wondered what was going on with the ones i would read about on the forums, i know now i either have a tire issue or most likely the stealership screwed up my alignment on the doors not staying open, i had this looked at and the black holder thing was replaced under warranty and i no longer have a problem so obviously this can be a defective part hope this shows up for some people needing info on these issues i will report on what the dealer shows with the alignment, etc i will make the tire place take these back if it is not the alignment there is no way i would drive this car like this
I have Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 on both of my Prius and that tire works very well at 44/42 psi. No handling problems on either. Both cars are routinely driven at around 80 mph since the freeway speed limit is 75 mph around here. What does your alignment report indicate, regarding before and after front toe-in? I assume that nothing was done with your rear wheel alignment.
