Everything you need to know about the OBSCURE tires on the all-new Prius

[@AZ-gd5uf]

Thank you, as always, Josh for being so informative, offering detail and insight into aspects of car ownership, service, maintenance and overall perspective along with noting history, background along with current day context for better understanding! You’re the BEST 🥇

[@joshjamescars]

Thank you so much for the kind words and for always watching my videos!!! I’m so glad they’ve been helpful to you!

[@jamesnicol3831]

josh you are the man for complete knowledge of these cars and more

[@TomLawlor-iq6gm]

Hey Josh, Your good at this, really good. Thanks. We love our 2024 Prime even though we waited 21 months to get it !. The lack of a spare though is worrying, especially as our roads can be plagued with "road sores". Our winters always come with many freeze~thaw cycles, often several in one day. That gives us huge road damage. It's common to see cars/trucks parked at the shoulder with busted tires and rims and you'll also see vehicles with entire hub assemblies collapsed. With the regular Prius, you can source a kit from Toyota that includes a tire and rim, jack and wrench. It also includes modified foam inserts and,. a metal cover that protects that cable junction under the floor. The Prius has a threaded hole to secure the wheel. But, sadly, the kit is not compatible with the Prime (too much battery in the way). I understand that the Temporary spare from a Prius V will also work (storage-wise and functionally), with a Prius. But not with a Prime. What to do............ Also concerning for us is that at the moment, no brand has a winter (M&S), tire in the 195-50 size. We really need winter tires here as we always get deep snow.

[@joshjamescars]

Hello! For snow or winter tires I’m always a proponent of putting them on a second set of wheels anyway for easy swap on and off (plus you don’t want salt and grime building up on your nice wheels during the winter). So I think for your need you could very easily find a set of wheels with a much more standard tire size and go that way for winter.

[@TomLawlor-iq6gm]

@@joshjamescars Hi Again Josh, Well now, I was just checking out the underfloor area in our Prime. No way a spare can go in there. But I took a closer look at the tires for the first time and, believe it or not, they are labeled as M&S ! They are from Toyo. I'll have to research the part number for more info as they look nothing like any snow tire I have ever seen. With regards to winter wheels; with our other two Prius cars we owned we did have studded tires on cheap steel wheels. I would change them around in our driveway (and save $200 a year). That's a clever idea to buy more "common" sized rims and winter tires, I had not thought of that (thanks). An added bonus is that we could take one of the second set along as a spare for out of town trips. There's even a third benefit. Those nice alloy rims under the hub caps would be spared winter exposure. Time for me to subscribe. Kind Regards

[@joshjamescars]

Yes! That’s exactly my thinking behind having a cheap set of wheels for winter. You can find good aftermarket wheels on Tirerack, many of which look stock but for way less money than buying actual Toyota wheels. As for the Toyo tires, that’s interesting! Toyota does tend to use different equipment like tires for different regions so that would make sense that yours would be more oriented to that climate. As for the M&S rating I’m imagining it’s probably an all season with some marginal winter capability. But you definitely want to go with a good winter tire if you get that weather. Hope it all works out, and cheers!

[@johnpuccetti6019]

Thanks!

[@joshjamescars]

Thank you that’s very kind of you!

[@moisesceja5294]

Love the channel

[@joshjamescars]

Thank you so much!

[@SalvatoreP-d9r]

Thanks for those great tips Josh. 😃

[@joshjamescars]

You are most welcome, thank you for watching!

[@MarsXO_55]

Thanks for the info Josh, this problem is only getting worse as more and more auto manufacturers are not even offering any spare tire but instead give you a fix a flat kit in these hybrid vehicles. Low resistance tire are good to give you better gas mileage, but if you live where it snows, as you explained have low traction, so are terrible in snowy conditions. They also are not good when it rains. I live in northern Illinois and would not have low resistance tires on my vehicle.

[@joshjamescars]

Yes! And on that note last I looked there weren’t any good winter tires for the Prius in that 195/50/R19 size either. I know they make winter tires for the smaller 17” wheels though.

[@BrentFla]

That’s why we always purchase the tire and wheel insurance whenever we buy a new car. Hopefully he can get a check from Toyota if he did purchase the insurance since Toyota didn’t have the tire in stock and he had to get it from discount. The best place to purchase tires is from Costco in my opinion since they give you free mounting and balancing.

[@joshjamescars]

Everything you say is true, but perhaps missing the point. It’s not the cost that’s an issue with the Prius, it’s the availability of the tire itself. Having a tire warranty doesn’t do anything for you if you can’t source a new tire.

[@nster3]

BMW i3s rear tires use 195 width as well, though usually 20", but 195/50r19 works too on all 4 corners.

[@joshjamescars]

How interesting! And how very German of them to stagger the tires on that little EV, LOL! Thanks for sharing!

[@catsxpizza]

I spent the money to replace the tires and wheels with something way more common and a very close match (0.7% difference in diameter): 205/65R/16 (same as the Camry LE). And actually weighs less than the OEM setup and more grip and sidewall.

[@FM-ij7iu]

Do you mind sharing what wheels you purchased. I’m searching for all the options before replacing them. I’m also concerned I should wait until the 3 yr 36k warranty is up before doing this. Maybe that’s not an issue. Going to 16” wheels doesn’t affect odometer reading? Thanks

[@jamesnicol3831]

josh , how about upsizing to 225 45 17 on the stock LE trim for a better selection ? and would the Michelin CrossClimate be too heavy for the set up

[@joshjamescars]

I don’t know if you could fit a 225 width tire on the wheel… you could take it to a discount tire and have them try it and see but wheels are designed for a specific tire width and vice versa and you can end up with uneven wear or potentially a blowout depending on how far outside of spec you are.

[@OcaOca]

All new prius is built on 2nd generation TNGA chassis, whereas camry is still on first iteration. That being said, I'm leaning towards the 17 inch tire prius trim

[@joshjamescars]

TNGA does not really have “generations” it’s a single platform designed for long-term evolution. What you may be thinking of is that the Prius uses Gen-5 hybrid system where Camry is like Gen-4.5. Also, the Prius is a great car. Just beware you face a similar issue with the 17” tire. There are a few more choices with it, but I would still recommend having a full size extra tire in your garage.

[@Strongwithsamantha]

I’m considering a Prius but I’d probably want to put snow tires on… I’d guess based on this video it will be very hard to find snow tires that would work with this car?

[@joshjamescars]

Yes, although it’s only finding tires for the stock wheels that is a pain. For winter/snow tires I always think it’s easier to mount them on another set of wheels so you can just swap them quickly, so the weird stock wheel sizes wouldn’t be an issue in that case.

[@grantspins4124]

How would one go about swapping for more standard, 19” or 20” tires? I know economy would take a hit but want custom rims lol.

[@joshjamescars]

The bolt pattern is 5x114.3. Look up the offset (don’t know what it is off the top of my head) and based on those two, any wheel that matches those specs would work whether OEM Toyota or aftermarket.

[@grantspins4124]

@@joshjamescars thank you man!

[@johnpuccetti6019]

Can you change all four out for a more normal rim and tire?

[@joshjamescars]

Hello! Thank you for the super thanks! Yes, you can absolutely swap out the wheels and tires for more traditional sizes though you will probably see a slight drop in fuel economy if the tires are wider and the wheels are heavier.

[@wonderboy1998]

Someone is mad in the comment section...poor child But hey ...Happy Friday That was a nice PSA, look at you all HR on us giving us news that we can use. Yall heard the man if you in Austin area...go grab that tire

[@joshjamescars]

Hahaha yes, and thank you as always for watching!!!

[@wonderboy1998]

@@joshjamescars You welcome... maybe one day you will feel incline to do a live 😁

[@ericwright1075]

🇨🇦👍👍

[@johndiehl8019]

I'm on my seventh Prius, I had a blow out with this 19 inch tire 1200 miles from home. The dealer in South Carolina said 5-10 business days to get tire. I met my son 1/2 way with a tire off my second Prius to get home. It took my dealer 5 business days to get the tire. While they checked out my tires they found a bubble and crack in rear tire. I live in Ohio and the tire came 6 days later from Denver. The Toyota boys in Texas merely stated that toyota doesn't make tires. So, we Prius buyers are out of luck. This tire is cheap and blows out very easily. I won't buy another Prius.

[@joshjamescars]

I’d chock that up to a bad tire, the Michelin Primacy series is a pretty good tire. But yes, for as long as you keep the car it’s super important to always have a spare if you intend to drive long distances from home in your Prius!

[@jamesnicol3831]

Thank you for always having concerns about your followers and replying I will research alternate sizes for the Prius my daughter is getting a base LE Appreciate the intelligence you display and impart here

[@FSEVENMAN]

Toyota ruined the prius nobody wants their prius to look like a Camaro. We don't need it to be faster, they don't want special expensive tires, They lost their focus the new model is less utilitarian than the old model and like I said they should be focused on efficiency i'm sick of Toyota they're making everything bigger and more powerful and less affordable.

[@joshjamescars]

I actually agree wholeheartedly about Toyota making everything more expensive, but I do love the new Prius. And as for them “losing their focus” the thing to remember is that the Prius doesn’t need to fill the same role it used to. Today, if you want a cheap, no frills utilitarian hybrid you can buy the Corolla or Corolla cross hybrids. Or for a more comfortable sedan, buy the Camry hybrid. Bigger crossover hybrid? Rav4 hybrid. Since the Prius doesn’t have to cover all those bases it could go in a more stylistic direction and they knocked it out of the park. And while you may not want it, they can’t even make enough to satisfy all the demand for it, even at these higher prices.

[@fdyujyrsvhyjn]

I’d recommend you buy older. Imo as a toyota technician the 1998-2007 are some of the best vehicles ever made in existence

[@dimdim3490]

@@joshjamescars Hello, I have a question...I am on a waiting list for the new prius and I currently own a rav4 prime and find that the ride is too firm and can be harsh over many potholes in my area. Could you tell me how you find prius ride on those gigantic 19inch wheels as compared to your Rav4 prime? Thanks.

[@joshjamescars]

Do you have the Rav4 Prime SE or XSE? Because that makes a big difference. My Rav4 Prime SE has a really nice, compliant ride because it has the 18-inch wheels and non sport-tuned suspension. The Prius with the 19” wheels will ride as firmly as a Rav4 XSE.

[@dimdim3490]

@@joshjamescars Thanks for replying. Unfortunately I have XSE with red struts :( Have you test drove XSE? What do you think? I did not even know that SE is softer. Recently all Toyota's higher trims seem like a downgrade :(