All things are not created equal. This includes Toyota service departments and procedures. Some people are having severe tire wear problems with their Prius and some are not. Same car, same tires. The variables are alignment, Tire pressure, Tire rotation, driving habits and Toyota service departments ability and willingness to repair their vehicles. Tire pressure and rotation is checked/done under the free scheduled maintenance. Driving habits do not account for such rapid edge only wear. That leaves alignment and your dealers ability and willingness to repair. You can request your dealer repair your vehicle. They will either A. repair the vehicle. This would include a printout of the alignment that is within specs. B. not repair the vehicle. Or C. lie to you that your vehicle is (X)??? Fill in your own BS dealer experience. If they choose B. or C. for whatever their reason, that leaves you to accept this or not. Unfortunately this leaves you as your own advocate if your dealer will not help. The first thing I would do is communicate in writing my dissatisfaction (concise and amiable) to the service manager, general manager, dealer owner and Toyota corporate. This would probably result in a satisfactory repair. If not I would go to an alignment shop, spend $50-(?) dollars and get a second opinion. This would included an alignment, printout with before and after specs, and a receipt. Copies of these would then be mailed to Toyota for reimbursement. Trust no one, take names, demand satisfaction. The consensus on the groups site for best handling/tracking is a Toe in setting of .05 each total toe in of .10<br>Charlie Fosdick<br><br>Front Alignment Specifications<br><br>Toe in: 0.1[degrees] [+ or -] 0.2[degrees] (1 [+ or -] 2mm)<br><br>Camber: -0.43[degrees] [+ or -] 0.75[degrees]<br><br>Caster: 1.03[degrees] [+ or -] 0.75[degrees]<br><br>SAI: 9.87[degrees] [+ or -] to 0.75[degrees]

If you've been having tire problems, several people have suggested taking the issue up with the US NHTSA. <a href=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recmmy1.cfm target=new>http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recmmy1.cfm</a><br><br\ >Someone has mentioned one dealership's use of the term "old style" tires... Perhaps those of us with good OEM Potenzas should start keeping track of the "good" manufacture dates (listed at the end of the DOT line on the sidewall) as well as the "poor" manufacture dates. This way, we can keep a closer eye on our own tires if they could be from the same bad batch... It's possible to have all four tires on your car be from different production weeks...<br><br>Personally, I've gone ~13,000 miles in my 2001, and never had a tire problem (and no odd wear patterns yet). I don't know about alignment (but I don't have highway issues), and I've always kept my tire pressures at spec or higher (usually in the 40psi range). I'll check the DOT production week on my tires later, when I next go outside to my car (in the cold).

Just dropped off my wife's 4-rnr at the Toyota dealer. The service manager I dealt with is also the service manager for the Prius. We were talking about the tires on the Prius he said that when you replace them replace them with Michelin he said you'll get 40K with them. He also said that the Prius is really rough on tires and that Toyota acknoweledges that. After further talking he whispered to me "bring your car in at 18K and I'll put new tires on the car, free!"<br><br>Sorry but I can't devulge where the dealer is.

mrvadeboncoeur 1/14/02 12:40 pm <br><br>&gt; Personally, I've gone ~13,000 miles in my 2001, and never had a tire problem (and no odd wear patterns yet). I don't know about alignment (but I don't have highway issues), and I've always kept my tire pressures at spec or higher (usually in the 40psi range). I'll check the DOT production week on my tires later, when I next go outside to my car (in the cold). &lt;<br><br>I remembered this cold, snowy morning to check my tires:<br>Bridgestone Potenza RE92 Extra Load<br>P175/65R14 84S<br>Treadwear 160 Temperature A Traction A<br>all four tires were manufactured in week 48 of 2000.<br><br>(Check the last 4 digits of the DOT code imprinted on the sidewall of your tires. Mine were in a little depressed oval. The last four digits on all my tires was 4800.)

My dealer experience with tire problems has been great. After alignment, the right front tire failed and was replaced outside of the dealer network. At 30,000 miles, the dealer replaced the other 3 tires for free and later sent me a check reimbursing me for the tire I paid for. I hope that Prius people write en masse to the NHTSB so that there can be an overall examination of this problem.