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The problem is that 2008 and later HH's come equiped with 19" rims and 245 55 19 tires. 17" rims are "standard" on the 2008 HH, but in fact Toyota only shipped them with option packages that included the "upgrade" to 19" wheels. I have only been able to find a very limited selection of tires in this size (the OEM Toyos, Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires). Michelin does not make any tire in this size (I agree that they are very good tires).
Finding 17" rims and tires to fit these cars may be the only solution, but would also be very expensive. This is why we whine.
I am still wondering what experience HH owners have had with Nokian winter tires?
Nokian winter performance cannot be beat, at least when compared against Goodyear TripleTred with the "Severe Service Emblem". We run them both in the Sierras during the winter and have encountered everything (on paved roads) including clear ice I mistook for water.
The TripleTred has superior handling characteristics in dry to wet climate. In snow and ice, it does its job, but the ABS activated more frequently on ice when braking. Stopping was good, no sense of impending skid. No steering issues at all and at reasonable speed, no threat of break-away. VDIM also helps but we never noticed it in the steering. It tracked straight and true.
The Nokian performs well in dry to wet climate though not as nimble. In snow and ice, it is simply rock solid when compared to the TripleTred. The ABS activates less often, VDIM came on less often and stops are quite decent and confident, so are turns at reasonable safe speed. It edges out the TripleTred in snow and ice.
If you value top-notch flexible winter capabilities, Nokian is the way to go. If you prefer superior handling in dry to wet weather and good snow and ice capabilities, something that at least matches or beats the GY TripleTred will do fine.
I like the GY's handling, it makes the '06 HH feel "nimble". We use the GY when we do not expect heavy snowfall or large storms. I love the Nokian's peace-of-mind winter capabilities when we expect heavy storms in the mountains.
Hope you can find something that works for you.
I would like to know if anyone has had problems with slightly off size tires on the toyota HH 2008.
Thx
Has anybody considered this and do you know of any glitches if the rims are replaced.
Any suggestions re rims would be welcomed. There is a variety available at Tire rack. Looking to spend less than 100 dollars per rim but cant find any reviews re the quality of these rims.
Thx
SCEI
Has anybody considered this and do you know of any glitches if the rims are replaced."
I would also like to do this. Please post what rims you find if you do. When I looked at tirerack.com, I could never find rims I was sure would fit.
http://www.fixya.com/cars/t1516165-dealership_wants_charge_me_12_hours
The tech claimed it was a 4 hour job and not difficult at all. Depends on what inverter we are talking about I suppose. More details would be useful.
http://news.carjunky.com/alternative_fuel_vehicles/repairing-a-hybrid-cdh739.sht- ml
Looks like the power inverter for a Prius is around $3700 from that link in August.
My suggestion to you is go and find another Toyota dealer because that one is trying to rip you off. If you already had the repair done, I would contact Toyota Corporate and let them know about this dealer and how much it cost to repair it. Or, tell the dealer you are going to take this up to Toyota Corporate. If they are overbilling you they will not want Toyota Corporate investigating... service is what generates the most money for a dealer and if Toyota doesn't like what they see they could hurt the dealer real bad.
You can also get an advocate on your side. Your local news stations probably have a consumer advocate on staff that does stories once in a while. They would love to pick up something like this given the current state of auto affairs.
what tire size did you go with and what dealership (service manger) in vancouver helped you out?
what tire size did you go with and what dealership (service manger) in vancouver helped you out? "
I have not replaced the tires yet. Bought a 2008 HH in Nov., 2007, I only have just over 12,000 miles (I ride my bicycle alot :shades:, really improves gas milage and makes the tires last longer) . The original tires are still doing OK.
BTW, the last time I put gas in was on August 29, 2009. I may have to fill it up tomorrow.
My only other complaint is the lack of bluetooth or aux inputs on the radio which obviously cannot be modified easily due to the tight integration with the rest of the system. Maybe it's just my vintage. :>
This is just not right. I understand let the buyer beware, but this is ridiculous.
kccarl
Our other car is a Prius (FWD not 4WD) so we need good traction in addition to good wear..
Have a great ski season!
I've owned my '09 HH Limited for just a year now. I love it. The only problem I've encountered (besides the gas mileage not being that great) is when its "cold" here in S. Florida all the tire pressures need to be adjusted. Is this normal? Fortunately it doesn't get that cold here often. I'm talking the mid 50's. Its happened twice now. Putting air in the space is a pain. Appreciate any thoughts you have.
Oddly enough, I landed in Fort Lauderdale on the 18th, just when it got "cold" - tnt doesn't really know what cold is - he doesn't say which way he has to adjust the tire pressures - I wonder if it is the extreme drops in barometric pressures caused by hurricanes or storms that does it. One would think it would affect every car on the road. Maybe he is just a bit too fussy - I hardly ever check mine between servicing.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JP
A number of alternatives have been proposed, including changing to 17" wheels.
For what it's worth, several of us have bought Toyo H/T tires (very different from the awful A20s that came with the car) and are happy with them. Mine have 12/32s tread depth, ride and handle well, and look like they should do pretty well in the snow.
Thanks,
Fortunately, I have a friend in the tire business, and he's in the process of replacing my tires as I type this. I did extensive research on this myself, and talked to two different Toyota dealers in my area, and here's what I've come up with, for anyone else in this situation:
1) Switching to 255/55 R19's should not void your warranty or do anything else that Toyota would frown upon. The 245/55 R19's are the only "certified" tires that Toyota lists for the '08 HH, but that one step up in size won't create a problem that they're aware of. Neither dealer would take a stand on the matter, but both said that they'd never heard of a scenario where they've denied service or repair due to this. One acknowledged that he regularly sees the Hybrids come in with 3rd-party 255s on them.
2) Toyota refuses to acknowledge that a problem with tire availability/option/quality even exists. One dealer played entirely dumb on the issue, but the second told me "Look, we aren't supposed to talk about it, and there's nothing I can do to help you except order in the Toyo HLs, but you can probably do better elsewhere." Apparently no other tire manufacturers have accepted any other bid request that Toyota has sent out for North America -- the volumes are too low to justify manufacturing this specialty size.
3) The difference in stepping up to a 255/55 R19 is 1.5% in tire circumference. Which means that when your speedometer reads 60 mph, you'll actually be doing 60.9 mph. BUT! By all accounts, apparently the spedo on the HHs is about 3% high to begin with. So the 1.5% under-measure actually brings the vehicle closer to actual speed than the factory stock, at least on the 2008 model year.
4) The in-car nav will have the same accuracy shift as the spedo, which translates into about an error of 79 feet per mile, in between GPS adjustments when running solely on motion data -- that ought to be insignificant for all practical purposes.
5) The ABS system and hybrid regenerative braking system should not be affected. I'm told that there is about a 5% margin built in for various adjustments that might occur due to certain conditions and by region or vehicle trim, and so the 1.5% error introduced by the larger tires is well within what the system should be able to handle without any hiccups.
The last two are based on feedback from my friend's shop (which is a location of a major tire retailer), and apparently they've gotten quite a lot of irate HH owners in for this same issue over the last 2 years. They've done all of their homework on this, and other than a few isolated anecdotes where people think that their mileage has suddenly decreased, or some other weird problem has cropped up, like uneven wear, the vast majority of customers have been happy with the switch to 255's.
Take this with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary, etc etc etc... but the case was made convincingly enough for me. I'll report back if any unexpected consequences arise...
For what it's worth, I've gone with the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza 255/55 R19.
Had we stayed with the original horribly cheap GY Integrity, we would have been in big trouble in snow and slush. That tire could not even drive over a thin layer of wet pine needles without the car losing traction forcing the AWD and VSC to intervene. This was just driving on our driveway!
Regardless of how high tech a car is, it cannot produce more traction than where that patch of rubber meets the road. If that patch does not work well, nothing else matters.
From an old and grizzled HH ('06) driver to fellow HH owners out there, please carefully consider you driving condition and adjust your tire type accordingly.
Drive Safe!
So far, the swap-out of the awful Toyo 245/55 R19's with the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza 255/55 R19's has been a spectacular success. Because I had no other choice in the matter, those tires already have more than 900 miles of mostly-highway miles on them. But the weather in this area has been horrible for the past week, and so I can at least make a judgment on the improvement in snow handling.
Here's some points to consider:
1) Overall, it was a fantastic choice for my area, so far. The OEM Toyo Open Countrys were death-traps on even a tiny amount of snow. The Bridgestone Alenzas are gripping like champs now, and even on snow-covered Interstates, handled like a dream.
2) According to two different GPS units, when I held the speedometer steady at 65 mph, the GPSes both thought I was doing between 63-64. So, the anecdotal evidence that the '08 Highlander's speedo is about 3% high seems to be borne out on my vehicle. The new tires should have added 1.5% to my measured speed, and the GPS-versus-speedometer readings I was seeing are pretty much spot-on with those values. So, I'm no longer at ALL concerned about the vehicle actually going faster than the gauges indicate.
3) There were no issues with the tire pressure gauges after the swap-out. The ABS system is still working the same as before, and in particularly deep snow, the traction and braking systems work pretty much as I'd expect. And again, LOADS better than with the OEM Toyos on.
4) Gas mileage: Ok, so here's one area where there _may_ have been an effect, but there's so many other confounding factors, it's hard to be sure. On this big trip, my average gas mileage dropped from 25.4 mpg prior to last week, to 22.6 mpg now. BUT, I'm not going to worry about this for right now, because:
- This was the first major road trip I've taken using winter-formulated gas.
- The average temperatures during my entire trip were less than 25 F, and were into the single-digits for a couple of days. So the heater and such were all running full-bore, along with the (initial) efficiency losses from extreme cold.
- There was a lot of holiday traffic on the roads, so I was doing a lot more speed adjustments on the Interstates than would normally be called for in an average drive.
With all of that, it's impossible for me to blame the mpg loss on the tires. But it's also impossible for me to say they weren't a factor, either. This is my first northern winter with the vehicle, so I have no idea what is "normal" at this point. I'd expect the larger tires to have slightly more rolling resistance, so some mpg loss might be expected -- but the larger tires also spin "faster" at the edges, so you go farther for the same amount of wheel rotation... would those balance out, I don't know. I'll keep tabs on this, and report back in the spring, if nothing else.
Otherwise, the switch to 255/55 R19's has been smooth and flawless. At this point, I'd have no hesitation recommending the change to any '08+ HiHy owners. Save yourself the extortion-grade cost of those boutique 245/55 R19's, and get a lot more choices in tires appropriate for your own driving conditions!
I have a 2008 HL Limited with about 17K miles and will likely need to replace the tires within 5K miles. Absent some newly found customer sensibility from Toyota/Toyo on this issue, I leaning toward rim replacement.
What a nightmare for all of us looking for replacement tires for our Highlander Hybrids. We'll post again and let everyone know how well they handle the snow & ice up here in Minnesota.
We just bought Yokohama Parada P235 55r19 from tirerack.com. The customer service rep who assisted us (a fellow traveler), while recommending we use the OEM tire size, did admit that they were an acceptable tire size for the 2008 Highlander Hybrid, which we own as well. If you need his contact info, please email me.
The difference according to an online calculator is that is less than one mph, well w/in the tolerance for the speedometer and related tire systems.
They only cost $162 each and they have warehouses throughout the US. They even have recommended installers in your area, several w/ online discount coupons. Beware that many places charge up to $10 per tire for the automatic pressure sensors!
Have a healthy, prosperous & happy 2010.
Brother Jay
Minneapolis, MN.
I asked that my concern be documented and he stated that concerns are reviewed by personnel to look for trends and problems that may justify a recall. I'd recommend that all who have this problem take the time to register your concerns with a call to Toyota customer support. I plan to also send a note to the Consumer Reports writer who documented the problem here, asking how CR can continue to rate the HL as their top mid-sized SUV when such a problem goes unresolved.
Thanks for the Toyota customer service tel. I called and registered a complaint and asked a manager to review this discussion online to see the breadth and depth of discontent on such an expensive and supposedly green vehicle. If it were truly green, we should not have to replace so quickly tires that will end up in a landfill!!
It is simply stupid that a car that sells for around $40K can come with near totally useless tires. In 2006, it was the GY Integrity for CA-bound HH. This sort of cheat-on-tire trick is true of Ford, Chevy and Mercury too so it is not unique to Toyota.
As stated in my earlier post, I'm drafting an email to the CR tire expert who wrote that damning article, asking if CR will pull their "Recommended" rating on the Highlander. It might hurt my resale value a bit but right now, I'm after some revenge for being wronged!
When our GY Integrity was slashed on a road trip, we were in a tiny town that had no GY dealer. None of the tire shop had the size so we drove on to the next town to find one. Yep, CR ought to focus on this problem and make a fuss!
I would like keep the OEM Toyo A20 tires (completely unacceptable for snow/ice) on the 19 rims for summer and replace them when worn out. I would then pick up another set of Toyota 19 wheels (from all the people switching to 17 and 18 wheels) for better tire selection and mount winter tires on them. I'm even willing to buy 4 additional tire pressure sensors.
However, my dealer and the Toyota customer care line told me that the vehicle can only handle 5 monitors so it would have to be re-programmed every time I make the swap. The other option is to swap tires on the same wheels and rebalance every season.
So I see a few options that don't incur $$$ with every season change:
Mount the winter set and live with the warning lights.
Turn off the pressure monitoring system for the winter? I can live without this feature. This possible?
Is there a way for the Highlander to handle two sets of wheels? My BMW can - I just need to reset after a swap because the slight circumference change does trigger a warning.
Pull a fuse? Safe?
Better idea?
I'm hoping someone out there has figured out a way to swap wheels and share that knowledge.