[FastMover]

The Assurance Fuel Max has a new tread compound designed right down to the molecules to deliver a 27% reduction in rolling resistance without the traditional compromises.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/16/s...rance-fuelmax/

....now if we only had a standard index and mandatory labeling <ponder> ... !?

[bwilson4web]

Thanks!

Here is the Goodyear web page.

Sad to say, they don't have R14 for the NHW11 models.

Bob Wilson

[FastMover]

I exchanged a few emails with Goodyear regading this tire. I asked them if they had a rolling resistance coefficient for the tire using one of the two accepted industry standard formulas (See Wikipedia) and received this reply:

I am forwarding your email to our Marketing Department for a response. I am not aware of any direct comparisons between the Assurance Fuel Max and the Michelin Energy. We do have direct comparisons to our Goodyear Assurance tire however and the Fuel Max has a 27 % improvement in rolling resistance over the Assurance. It has 4% greater fuel efficiency which translates to a savings of approximately 2600 miles worth of gas over the life of the tire.

XXXXXXX XXXXXXX, (Name witheld by me)
Consumer Relations

Hopefully we will have a more complete answer in the next few days.

bwilson4web said:

Sad to say, they don't have R14 for the NHW11 models

They did say, and also say on the website that more sizes are being released, including a size for the Pruis (did not say which one, or if both).

RFB

[FastMover]

http://www.moderntiredealer.com/News...officials.aspx

Goodyear Chairman, CEO and president Bob Keegan and Darren Wells, executive vice president and chief financial officer, pointed to the Assurance Fuel Max tire as one of the company's current market success stories due to customer demand that has "surpassed expectations." The mid-tier tire delivers low rolling resistance without losing any traction, handling capabilities or tread mileage, Keegan said.

[jdenenberg]

There are, of course, other LRR tires. It is still difficult to directly compare rolling resistance across manufacturers, but there is some good experiential data among our community. I have now used three different tires on my 2004 Prius The OE Goodyear Integrity (poor tire, but good rolling resistance in warm weather), Michelin MXV4+ "Energy Saving" (better rolling resistance in cold weather and overall a better tire - about 1% better MPG overall) and Nokian WR (Still better rolling resistance and traction - about 4% improved MPG than the GYs). All tires were the same size (185/65R15) and kept at the same PSI (42/40) and the data is in the fuel economy records here on myHybridCar.

I am about to put on my fourth set of tires at 146,000 miles and will get a set of Nokian WRg2 tires this time.

JeffD

[FastMover]

Just to clear up some terminology -- the Michelin MXV4 "Energy" series tires as used for OEM on some Toyota hybrids (My TCH had them), is not the same as the Michelin "Energy Saver" as used on the Peugeot in Europe, which is supposed to have superior rolling resistance. The Energy Saver was only announced in North Amercia at the 2009 North American International Auto Show, and is just now coming to market. There are some test results available on the web that were done in Europe ... here:

http://www.tyretest.com/pkw_sommerre...ver/index.html.

I think I read somewhere that Toyota will begin offering the Energy Saver on the Yaris this year as the OEM tire. There are also a couple of videos showing them on the Prius -- but all I have found are in other languages. Here, for example is the French version = http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=41767251.

RFB

[sdprius858]

Our 2007 Toyota Camry CE came with Michelin Energy MXV4+. They're approaching changing at 31,000 miles. I am really interested in the Fuel Max tire and Tire Rack.com has them for about $72 or $75 for the Prius OEM size.

[FastMover]

Not to get too far off topic, but here is an interesting additional bit from Goodyear about the Assurance Fuel Max.

Bob - A bit more information for you as you continue to consider other tires for key fitments on some hybrids and many more vehicles. Sorry for the delay in responding, as I was involved with an event last week to further raise the profile of low rolling resistance/fuel efficiency as it relates to tires. You may have noticed it - the Fuel Max Challenge, which we held last Wednesday on the downhill track that hosts the annual Soap Box Derby finals. We matched NASCAR driver Greg Biffle against a 15-year-old girl, Tyler Shoff, in a coast-down "race" that highlighted the easier-rolling/less-energy-used Fuel Max tires. Biffle didn't run on the Fuel Max tires, so he was at a disadvantage ... but was a great sport, nonetheless. We ended up with video coverage on ESPN SportsCenter, NBC's Today Show, CNN Headline News, etc. You can view a summary video on YouTube by typing Goodyear Fuel Max Challenge in the search box.

LINK = http://www.youtube.com/user/coynepublicrelations

They did not say or show what tires were on Biffle's car, but I think they were earlier Assurance, either the Triple Tred or the Comfor Tred.

RFB

[stevenvillatoro]

Another new LRR tire to investigate is the Bridgestone Ecopia EP100... sounds very promising!

[FastMover]

stevenvillatoro said:

Another new LRR tire to investigate is the Bridgestone Ecopia EP100... sounds very promising!

Probably also a good choice. as Bridgestone has a considerable OEM history on hybrids. In my own experience, I have had three sets of Bridgestones and generally they have been good -- except for tire life. The set that went the longest went 41,000 on a Subaru AWD, the others were both slightly less than 40K miles.

One thing that intrigued me about the Goodyear was the 65K wear gaurantee -- and the statement in the press release that the lower rolling resistance was acheived with new synthetic tread coupounds that reduced the amount of soft silicon based materials required to acheive the low LRR. Goodyear credits this new soft, but tougher compound as making the wear guarantee possible.

RFB