Hybrid Car Forums

GeorgiaHybrid · #1 (**permalink**) Sun, Jun 7th, 2009, 08:43 pm

Well,

Michelin finally started producing their new energy tire on the first of the month and right on time for me. Mine should be here Monday and will be put on the car Tuesday. Can't wait to see if the mileage goes up or down because they are claiming that this is the most fuel efficient tire on the road.

They are Energy Saver A/S tires and they come in the right sizes for us:
P185/65R15
P195/60R15
P195/65R15
P215/60R16

Will let you know how well they work. You need to know though that they are replacing the crappy Bridgestones that were my OEM tire (at least they made it 40,000 miles) and anything would be better than those tires.

Jason · #2 (**permalink**) Sun, Jun 7th, 2009, 08:51 pm

Sounds great, let us know how they turn out!

Philt · #3 (**permalink**) Thu, Jun 11th, 2009, 10:17 pm

Do they charge more for them? Michelin tends to be expensive on these types of tires.

GeorgiaHybrid · #4 (**permalink**) Fri, Jun 12th, 2009, 09:28 pm

Mounted, balanced, all the BS charge and the local comunist cooperatives taxes included, they were $670.00 for the set. They are a lot cheaper than the S8 that came with the car but they are one step down in speed rating (no problem to me, I don't run at 118 mph sustained speed).

Initial impressions are good. They are a quiet tire and considering that they are new, a run to Atlanta and back (from Chattanooga) and running around town has yielded a MFD reading of 46.8 mpg. When calculated, that should run around 45.2 or so. That is right where the old POS Bridgestones were doing (worn out) which is very good. Newer tires usually run 1 to 2 mpg lower than new tires (less tread "wiggle" and smaller diameter for the old tires).

Philt · #5 (**permalink**) Sat, Jun 13th, 2009, 11:15 am

Good to know. Please keep us posted on longevity. I am running Yokohama Avid TRZ on my TCH now and have found those to be even quieter than the Michelins it came with. I don't think my mileage suffered too badly.

GeorgiaHybrid · #6 (**permalink**) Fri, Aug 21st, 2009, 10:44 pm

5,000 miles now on these tires, I'm averaging between 42 and 44 mpg (calculated), they ride nice and wear is not apparent (less than 1/64). I really like these tires...

Nice ride, a little less noise than before and just as good if not better mileage. When a new tire with its full tread gets as good or better mileage than the worn out tire it replaces, you have a winner.

bwilson4web · #7 (**permalink**) Wed, Sep 9th, 2009, 06:55 pm

We seeing some excellent work on tire rolling resistance as a function of tire pressure.

Bob Wilson

GeorgiaHybrid · #8 (**permalink**) Thu, Sep 10th, 2009, 06:04 pm

Well, I finally got a lot of tanks caught up in the database with these tires. Running 41 psi in them since they were put on the car and my low mileage tank (with two high speed 75+ runs of over 120 miles) came in at 41.4 and the best tank at 48.4. These are very responsive tires in the wet (compared to the Bridgestones) and corner fairly well in the dry. I will be rotating them in the next week or so and will measure the tread depth at that time.