I know a number of years ago there was a LOT of discussion about low rolling resistance tires but there was never any SOLID information available on any of the options. We knew (at that time) that the OEM selection for the Highlander Hybrids was the Goodyear Integrity and that it was "supposedly" one such "low rolling resistance" tire but nobody could really provide any details on alternatives. The alternatives were/are important because the Integrity tires had such crappy wear (most everyone's sets wore out after only 25K miles). We replaced them and goodyear honored the mileage warranty by giving us 60% credit for them a year back then towards their 60K tire, the Fortera Triple Tred. Guess what? Yep, 28K miles later the Fortera TT are ALSO wearing prematurely. So, I am once again back on here seeking tire options and want to know what options I have in low resistance rolling tires (from ALL mfgs, not just a single mfg). I also noticed that Michellin is now running TV ads claiming to have numerous LRR tires so....Anyone here have a chart that would let me compare fuel efficencies measured between the current options? My wife's other request is to get the Quietest option as well. Cost is not really the main concern.
Thanks in advance

PS - We do NOT do ANY Hypermile-ing in this car. Just drive it "normal" so Fuel efficiency is secondary to road noise (for us).

 

Information is hard to come by regarding rolling resistance tires. The last chart I saw was from 2003, and many of those tires aren't made anymore.There was a thread on cleanmpg comparing some recent tire offerings (I know you don't hypermile, but the info might point you to some possible tires to consider), so here's a link to that:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showt...ing+resistance

 

Tirerack had a very good review of about 5 LRR contenders, just recently:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...irePageLocQty=

BTW, I had a hard time finding that again. Maybe good search string would be:

When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green

For RR, Michelin Energy Saver AS was lowest , and Bridgestone Ecopia not much higher. The Michelin seemed the best in most departments, except price. The Ecopia's downside, for me at least, was it is not rated all-season.

 

Thanks for the links guys. I did find those articles as well as a few more but no matrix so I posted this inquiry. There was very little time to make a decision today. After the Toyota dealership verified that alignment was within spec, we took the car directly to the Goodyear dealership. They inspected and also verified alignment was correct and offered about a 55% credit for the prematurely worn Triple Treds ($80/tire based on a $155 resale). Since our options were limited to Goodyear products, we selected the Assurance Fuel Max tire. In my prior data gatherings I had read that others perceived the Fuel Max tire to be significantly quieter than other options (including the Michelin's). If we had had other options, I would have likely gone with the Yokohamas. The GY dealer had the Assurance in the 225/65-17's standard equipment tires so we went with them. I will report back here with our experiences with this tire.

We ski in the winter so we need something we can count on in the mountains. The Fortera Triple Treds were some of the best non-snow tires we've had on a car/SUV for snow conditions but they simply did not last anywhere near the warranty projections. They were at 28K miles when they were replaced today. If we had decided to have left them on, it is doubtful that they would have gone much over 35K miles before requiring replacement.

After additional research, it appears that neither the Yoko dB nor the Michelin Energy Saver tires are available in the 225/65-17 size so that reduces the options more.

 

Update - The sidewalls on these Assurance tires are SUPER soft. This may help rolling resistance but it sure make the truck more "squishy" in the mountain curves. It can be driven, it just takes a bit of getting use to the new "floating" feeling and being about 10% less aggressive. As my brother said on our recent ski trip..."It's not your BMW...".

 

The "Integrity" tires also had the soft sidewall syndrome. My Nokian WRg2 LRR tires have a stiff sidewall and provide much better handling. They seem to be wearing well and may last 60k miles. They have great road grip in wet and dry and the slush yesterday (CT) didn't even slow me down.

JeffD

 

Figured I owed an update to this crowd. The mileage on the Assurance tires is...not good. Here we are 2 years and a month into these tires and we have approximately 35K miles on them and they are "almost DONE". Maybe another 5K miles so another trip to the dealership is in order.

Will NOT be buying another set of Goodyears though since this is the 3rd different model of Goodyear tires we have had on this SUV and none of them have lived up to their billing.

The good news is that in the 2 years since I originated this thread, a slew of LRR's are now available in the 225-65-17 OEM tire size. These have been aligned and rotated regularly with proper inflation so it looks like we will be either going with the Continental LX's next or the Pirelli to see if they can do any better. If not, we should probably simply sell the HiHy. It's been a good vehicle in snow (skiing) and for beach trips and averages around 25.5MPG (but 7MPG lower than originally advertised but that still 5.5MPG better than the Lexus GX470 it replaced so we've gotten our $'s out of the vehicle even with all the headaches on the poor tire mileage)

 

For anyone reading this thread looking for LRR tires. Tirerack.com website has an upgrade garage function. When shopping for tires, there are several filters you can utilize. One is to show LRR tires only. This is the easiest way to determine what LRR tires are available for your vehicle (of the brands Tirerack carries, of course).

 

Guess what everyone....Yep, the 65,000 mile Firestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia tires have "bit the dust" at......... drum roll please.... 30K miles into their lifespan and less than 2 years. We have meticulously maintained these including keeping them rotated every 5K miles (by Firestone) with alignments maintained by Toyota over that period with the most recent alignment performed less than 6 months ago. It looks like Firestone is going to be pro-rating these so perhaps we will get 50% of the original costs to be used towards our next set...Original cost for tires, lifetime maintenance, road hazard, etc of $840 means that we will be lucky to get $300 credit...
So, back to the shopping for tires. Buying the Conti LX20's this time & may be back in 2 more years. Still a bit surprised we are still driving this HyHi nearly 8 years after we bought it but I guess that is a good thing

Cheers all!

 

Good grief. Stop giving the keys to the young drivers!!! these hybrids are not intended for drifting.....