Yes if the tire is rated for higher psi it is safe. The factory recommended psi is for the original tires.

 

Well, GatorJ, I read a few more reviews, rolled the dice, squelched my vanity for the raised white lettering and ordered the Pirellis. In the factory-spec. size P235/70R16.

$116.45 each + $29 sales tax, free shipping to my address for next week. A total of $495.21 from Walmart.

If I hate them, I'm driving down to Florida, gonna find Avinator from the "Help! Flooded FEH" thread and we're gonna get swampy.

Just kidding. I think they're going to be excellent tires, and Walmart's price was awesome. I really want to do this for under $600 mounted and balanced. Sorry, fglaustin, my preternatural impulse to stay as close to stock as possible on this car and GatorJ's talk about how they good they are in the rain, plus the excellent price from Walmart, tipped the balance in favor of the Pirellis at factory size.

But I will do a detailed post on their performance after I get them mounted and balanced and have a few miles on them. I hate hydroplaning. I have a family member who was badly injured in an accident many years ago caused by hydroplaning and there is nothing I detest more (except excessive road noise) in my tires than feeling like I cannot control the car in a rainstorm, if I hit a surprise puddle, etc.

 

BTW if you're having trouble finding the same price, here's the link I bought them from at $116.45+tax. These are "T" rated tires, 118 MPH. I'm not going to go that fast in the FEH, 100 MPH is fast enough. 75-80 is more like it. The Firestones I had in mind were also "T" rated, and it came down to a choice between the two. I think buying "more tire than you need" is a marketing strategy, and 118 MPH and the 106 load rating is fine for this application.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pirelli-S...Tire/360495681

 

The Scorpions are a great price! I think one reason Walmart can offer them at that price is because they have 11/32" tread, vs. other tires in that size which have slightly deeper tread at 12/32" or 13/32"

 

Yeah, they did look a little shallow in the photos and I looked at lot of other tires. The Michelin Defender LTX M/S are awesome tires, maybe the best all-around tires you can put on this car, but at around $175 each, I'd be looking at approx. $850 for the whole enchilada. And nobody discounts them because they're really good tires. As things stand right now, I'm putting less than 5,000 miles a year on the car, and I don't expect that to increase very much until it reaches its natural end of life or I decide to spend a lot money on a remanufactured battery to keep it running (if that's even possible a couple of years from now). At this point, my concern with the '10 FEH is kind of "retirement community" - keep it looking good and driving well, enjoy it, learn about it, have fun but drive it pretty gently most of the time, no slips and falls, and please keep it quiet.

I really like the car but I will be surprised if I wear them out before the HV Battery has troubles that force me to consider something else.

As always with these things in a hugely competitive market (which is great, but you do get analysis paralysis after a while), Your Mileage May Vary.

I will give my report on these tires, though, including photos, once they're on there. Pirelli makes quality tires, these are well-regarded, I'm looking forward to them.

 

Also what I will probably do with the Michelins already on the car is put them on Craigslist, $70 for all four, come pick them up. I'll wash them and take a few pictures. They still have enough tread that someone who really needs tires in this size could get another 7,500 miles out of them safely. They're vibration free, no leaks or patches/punctures. So I'm hoping to recoup most of the mounting/balancing cost and clock in at just about $500 bucks for the switch.

 

did that pink and red outlining box popup on walmart dot com come up?

 

Huh? Please explain.

 

it is an almost an unknown by tire salespeople to mod by going narrower and taller;
you can mod up to 3 per cent and not be in any problem (have to be careful because of going with a higher aspect ratio
you may end up with a tire that rubs on the fenderwell). No problem with the 225 75's on ford escape hybrid (not on my 2009 and i suspect
that all the other years (2003 thru 2012) there would not be a problem)
there are tire calculators on the internet that one can use: years ago there was only one that i used: Miata tire calculator.
one can input any two tires and it gives the comparison of the dimensions.
i suspect that you used one because you mentioned the difference in height of two different tires.
Back to the original: On the walmart site i imputed the 225 75 for my '09 and a pink pop-up box comes up with the warning:
"This tire does NOT fit your vehicle" (something like that). Well DUH - it certainly does fit because of course i got 4 of them on
right now; and have many many miles on them.
there could be a couple of reasons: 1) they dont want customers doing this and it so happens that the tire rubs and then the customer demands
that the tires be removed and a tire that fits be put on; 2) this possibility could lead to a less expensive tire and they lose $$$$ on the sale.
i was real surprised that i had that mod because there are very few of us in the entire usa that do this (have to say that i am unique )
I did ask the (young) guy about the tires and he said something like: Oh i just go into discount tire and buy the cheapest that i can get.
when i was asking him about the tires i did not know that he modified them that way because i did not even know what the originals were (and even didnt even know what size was on the suv); and i am surprised that the salesguy lead him to that mod (unless he was the one that instigated it).
ended up being a long post

 

I agree, most tire people tell you to go lower, wider with bigger rims. It's a fad, for style, appearance drilled into everyone's head but not always the smartest thing to do. The truth is that the factory engineers try to do a very good job with their default tire sizes, especially on a car like this. They think about it, it's not a random choice, they try to hit the "sweet spot" for most of the people who will be using the vehicle.

I don't think there would be either on this car. I'm sure they'd fit.

No, I just plugged the numbers into my Microsoft Windows™ Calculator like any 11 year old could do with the basic geometry known to the ancient Greeks. The difference is 1/3rd of an inch diameter and therefore 1/6th of an inch ride height (approximate.) The circumference difference is also relatively small. It's not a huge change, and I'm sure the hybrid system would compensate, maybe the speedo. would be off a little.

It's not for any complicated reason: they stick with the factory data for their tire choices and don't think "outside the box." If you want to do that, you have to choose by size, not model (on Tirerack) to do something different. Online internet sales will always stick with the manufacturer recommended sizes. They are not the engineering department and so they stick with the sizes the manufacturer recommends and leave it up to you to get creative if you want. This is for liability reasons.

You probably are. Or at least relatively rare. That's not a bad thing!

Youth is wasted on the young.

Not a problem and I'm glad you wrote it. I think your choice to go with the taller tires is rational and it works fine for you. I just decided to stick with the factory size because I think the Pirellis will do fine in the rain and so forth. I didn't want to alter anything when it came down to it, but that doesn't mean you're wrong.

When I get these tires, I'll post a review including my photos and handling and mileage impressions. I just decided not to experiment this time around.