Doc and Steve: thank you so much for that information! Those are things I have never considered before, but the conversation in this thread was really making me wonder. A consequence of never really using mixed brand tires at the same time before, perhaps. Steve, thank you in particular for doing the math and drilling it home about the ratio vs. an absolute value. I definitely will be replacing the older tires with the same as the other new pair - the ABS issue concerns me a lot, not only because of winter weather, but because my commute has a lot of congestion and horrible drivers and quick stops are unfortunately not unknown - even when driving at a "safe" following distance (doesn't always help when people merge across multiple lanes at once!)


Looking at the Bridgestone B381 specs (the original OEM tire, if I'm following right), it seems the standard sizing that's best used on the HCH-I would match their dimensions: [P185/65R14]


At that rate, my old tires [205/75 R14] were wider and higher than the OEM sizing, and my new tires [185/70R14] are the same width as the OEM and with a sidewall aspect ratio / height landing somewhere between the old tires and the OEM sized tires. In all, that doesn't seem too bad: I'm now riding with tires closer to the OEM sizing.


Also, looking at the Defenders recommended, they are actually the same size as the Hankooks [185/70R14] so that's another relief. I guess I still don't know why the Hankook Optimos are not listed as compatible with the HCH-I while the Defenders are, but perhaps that's due to some reason other than sizing?


Regardless, I feel like I've learned a lot more about how important tire sizing is to an automotive system in multiple ways. Thank you both so much for sharing your knowledge!

 

Happy to help!

 

Happy to help.

 

Update:

The fuel mileage with the Defenders continued to be overall less than with the OEM tires. I kept looking at the number of choices in 185/70R14 verses 195/60R15. Plenty of low rolling resistance choices in the 15" size. One in the 14" size. Discount Tires gave me a full refund so I took the plunge.

The wheel is on this site: http://www.carid.com/maxxim-wheels/w...r-7528926.html

The tire is on this site: http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/...=1455308545104

The preliminary results are encouraging.

 

What are the preliminary results?

The EP422 are hard to beat. I wish I had coughed up the little extra to buy the Ecopias when bought the Integrities. They were a great set of tires. There's about 4mpg difference between them.

 

52+ MPG first highway trip back to the house. Mid 40s running around town.

 

Nice.

 

I paid particular attention to unsprung weight in that the goal was to keep the weight under that of the OEM setup. The wheel selected was 14 lbs (most were 15+) and the tire was 18 lbs. The weight savings was about 2 to 3 lbs per corner over the stock wheel/Defender setup.

Lower profile tires typically mean less sidewall flex (all else being equal), so I added a NRG front strut bar and front and rear Eibach sway bars (stiffer than stock) to the Skunk2 rear camber arms and the heavy duty Monroe struts already installed. If the MPG doesn't prove to be back up to where is was stock at least it will corner better. :-)

 

Wondering about the MPG, Ride and Noise difference between the Ecopia 422 and Micheline Premier AS.

 

I have experience with the Michelin Defender. The Ecopia is a noisier than the Michelin. The Michelin Defender lowered the fuel mileage by about 8 MPG compared to the stock OEM Bridgestone B381 tires. The Ecopias only lowered the fuel mileage by about 3 to 4 MPG.