In the market for new tires, and I recently just came across the Michelin Energy Saver tire and was wondering what people noticed if they have this particular tire on their HCHII?

Interested in it's ability to handle snow and also what kind of MPG impact the tire makes.

Thanks

 

You must read this, a TireRack of most of the contenders, a very timely article:

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

My takes on the above:

1. Michelin Energy Saver yields best mpg, is an all-season, but is pricey.

2. Bridgestone Ecopia is a close second in mpg, has best wet traction, is a lot cheaper, but is rated summer only, not all-season.

3. The Goodyear Fuel Max doesn't really excel at anything, mpg only marginally better than the base tire in the comparison.

My first hunch would be to go with Ecopia when we re-tire, but the lack of all-season rating has me worried. We do have separate snows, but still. Puzzling though, even though the Ecopia is "Summer-only" it still had best wet traction...

 

Oooh, nice find. I'd take the Michelin, due to its better dry-cornering performance compared to the Ecopia. Any extra $$$ would worth it for the g-force. Thanks for posting this link!

 

Not really my "find", someone else mentioned this in a tire thread (a subject we never get tired of ) at CleanMPG. But yes: finally some objective testing of all the contenders!

I too wonder about dry vs wet traction. We've purchased Michelin in the past, and (apart from the price) were very happy, for traction, road feel, etc. And the Michelin's all-season rating (and just the tread appearance, vs the Ecopia's "slick" look) inspires more confidence.

Just one more wrinkle: the Energy Saver has no tread life warranty. Whereas the Ecopia offers 5 year/50000mi (80000~km). For comparison, the Michelin Harmony's TLW is 6 Years/80,000 Miles.

FWIW, about 10 years back, we had Michelin Harmony's get down to the wear bars at around 60000 kilometers. At the time the (Canadian) TLW was 120000km. So we got our next set half-price. Still, it makes you wonder about their treadlife prediction. I think there's likely more than a little "politics" involved, ie: they set TLW to help with sales, but are hoping most customers won't bother to follow up, if their wear is signif. faster.

 

Im due for new tires before winter hits on my HCH-II. I have been reading all tire related postings on here.

From the different forum posts im deciding from :
Michelin Harmony
Goodyear Fuel max

I live near Chicago, so I need all season tires and I want to stay under 100 bucks a tire.

 

Last winter I finally caved and got a set of snow tires for our '06. With around 55,000km's, the OEM Bridgestone Insignia SE200's were getting to be next to useless in any amount of snow. In particular coupled with the Hybrid model's ~4" underbody clearance. Separate snows on rims are something to consider: it is a bigger, extra expense, but it allows you to milk more mileage out of your regular tires, since they're not being called upon to perform in snow.

I think it's a pretty tall order: looking for a good all-season, under $100 per, with LRR. The Harmony is probably the best bet for everything but the RR (actually, price is probably over $100 as well).

The Michelin Energy Saver will satisfy all your mandates (so-so for snow traction), except price.

The Goodyear Fuel Max might be the best compromise for price, traction and RR, but the above link indicates it's RR is not that hot, just slightly ahead of the norm.

 

Bumping up, because I'm out shopping for new tires currently.

Costco has Michelins on sale this month for $70 off the set of four, so I priced these there today:

- Michelin Energy Saver All-Seasons - $119.99 x 4 - approx. $529 installed (inc. tax, less the $70)

- Bridgestone Ecopia EC 100 - $87.99 x 4 - approx. $450 installed

Not as big a price difference as I'd thought there would be. So thinking I may get the Michelins.

 

J. Ron, what did you end up getting? Those are the 2 brands I'm considering too.

I'm leaning towards the Bridgestone's because we don't have much, if any, snow here. The FE is nearly identical to the Michelin's based on Tire Rack's tests and they're cheaper.

Jess

 

The Bridgestone Ecopia seems to come in more than one flavour: last year at our fall exhibition there was a 2010 Prius on display, and I noticed it had Ecopia's, except they had a different numerical suffix, and a tread appearance much more all-season. It actually looked a dead-ringer for the Insignia SE200 tread, so maybe just rebadged?

I believe it was Ecopia EP20, here's tirerack's info:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....el=Ecopia+EP20

Of note: it's only available in 195/65R15.

 

Hi Mendel,

Are you leaning to the EP20's over the EP100's?

Jess