big, big hit. do you like the way your car launches from a stop when you take your foot off the brake on the -02s? you won't have that with the non-02. its like moving through mud. lots of rolling resistance. don't do it.

 

I have to say again, that if you want an excellent tire that gives better mileage than the OEM Dunlops and has great road manners, the one to get is the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S. Not the cheapest tire, but certainly one of the best.

I have a set on them that has almost 20K on them, and they have been great!

 

I'd agree. I am leaning towards the Ecopia EP200... I've had good luck with Bridgestone tires in the past, and Goodyear tires were okay as performance shoes on a Vette, but those days are long gone.

Any one try the Ecopia??

 

I took the original set of Bridgestone SE200 tires 66,000 miles of highway driving. They were worn out but still safe with that many miles. I ran them the entire time at 40 psi and rotated them at each oil change (8500 miles). I replaced them with another set of SE200s. My mileage has always been great, but I did notice at the end of their life they started to hurt the mileage by about 1 to 2 mpg. I went looking at HCHIIs last year and they were still being delivered with SE200s. At the dealer today to check out the Insight II, and found that both the Insight, and the HCHII are being delivered with the Bridgestone SE200-02 and the Dunlops. I am pretty sure that the SE200 and the SE200-02 are not vastly different, but the -02s incorporate small improvements. I suppose you may not be able to find anything but the SE200-02s in the future.

 

Just checking Tire Rack, at present the Bridgestone Insignia SE200-02 are available in two sizes:

195/65R15
225/60R16

and the Bridgestone Insignia SE200 are available in:

205/65R15
215/65R15
205/55R16
215/60R16
225/60R16
235/60R16
215/65R17

So, the 195/65R15 size is only with -02 suffix. The other -02 size is also available in non-02 tire. Not sure if this signifies anything, or is just current supply situation.

 

I'm of the same opinion. Ecopia EPs or Goodyear Fuel Max for me. I noticed that Bridgestone lists both the EP200 and EP20.

Does anyone know the difference, or better yet...any one tried these???

TIA

 

Could the current Ecopia be EP100? I'm confused too, too many blinking numbers ;o

 

I had the OE Dunlop SP31A/S for 29,000 miles and they wore horribly bad with noise and such. I had the arms updated and the alignment set to acheive the best possible fuel economy (toe set to min spec on the rear).
I replaced them with the Dunlop SP31A/S and the Dunlops wore and were noisy within 6,000 miles.

I just put a set of the Goodyear Assurance ComforTreds on and they are far superior to the Dunlops in every catagory and equal in Rolling Resistance which is ideal for us Hybrid drivers.

The ComfortTreds are very quiet and sure feeling (not soft and spongy) like the Dunlops. The ComfortTreds are very light (19lbs) for an aftermarket tire. Dunlops are 18lbs, so not a huge difference. I would highly recommend the Goodyears so far, but I do need more mileage on them to be a fair comparison.

To give you a clue....... the Dunlops are being cancelled and the warehouse is blowing them out cheap, Tirerack has them for $53 (wholesale = $42).

 

Ok, I called bridgestone and got one of their engineers. He had to research this and we spoke after three or four days. Apparently the EP20s are for Prius', the EP02s are for small SUVs (CRV??), and the EP100 are the standard issue. I might go for them in a few thousand miles.

 

Thanks Lansing.

One thing disconcerting: the Ecopia has no treadware guarantee. I'm not sure why: I would think low rolling resistance and good tread wear go hand-in-hand.