I recently had to change my tires without much research after a sidewall puncture in a remote location forced me to do it in a hurry. I got the Bridgestone Ecopia EP100s. Now I read in this forum and some other places that it is a summer tire. But the firestone guy swears it's all-season (He also called a no. of his peers in front of me). Is there a way to really confirm this either way? The only official source I could find was tirerack.com. Anybody had any winter experience with EP100s? Thanks
No personal experience but from what I've read it's not a good tire for freezing conditions or snow, though anything else is ok. Apparently it's a really good tire for fuel economy. Let us know how your MPG's shape up with this tire.
It should say on the sidewall if it's all season FWIW, the Ecopia EP20 is all season, with tread pattern looking identical to Bridgestone Insignia SE200. The latter is so-so in snow when new, pretty bad once the tread's about half worn.
In "real" winter conditions, you want a real winter tire. Period A genuine winter tire will have special tread compound and tread design to deal with slush, snow, and some ice. For driving on a lot of ice, you want a studded snow tire, preferably a factory studded one like the Nokian
Thanks for the responses. I talked to a sales person at tirerack.com. He verified the EP100s are indeed summer tires and informed me that any all-season tires should have a M+S rating on the sidewall. Now I'll have to go have a long talk with firestone guys and get them to change tires. Regarding the tires themselves, I quite like them so far. They are a lot quieter, riding a bit smoother and handle a lot better. I don't get the floating feeling around corners and at high speeds anymore. Of course I can only compare them to the stock integrity tires. Regarding the MPGs I think I am getting better but I don't have a proper reference route and the mileage varies wildly with the temperature. The only negative I have noticed so far was poor braking shortly after I started driving on the new tires. I attributed it to the pressure ( which was different on each tire and all below 32). After I adjusted it to 38/36 the braking is good in wet and dry conditions. But now I wonder whether the temperature played a part.
The Ecopia EP422 is the all-weather version of the EP100. I bought a set of these last September and they are performing well for me. It strikes me your retailer could quite easily swap those EP100's for the EP422's. The EP20's, as far as I can tell, are only available in the 195/65 15 size. As such, they're not an exact replacement size for the Gen2. David
After installing the EP422's about 2500 miles ago, I'm getting a very solid 4 mpg (US gal) increase over the OE Integrities. David
After a long wait I finally got the EP422s last week and replaced the EP100s. Driving out of the firestone the noise levels and MPG seemed to be on par with the EP100s. But some of the smoother ride of the EP100 was missing and at high speeds and fast cornering I was experiencing the floating feeling of the original integrities. Later after checking the pressure (it was about 32 on all tires) and adjusting to 38/36 the ride noticeably improved and now as good as the EP100s. Just thought somebody may be interested in a comparison.
The EP100 works well in wet and dry, at least what is typical for my area. I talked my roommate into buying them for his Corolla because of the great price and efficiency. He has been very happy with them and he is a very aggressive driver.
Its a little late for the thread but did find out that the EP100 tire is offered in two versions: a summer and all-season M+S version. The summer version was just tested in a tire rack comparison test where it did well relative to the pack.
Bridgestone specifically lists the EP100 as a "Summer" tire on its website. I am from Minnesota, and bought my Prius in the winter. Why would they sell them in a northern state with summer tires? Does anyone think it is reasonable to return to the dealer and demand that they put on at least all season(EP422) at their expense? Seems like Toyota and dealer could have some liability concerns in case of a winter accident, since most people would have no reason to suspect that they bought a car in a winter state that only has summer tires.
