Bought Michelin Defender Tires and have remorse. Energy Savers are what I think I should have got.

I got a set of these from my Toyota dealer about 4 months ago, and have about 25,000 miles on them already (I do long distance hotshot delivery work out of my Prius, which accommodates a 3x4 skid perfectly). Based out of Dallas, TX I have not had to run in snow yet, but have had a few heavy rainstorms between me and the highway, and one thing I have noticed is that they grip in rain--I think better than any tire I have used on any vehicle. The MPG is down a little bit, but I think that is due to the fact that most of the Interstate out here is now marked at at 75 mph, so I have had to up my speed to keep from getting run over by 18 wheelers and bubba trucks. If I take it easy (stay around 60-65) and there is no headwind, I usually get 50-52 MPG. The tires are very quite, which is another plus in my book. Michelin included free road hazard in their promotion, and Toyota had a buy 3 get 1 free offer, they throw in free rotations (I have already had 5 rotations, saving $125 so far) and nitrogen, which by the time I decide to take them off is gonna make these puppies will end up costing very little at all!

 

I was faced with this decision about 3 months ago. At that time people on this site were saying they wouldn't lose any mpg with the defenders or that they would lose around 5 mpg with them. It was quite varied and everyone had rave reviews on the energy savers so being as I drive 6000 miles a month I went with the energy savers to save money on gas. I absolutely don't regret it. I have put a little less than 18000 winter miles on them and think they are performing quite well. Last week I just drove 300 miles in freezing drizzle, snow and ice and didn't have any problems. I do have to travel a good 5 mph slower in those conditions than I would with the defenders but I really don't have a problem with that. You will probably gain mpg with the energy savers over your last set of tires, and if your losing some to the defenders, that could end up being a decent mpg swing.

 

The Michelin Defender is the replacement for the Michelin Harmony tire, FYI. I know you wanted responses from someone who has owned and driven on both the Defender/Harmony and the Energy Savers but I wanted to add my $0.02 regarding the Defenders. They are a superior high mileage tire that you will almost certainly own past the 90,000 mile warranty rating they come with. I pushed my first set to almost 200,000 miles and this set I expect to have for 150,000 or more. They simply wear great, run great, are safe in rain and snow, etc... My only complaint with them is around the 100,000 mile mark they started to get a little louder.

I am sure the Energy Saver is a good tire but since it is not rated as high for wear even if I would have had to only buy 1 extra set in the time I owned my Harmonies I would have lost money. And most likely I would have needed at least 2 more sets to get 200,000 from Energy Savers. Here is a link to my previous thread.

Tire Question - Not Your Typical Question | PriusChat

I hope this helps in some way. Any way you go Michelin is a good tire for the Prii.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

I have 27,000 miles on my set of Energy Saver A/S and I still have 7/32" remaining. They are 9/32" new.

 

Critic,

Good info on the wear amount. Definitely sounds like they are holding up well!

Did you see a increase or decrease in the MPG with the Energy Savers?

Ron

 

I see up to a 5% improvement over the OE tires.

On the Primacy, I typically saw -5%, but occasionally it was as high as -10% for some reason.

Also, the Energy Saver tires have an issue where they get noticeably harder at temps below 50F. This week, it is 55-60 outside and the tires grip and ride noticeably better than when it was in the high 30s/low 40s several weeks ago. Very weird.


iPhone ?

 

Thanks for the reply. It is interesting that you mentioned the difference of grip and ride with the temperature variations. Do you feel that the traction/grip is still adequate at the colder temps, or are you concerned about this?

Thanks again for the information. It is a great help to myself and the community as a whole.

Ron

 

My OE Yokohama S33D tires had the same effect at temps lower than 40F or so. Most tires have this problem, summer tires are even worse in this regard.

 

It has been a few months since I last posted regarding my Michelin Defender tires. I have been getting my tires rotated with my oil changes, every 5,000 miles. I run them at 42 psi all the way around. They now have appx 60k miles on them, and last week (according to my my maintenance
sheet) the tread depth is at 6-7/32 on two tires, and 7-8/32 on the other two. My service advisor
says that they are holding up better than any other tires he has seen on a Prius (fwtw.. but in general he does not blow a lot of smoke simply to see the rings).

 

I'm not running these tires at the present but I thought I would weigh in on the tire pressure. I started with 42-40 psi to get the best mpg I could get. But I have backed down on the psi to the 36-38 psi range and find the ride is much more comfortable, the steering tracking is more stable and there is little or no difference in the mpg. YMMV.

 

Bought mine from discount tire per recommendation. Lost MPG's as soon as I left their facility. Came back the next day and check tire pressure. They had put in 35/33 psi per factory specs. Decided to raise psi to 38/36 psi and was satisfied with it. Holding my average MPG at 54.5 after 3K miles with the defenders.

 

Well since you use the phrase "Yesterday I was talked into buying Michelin Defenders" and it clearly sounds as if you already have regrets, if you have a 30 day period I'd simply recommend getting what you want. Life is too short.

If you are sure about your 30 day window, you of course could go ahead and drive with them for a couple weeks and see if your concerns diminish, but basically I go with the philosophy that as much as you financially can? You should buy what you want. Sounds like the Energy Savers were the tire you wanted.

 

TME, this thread is already about 120 days old!

 

LOL!

Well I certainly hope the OP either learned to like the defenders OR made the switch.

Not the first time I've done this. Gotta learn to always glance at the date on the original post.

My Prius came with Goodyear Assurance tires. So far I like them. The gas mileage is good and they seem to perform admirably in all other arena's.

Wondering how other that have had them longer would say about them? I guess I have some time before I have to worry about tires.

 

I liked my integrity tires. They only managed about 30,000 miles but handled well and gave good FE. I would buy them again depending on price. H

 

The biggest problem with the Integrity is its terrible wet traction, wear and mediocre fuel economy. ohh and price. Why spend that kind of money when you can have a better tire that gets better FE for the same price?

Tire Test Results : When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green

 

Hi F8L
I had mine for two years and never found them to slip around or do funny things. They felt real good on the car actually and gave good FE. Must be the oil on the roads in larger traffic areas when wet. They where on my car when I purchased it. I went with Nockian 2g all weather now and use them year around. Mainly do to the pressure sensors. I like the Nockian as they are very good all weather and the car feels good with them. I expected more noise but they are are silent as any summer tire. Probably not a good tire for you southern folks thou. H

 

That's it, 30K? Not too good!!! I have 28K on my OEMs and they have a lot more to go.