Feedback of Ecopia EP422 plus?

I spoke to a tech at Walmart. He said Bridgestone changed the tread pattern on EP422 plus during its production cycle without changing name, and according to Bridgestone rep, they are "compatible" and can be regarded as the same tire. I don't buy it, but they will not change the tire free for me. If I bought a set of 4 tires, I could have used Bridgestone's Buy & Try 30 days guarantee offer, but with only two tires, that won't work. I tried contacting Bridgestone, but chat rep could not help me, so I have to call the tech service tomorrow during business hour. Although I am quite happy with EP20 so far, I am concerned with it's dismal review received at Tirerack, especially on snow and ice traction. Also, EP20 has no tread warranty, and it is rated to be only UTQG 380 B B compared to UTQG 640 A A with tread warranty to 70K for EP422 plus.

 

For what it's worth, I wouldn't buy it either. In my opinion different tread pattern, different tire. Sure I bet they are compatible, but you don't want compatible, you want identical.

 

That strikes me as being a red flag of some kind. I would think this data is required by federal regulation. Could they have possibly mounted the tire backwards? Look on the inside rim to see if the tread wear etc. info is there. If not, then I wonder if you somehow got a tire intended for retail sale in Mexico that was perhaps bought at a Walmart there and returned for an exchange at your store. Anyway, if the data is missing it might give you some extra leverage to negotiate for a return or a different tire etc.

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I just checked. Yep, it's required by law except under unlikely circumstances which you should assume don't apply to your tire:

eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

 

Can you imagine a consumer survey question: "Would you be satisfied if you were sold two tires that were...". The resounding response would be no.

I hope you get something sorted out, shouldn't be too hard, this is so bald faced.

Had a sorta similar experience at Costco's tire shop, buying directional X-Ice: they managed to mount 3 for right side, one for left side. Luckily I caught it before they went on the car, this was loose rims.

I'd agree EP20 are shite in snow, especially once worn down to about 5/32". But they roll very good, and are decent feel. Definitely want to have snow tires for winter though.

 

Thanks for your comment. I just went outside and crawled under my Prius with a flashlight. Yes, indeed you are right about the tire being mounted backward. On inside sidewall it has the "TREADWEAR 540 TRACTION A TEMPERATURE A" printed on outer edge.

Now I also found this info on Tirerack. They are listing two different specs of EP422plus for 195-65R15 for 91H rated tires. From this info, it looks EP422 plus made in Mexico has Treadware 540 and max pressure 51 psi, whereas one from US has Treadware 640 and max pressure 44 psi. So my conclusion is that there are two versions of Ecopia EP422Plus 195-65R15 91H on market, one made in US has UTQG 640 A A with 44 psi max inflation and with only 3 grooves, and one made in Mexico has UTQG 540 A A with 51 psi max inflation and with 4 grooves.

 

Well, X-Ice have same marking on both faces, there is no inside or outside. This is sensible, basically means one tire can be either a "left" or a "right", just depending on how it's mounted. But anyway:

Think you have some ammo with those varying stats, those are not the same tire. Good luck!

 

As far as I can tell, these tires don't have directional tread so it may not really technically matter that the tire was mounted with the tread wear info facing inward.

 

I bought the EP 422 plus about 10,000 miles ago and I really like them. I took a trip to Chicago 2 years in a row. One with ep20 and next with ep422 plus. The ride was quitter and when I got up north on more flat land, I got about 58 mpg. Have to go back and look at numbers but it was better then the ep20.

 

What would be good to learn is how they wear and act. Good test. I had one tire blow on a new car with only a couple thousand miles on it. When I bought 1 new new one of different brand, it had lots of tread on it when the other 3 were bald

 

correct, i have this one (on a Yaris) and posted a picture earlier in this very thread.

BTW, i believe the 640 treadwear rating is overstated. i have the EP422 (non-plus) with treadwear rating of 640 in RAV4 and there is only 50% of tread left after 20,000 miles. The OEM Yoko tires with treadwear rating of only 280 lasted for near 40,000 miles of the same type of driving (mostly city with some hwy).

 

I did not put snow tire when I purchased the car in Jan. I drove second half of snowy last winter in New England with brand new EP20 and didn't have too much difficulty. But I am contemplating on getting a dedicated snow tire this winter. How is Xice-3 on fuel efficiency?

On the different note, while I was checking my new tires I also checked the original EP20 on the front side. I've driven only 12k on those, but there are only 5/32 inch of tread left on them. That means in only 10 month 12k, they lost 5/32 tread. With this rate, EP20 will last only 4 more month, or from anew 14 month 16.8k before unsafe to drive. That is totally unacceptable tread life for me. All the fuel cost saving will be gone in a form of tire cost. Has anyone done good cost analysis on fuel cost saving vs tire cost considering frequency of tire change based on tread life? From purely cost-performance view, Conti's TrueContact with 800 treadwear looks too good to pass, even with a few miles MPG decrease. If you believe the face value of review on Tirerack, and Truecontact can handle New England snow. Driving with it year around for the entire tread life of 6 years or 90k miles wold be most cost effective on my car, I think.

 

did you rotate the tires? is this city or hwy driving? is alignment good? what tire pressure?

first, i don't believe you'll get the 90,000 miles from the tires. i have purecontacts with 700 treadwear in my prius and they have 50% of wear already after 30,000 miles of mostly hwy driving. even if you manage to use the procontacts for 90,000 miles, calculating 45mpg (hwy) that's 2,000 gal or $4,000 at today's cost. Assuming you lose 10% mpg, that's $400 that could cover cost of better LLR tires lasting only half as long. Now, if your procontacts don't last the 90,000 miles, you are losing $ compared to top LLR tires with 45,000 mile life.

 

Tire rotation every 5k (twice so far). Mostly on rural road, not much stop and go traffic with speed average 35-45 mph. Haven't check alignment in last two routine maintenance, for it is not covered by the Toyota Care. Pressure set at 42/40.

I hope there are more data on real world tire treadwear and fuel efficiency. I know manufactures tend to overrate treadwear and fuel efficiency. If there are good data to point me to any LRR eco tire that is 10% better on fuel efficiency than Truecontact and last 45k miles, I will buy them. The problem is that ordinal consumer don't have resource to test different brand of tires in the course of a car ownership. If there is no data, it will be a crap shoot. You buy tire and hope they last as long as ads say they will.

 

I alternate between Michelin pilot 215/45R15 and xice2 195/65R15. I appreciate that's somewhat apples/oranges. Anyway, I notice no difference with that transition.

 

i was never of big fan of CR, but this is one of a few things they did right:

Models that our test projects will fall short of their treadwear claim by 15,000 miles or more include the Continental TrueContact and PureContact (H, V), Sumitomo HTR Enhance L/X (T, H, V), Kumho Solus TA71 and TA11, Firestone Precision Touring, and Bridgestone Serenity Plus. That said, most of those tires should still have very good tread life despite potentially overoptimistic mileage claims.

The Truth About Tire Treadwear - Consumer Reports

 

Here is an update on two different EP422 Plus tires I got from local Walmart. I called Bridgestone tech service at 1-800-847-3272 as directed by their service rep. The rep told me that she had no information on tread pattern on their own tire, nor can they look up that information. I asked "If you are Tech service dept, why don't you have that information?" Her answer was "We handle tire fitment and warranty questions, but have no information on tread pattern." Then I asked "Where can I get that information then?" She replied "You would have to call the factory, but we don't have that number to give you." Well, how absurd is this, that tech service does not know the critical information of their own product.

Anyway, a long story short, when I asked about warranty on tires purchased less than set of 4, she told me that there is thing called "Vibration warranty". Basically, if you put less than set of 4 tires, and within 1/32 of treadwear, you notice vibration due to the tire, then you can take it back to the shop to exchange it for free.

With this info, I contacted Walmart and asked for exchange of a tire to make them "identical" not just "compatible". They agreed. So they are ordering another EP422 Plus for me. I asked for the Made in Mexico version with 4 grooves. Even though it has less treadware (540) compared to the US version with Treadware 640, I like more rubber on this tread pattern and max inflation of 51 psi compared to 3 grooved US version with max pressure of 44 psi. If two new EP422plus on the rear hold well, I will get two more for the front when the original EP20 wears down to 3/32 tread which is projected to happen in 4 more month with current rate.

 

Man, you've done your homework on this, and it payed off!

Ecopia EP422 were high on my list, when it comes to replacing our 215/45R17 OEM Michelin Pilot. Now I'm not so sure, if Bridgestone's manufacturing control is so lax.

Bridgestone has played silly beggars like this before. They had two versions of the Insignia SE200. Those were the tires that came on our previous Civic Hybrid, and the version that came with the car had a dimunitve "02" suffix, and was very good for rolling resistance. If you purchased a replacement SE200, it typically was missing the "02" suffix, and was a rubber compound not so good for rolling resistance.

 

If I had time to price the replacement tires for my original EP20 on Prius, I probably would have gone with Michelin Energy Saver. Walmart didn't have them, nor can I find the size P195/65R15 89S in Tirerack. My local tire shops may have been able to special order them, but would cost $129/tire. EP422Plus at Walmart was $93/tire, and it was the only LRR tire they had in stock albeit only one tire at the time.

By the way, on 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid I was previously driving which I purchased used so it came with studded snow tire (Multi-Mile Winterclaw) and no all season tires, I put on Yokohama Avid Ascend eco tires. I don't have any other tire to compare with on this car, but I was getting good mpg from it, averaging 45mpg for 4 years 60k miles, but that number includes 4 mo a year with studded snow tires on, so it must have been getting close to 50mpg on them during Apr-Nov. So, Yokohama Avid Ascend would have been another consideration for Prius.

 

Hi Salamander_King,
I just installed 4pcs EP422 Plus yesterday (11/13/2015) at Costco (Item# 990416, MFN 006036). All 4 tires are: EP42EZ, Made In Mexico, 640AA, 44psi, and with 3 grooves.

See attached JPG. The date code ("4015") is embossed under the Bridgestone logo. I believe "4015" means 40th week in 2015 (i.e., 1st week of Sept 2015). So it's a pretty new production run from Mexico with 3 grooves.

I think your 4-grooves Made In Mexico tire might be an older production run. What is the date code?

 

I just went out side to look the tires, but couldn't find similar 4 number code on the side wall. Then I realized that my tire is put on the rim inside out (if that is supposed to be outside). I went back out and crawled underside to look inside side walls of both of my EP4WAZ. The date code under Bridgestone Logo were "2315" and "1615" . Both are made in Mexico, so I guess there are both EP42EZ and EP4WAZ versions of tires made in Mexico in 2015, though EP4WAZ maybe bit earlier in its production. I swapped my other tire that was EP42EZ, so I can't check it any more. But the photo I took earlier is showing "2315" on it, and it did not have "HECHO EN MEXICO" marking on the side wall. Walmart carries both EP42EZ and EP4WAZ versions, though you may have to be very specific about which one you want.