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Continental ProContact with EcoPlus

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by mikesarebetter, Mar 27, 2012.

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  1. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    Well i was forced into getting tires earlier than expected. I went to rotate and balance my current tires today and the back tires were severely cupped in just a couple spots.... kinda weird. There was about 5/32 left on the tires but in those couple spots it was almost worn bald. I had a slight vibration and was hoping to cure it with a rotation, but will be getting it cured with new tires.

    Now with that misc garbage typed i've decided to go with the Continental tires. They are getting installed tomorrow. Since there was a nice informational thread about the ecopia's i figured i could start one on the continentals.

    I'm switching out winter tires that were on the car when i bought it. So I'm sure the road noise will be quite improved, but won't be much of a fair comparison if switching from stock. Tracking with fuelly my running average has been about 44mpg and it's been creeping up here recently. I do all interstate driving going 73mph and average about 4k miles a month. So i should be able to tell if there's an improvement in mileage in no time. Anyway thanks for reading and will keep you all posted!!
     
    #1 mikesarebetter, Mar 27, 2012
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  2. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Are you sure it was the tires that were the problem and not a suspension component?
     
    #2 F8L, Mar 27, 2012
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  3. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    At the time I wasn't sure and with only 38k miles on it I did not suspect it to be suspension. After I had the tires installed i had toyota do an alignment and they didn't mention anything. I'm thinking it may have just been a lack of rotation by the previous owner.

    As for the tires, it's a night and day difference as far as overall ride quality and sound. I can now hear the engine at low speed where i couldn't before. only about 200 miles on them so far and i may be seeing a slight mpg drop but way too early to tell. I'll have over 1k miles added to them by next thursday so that will tell me a little more. But so far very happy with them!
     
    #3 mikesarebetter, Mar 30, 2012
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    My CPC w/Eco should arrive on Monday and I'll probably get them installed on Wed. Looking forward to improved traction over the stinking Integrities.
     
    #4 efusco, Mar 30, 2012
  5. gern

    gern Junior Member

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    I too have just purchased a set of Continental Eco Pluses. Up here in da North Country I use winter tires, plus I have just replaced the battery so a direct comparison might be tough. However after a few hundred miles I can report that the tires are very quiet the handling seems to be more respnsive then my winter tires and they seem to be great in the rain.
    More to report later.
     
    #5 gern, Mar 30, 2012
  6. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    Well so far i have about 1000 miles on them. Still very happy with the overall ride. Still can't quite give a fuel economy report as it's been super windy these last six days of driving 180 miles a day. With said wind i have been averaging about 43 mpg driving 73mph. Winds have all been around 20mph with a mix of side head and tail winds. Hopefully i can get some nice calm days next week to see what they can do...
     
    #6 mikesarebetter, Apr 4, 2012
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Had mine mounted yesterday. Will try to remember this thread and give an update after this tank.
     
    #7 efusco, Apr 5, 2012
  8. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Mike, or anyone, what pressure are you running on your Procontact Ecos? I usually ran my Integrities and Michelins at 50psi all the way around. Haven't 'juiced up' the Procontact Ecos yet...not even sure what the sidewall says the max pressure is.
     
    #8 efusco, Apr 5, 2012
  9. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    42 40... i've never been comfortable over inflating. max is 44 iirc
     
    #9 mikesarebetter, Apr 6, 2012
  10. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok someone give some fuel economy data please. :) Hopefully something that compares this tire with either the OEM tire or something that we're already familiar with.
     
    #10 uart, Apr 7, 2012
  11. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    The commuter (Toyota Prius) | Fuelly

    here's the link to my fuelly. as it looks so far it looks like a drop or about the same. but as posted earlier there's been quite a bit of wind, so i'm hoping to see an increase once the wind dies down. I'm still surprised there wasn't a bigger increase regardless of the wind. I took off some crappy non lrr snow tires and figured there'd be a huge difference..
     
    #11 mikesarebetter, Apr 7, 2012
  12. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok thanks Mike. I did notice your results but I was wondering how they compare with the OEM tires or other known good LRR performers.

    I notice that you previously said :
    So you're saying it's same or slightly worse than some unknown winter tires. Honestly that doesn't make them sound particularly good.
     
    #12 uart, Apr 8, 2012
  13. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    What was the tread depth on the winter tires?
     
    #13 F8L, Apr 8, 2012
  14. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    5/32 and 6/32
     
    #14 mikesarebetter, Apr 8, 2012
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  15. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    i can't compare to oem as i never had them. i'm kind wishing i wouldve gone with the ecopias so far, but a continental dealer in my area price matched wal mart and had them in the next day. i was sick of the cupped winter tires and the annoying rumble and shaking it was producing. again the ride is great and tire noise is non existent. so that aspect their great. forecast looks calm the next few days so hopefully we'll see a mpg improvement
     
    #15 mikesarebetter, Apr 8, 2012
  16. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I juiced up to 44psi all the way around, that clearly helped the rolling as the dealership had me at just over 30psi.

    I took the Prius on a ~300 mile round trip, all highway this weekend and averaged ~44mpg on roads and driving style I normally would expect closer to 50-52psi, but I still have less than 500 miles on these new tires so not making any major judgements. My regular commute last night the numbers looked pretty close to my normal (61mpg on the 14 mile run, usually see closer to mid to upper 60s depending on a bunch of variables, but conditions were pretty good and I would expect higher with my old Integrities).

    Again, let me get another 1500 miles on these tires and I think I'll be much better set to make a fair assessment, it took at least that long with the Michelin Hydroedges and my initial MPG on those was frighteningly bad, but in the end they were just about as good as the integrities once broken in.
     
    #16 efusco, Apr 9, 2012
  17. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    The EcoPlus is not meant to compete with the Ecopia EP100 (being discontinued) or the Energy Saver A/S in terms of mpg. They will, however, last long and perform well. They are pretty cheap too!

    It is hard to base a solid conclusion on mpg when going from a new tire with 10/32-12/32 tread depth to a worn out hard tire that has 5/32 or less tread depth. I would still expect the EcoPlus to drop mpg by 1-2mpg compared to some other LRR tires.

    If one is considering new tires it may be a good idea to record the mpg you achieved over the last few tanks before doing a swap. Record the tread depth of the old tires then after driving the new tires down to that tread depth, compare the mpg between the old and new tires. That is about the only fair assessment one can make.
     
    #17 F8L, Apr 9, 2012
  18. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok efusco, it will be interesting to see how they break in over the next few 1000 miles.

    BTW I think you're results should be more telling than Mikes above, simply because of low speeds and a bit of hypermiling. Though LRR should effect fuel consumption at any speed, the dominance of air resistance at high speed greatly dilutes the effect. If you're getting over 60 MPG on your regular commute then I'd say you'll definitely be in a position to judge any differences in tires. So keep us posted as they break in. :)
     
    #18 uart, Apr 9, 2012
  19. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I've managed 66mpg on my regular commute at least twice now. I think these will be fine. Will continue to update as they get worn in.
     
    #19 efusco, Apr 10, 2012
  20. mikesarebetter

    mikesarebetter Junior Member

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    i was going to buy the EP422's



    I still have nothing great to report, mileage has pretty much stayed the same but i have been dealing with a ton of opposing wind.
     
    #20 mikesarebetter, Apr 11, 2012
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