Toyo NanoEnergy out, Yokohama Avid Ascend in

As the thread title implies, the stock Toyo Nanoenergy tires have been removed, and in their place are Yokohama Avid Ascend tires.

The Nanoenergy tires were good...they'd have lasted 50,000+ miles if I hadn't had them replaced. Because I put so many miles on my Prius, because the Toyos were starting to look a little worn, and because I was in for the 45,000 mile tire rotation this morning, I asked the dealer what they carried for tires. I did that in anticipation of replacing them at the 50,000 mile service, which will happen in roughly 30 days.

They had a sale that was ending in 2 weeks...buy 3, get one for $1. Higher price than at tire rack, but mounting, balancing, and installation were included. Plus, no hassle of making a separate appointment to have that done. 75,000 mile treadwear warranty, and if they fail or are damaged within the first year (no mileage limitation), the dealership (any Toyota dealership) will replace them for free. Not a bad thing, since by the time I hit one year from today, I'll have added 55-60,000 more miles.

As expected since they're new, they seem quiet. I'll post up any differences in fuel economy and other impressions once they are broken in a bit...with my commute, they should be broken in by Monday night. But I'll wait a week (1100 miles) to get a solid average fuel economy comparison.

 

That's my commute. 115 miles to work, a full day of work, then 115 miles to get home. All highway, except for the first and last few miles of the drive.

SAMSUNG-SM-G891A ?

 

It's holding up well. For reference, I'm now at something a little north of 45,000 miles.

The interior is showing nearly no wear at all...no weird creases on the seats, no degradation of the seat foam or upholstery, and no scratches on anything that I would have expected. There are two small marks on the matte plastic just to the left of the instrument panel on the dash...those showed up after a run to the local car wash, where I'm guessing the guy wiping things down made the mark.

The exterior is fine as well, although I wish that I would have gotten a clear bra put on when it was new. I drive on roads that see a LOT of farm trucks, so there are quite a few rock chips on the front end and the hood. Other than that, it's good.

No weird noises. I need to get it up on a lift to look for a loose underbody panel, as I get a minor rattle (sounds like an exhaust shield or one of the underbody aero panels) when the engine is at very low rpm and under load. A couple of minor rattles showed up before I hit even a couple thousand miles (fixed those with closed-cell foam tape), but since then, no new ones have reared their heads. And naturally the dealership can't hear anything when I've asked them to check the underbody panels and exhaust shields.

On the topic of the Yokohama Avid Ascends: They are very quiet and comfortable and I LOVE that, but so far I've taken about a 4-5 mpg hit. However, I still need to let the tires break in and wear all the injection molds off, and I need to play with tire pressures. I initially put them at 40 psi front, 38 rear, which is where I ran the stock Toyo Nanoenergy tires. I ran the Toyos at that because if I remember correctly, the max pressure was 44 psi. The Yokos have a max pressure of 51 psi, so as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to bump the pressures up to 45 front / 43 rear, or maybe slightly higher. That, plus the break-in and wearing off of the injection molds should recover some of the MPG loss. But I've only got about 450-ish miles on them at this point, so I'm going to reserve judgement on the MPG side of things until I've got at least 1000 miles on them and I've played more with tire pressures. Also, I had taken off the plastic wheel covers a while back...I may throw those back on to see if I can recover a tiny bit more MPG. But even if I don't recover any of the MPG loss, I do really like the quieter ride and more solid feel the Yokos have...a very noticeable improvement over the Toyos.

 

Believe me, I've thought about all that, and done the math. But there are a number of things that drive me (no pun intended) to do the commute.

- fantastic job that pays well and sets me up well for the future.
- nothing in between where I live and work, except for a few farm towns with gang issues. Where I work is truly out in the middle of nowhere; most of the people who work there commute at least 40 minutes, nobody has less than a 30 minute commute, and there are a surprising number of other people who have commutes similar to mine (2 hours one way).
- renting or buying a place anywhere closer to work would mean paying significantly more than what we do now, to live in a place that is nowhere near as desirable. Where we are now, I can walk to the ocean in 10 minutes at a leisurely pace.
- before I got this job, a bunch of money was spent on the place we live in...a house that has been in my family since the mid 1960's, and we're only paying off the renovation. Around here, because of home values, you only sell if you absolutely have to...prices just keep going up, and were largely unaffected by the crash in 2008. Renting it out is possible, but see my second and next comments for the reasons we don't.
- the husband goes to grad school 10 minutes from where we live. One or both of us is going to have a commute. His schedule, between class, research, projects, and studying has him busy 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. At least this way, he can ride his motorcycle or bike to class and only drive when it's raining, and all the wear and tear is confined to just my vehicle.

So yes, I've thought about all the issues in the link you posted. For us, what we are doing right now makes the most sense and it works out well for us. But we will definitely re-evaluate when he's done with school and starts the job hunt.

 

Ok...time for an update.

My MPG sample is smaller than I expected at this point because I ended up not going in to work a couple days last week, and there are a couple of weather variables that happened recently that affect MPG.

I think so far that the MPG hit on the Yokohamas is about 2-3 mpg less than the Toyos, but the jury is still out. I'll share what's gone on to give as complete a picture as possible.

I had two round-trip commute (230 miles) last week at 40 psi front, 38 rear. Those were colder days...low temps in the 30's on the way to work, high temp in the 50's. Those weren't great...48 indicated on the dash, so I'm guessing around 45-46 mpg actual.

Then for Friday's commute, I bumped up the tire pressure to 45 psi front, 42 rear. MPG improved to around 51 indicated. Mild temps, but I had about a 10-15 mph headwind on the way home, which is typical for a summer weather pattern.

Today's commute was 52.1 mpg indicated...mild on the way to work (mid 40's F and defroster running most of the way in), with quite warm temps on the way back home...mid to upper 80's, with the AC on all but the last couple miles, but calm winds.

Based on the weather variables, I'm assessing about a 2-3 mpg hit with the Yokohamas.

But wow...they are much quieter than the Toyos. As an example, for any given radio station or podcast I typically listen to, the volume is only about 2/3 of where I used to have it with the Toyos. The sound quality is different as well...the Toyos had a full spectrum of sound from low to high frequencies, where the Yokohamas seem to have very little high frequency noise to them, as well as less low frequency. Think of it like a treble and bass knob on an older stereo....if the Toyos had both turned up all the way, the Yokohamas have the bass cut by a third, and the treble knob turned almost completely down. I now hear the engine and wind noise, where before, with the Toyos I would hear tire noise, particularly as they wore.

They feel good too...it's tough to explain, but impact harshness is reduced, and noise from impacts is less. Without looking up any data on the tires, it feels like they probably weigh more than the Toyos, which translates to a feeling of solidity...like a more premium tire.

So if you're looking for max MPG, the Yokohamas are not your tire...keep looking. If you're willing to accept a small MPG cut in exchange for quieter operation and good comfort, the Yokohamas may be a decent choice.