Buying New Tires

I will try to keep this short and sweet...

Bought a CPO 2013 PIP from Toyota Santa Monica. Got a great deal. Low miles. One owner. Carfax etc.

Got it home then took a closer look at the brand new tires on it: Linglong Greenmax Hp010.

Did some research on the brand and the reviews are terrible. Great if you just want a LRR tire, terrible if you want anything remotely close to safe. Didn't realize how bad they really were until I got the car on the freeway. Did not like them at all. So, new tires...

First choice: Michelin Energy Saver AS. Not available. Back ordered everywhere.
Second choice: Bridgestone Ecopia 422 plus. Found it at Firestone with $50 off coupon. OTD $500.

Made an appointment to get it done. Called the next day to make sure they had the right Ecopias. They did. HOWEVER, the tires were "marked pink" which means that the maufacturers put a hold on the tires and Firestone could not sell them to me.

Knew Costco customers were reporting positive feedback thanks to this site. Called my local Costco. They had the right Ecopias. Drove up there, bought a membership ($55), and bought the tires with an instant $70 off Bridgestone coupon. OTD $420. No wait. Ready in 1 hour. Very pleased.

Asked the mechanic if he ever heard of Linglong. He laughed and said no. Said he wondered why someone was replacing what appeared to be brand new tires. I told him to go research Linglong. He laughed again.

End of story.

 

Yes prices at Tirerack were comparable but not better. No manufacturers coupon on the Ecopias. $353 for the tires + $68 for delivery. Michelins are back ordered there and I needed tires asap. Read lots of reports of OEM tires not lasting 30k miles (EP20 and Avids), maybe the dealership replaced the tires to sell the car I don't know. My question is why anyone is putting Linglongs on a PIP. Such a bad tire.

 

640AA tire rating and 70k tread warranty do make me feel better though, not to mention all the discounts available to me now through Costco. It's amazing how much money you can save shopping there.

 

Depends on what you want. Ecopias then the Fuel Max---in that order---if you want better MPG. Advantage Sports if you want better handling.

 

Sent them an email. They responded saying they could get me tires at a discount. I asked for a price list. Then I never heard from them about it again. Ever since I bought the car they don't seem to have any time to answer my questions. Tempted to go up there.

 

Very happy with the tires. Not sure how great they are because I feel like any tire would be a significant step up from the Linglongs, but improved grip on the freeway, much better braking, and good in the rain. There has been a small drop off in MPG but I expected that. Tread is thicker, tires are heavier by about 2 lbs each, and using manufacturer recommended PSI (35/33). One thing I noticed was that somehow regenerative breaking has gotten much stronger with these tires, meaning battery is recharging much faster/better.

On another note, obviously there are lots of good tire choices out there. Also considered were the Continental PureContact (tirerack coupon $70? off) and Michelin Defenders (quality tires well worth consideration).

 

Honestly I don't know why. Wish someone could explain. All I can say is tires have better grip, improving braking response, and I am getting more regeneration than I had with the Linglongs. As an example before the battery would recharge .1 at at time, but now I catch it jumping .2 at a time. It's hard to miss. My overall EV range has dropped from 13.7 to 13.2 but I expect that number to go back up very soon. MPG is already improving as I learn to drive the car again without it being on roller skates.

 

Got the US tire. 44 psi like the Japanese tire, but better tread rating.

 

~650 miles on the Ecopias. 90 MPG. EV range up to 14.7. Couldn't be happier.