Low Rolling Resistance replacement tires: Current List

What is MIJ's. 422's made in Japan ?

 

So yeah this morning before work I filled up at my local Costco. One way to work is 38 miles.

I can already see the loss of MPG. 422's I was averaging 43 to 44 mpg while driving 75 to 80 mph on the freeway.

Now with the Conti pure contact's this morning my mpg is 40 mpg.

 

Yeah, @ETP 's acronym. That is one frustrating tire, there are three iterations of it (MEX, USA and JAP), with three different tread patterns and wear indexes. I used to be a Bridgestone fan, but I'll stay away till they wake up on this, if ever.

 

Are you able to request the Japan manufactured set with the better treads from places like Discount Tire, Costco, or Tire Rack ?

One tip I'll give with Discount Tire is make sure you have made up your mind on what tires your going to get because if you put any deposit down for a certain brand tire and they don't have it at that particular store and have to get it from their warehouse and you choose to go with something else they will charge you a $7 per tire re stocking fee.

 

Yeah some people have been careful, got the country of origin version they wanted. And, I'm not sure which tread is "better", I don't believe the JAP tire has the longest treadwear rating, it's in the middle, maybe.

There was a report here, a guy got USA on one axle, and MEX on the other. I mean, they don't even look the same. My take, if a tire manufacturer is going to be so cavalier with their brand, I'm going to shop elsewhere.

 

Another tip I'll give when shopping for tires. I like shopping at Costco for a lot of products but will not buy a set of tires from them. They are very deceiving. I use their prices which are normally cheaper than Discount Tire Co and other places against them and have Dicsount Tire Co beat Costco's prices.

I remember last year when I got the Ecopia 422's to replace the factory EP20's on my Prius. I at the time was driving Uber & Lyft full time while I was looking for my next full time IT job.I went to 4 different Costco's in the San Diego area and each tire center gave me different price quotes for the same tires. One manager at a Costco tire center made up some BS story saying they got a memo from corporate saying that Costco would not give me the 70K warranty on the tires if I bought them from them because I was driving for Lyft & Uber and using my car for commercial business use.

Also read the yelp reviews for Costco tire centers.

 

Hey, that was me!

I ended up taking back one tire and getting both side with lower tread rating but higher max inflation tires made in Mex. I can't comment on tread life on those tires for they are now on my son's Civic along with additional two new 422 yet different tread pattern though I think they were also made in Mex. FWIT, for a brief period before I traded in Gen3 Prius, I had Conti Truecontact. They were much smoother and comfortable than 422 and milage did not change much. They can be had at $80 each at Walmart. Continental Truecontact Tire 195/65R15 Tire 91T - Walmart.com

 

You can still get the EP20 btw.

 

Aren't those rated for 60 or 70K? You should get an adjustment...............

 

Haven't posted in awhile, but thought I'd share my experience with the Michelin Premier A/S tires I got from Costco back on May 18, 2016. Not only did we lose about 4 mpg, but they have less than 29,000 miles on them and I was just told they have about 5,000 miles left. I can't tell you how disappointed I am. With less than half of the warrantied 60,000 miles, I had expected to drive to Alaska this June without needing new tires, but I guess that's not going to happen now. We leave for Florida a week from Monday, so I guess I'll see what Costco does about the warranty, if anything, after we get back. We got almost 50,000 miles on the Goodyear Assurance tires that came with the car, should have stayed with them. I can say the Michelin's handle great, nut they aren't the quietest and that mileage stinks.

 

I’ve had a different experience. I still have mine on and I’m sure have put on at least 50k and averaging 45 not winter and 47-50 summer.

I will be replacing my tires in a few weeks but stayed with the Michelin Premiere A/S because it has great traction during the winter rainy seasons.

 

Looks like multi quote is not working? Anyway I have had good luck with the EP20s and the MIJ 422 OEMs. My daughter bought a 422 made in South America (I think) and it is still doing fine. EP20 on one side and a deep tread 422 on the other for the 2011. I will be coming up on 30K probably in March and will do pictures again. As far as where to get them TIRE Rack will let you pick the tire you want. Otherwise it is the luck of the draw at SAMS, Costco, Walmart etc. But I was able to order MIJ EP20s from the Walmart online site the last time I bought tires.

 

Same experience with 3-4 sets of Michelins over the years but a lot has to do with tire pressure, alignment, and driving habits. I think Michelin may be less likely to be susceptible to road hazards but I am in it for MPG. I may have to eat my words but lets check it at 30K. Until I get my first bad Bridgestone product I will stick with OEMs if I can find them. Some folks are buying two from Tirerack and hanging them in their garage. Not there yet. So far the MIJ OEM 422s are doing better than the MIJ OEM EP20s. Maybe. 50K is the show stopper.

At 50K I really would rather have new tires unless they have more than 50% tread left.

 

When I say we lost 4 mpg, that doesn't mean our mileage is bad. It just means that this time of year, I got 4-5 mpg more on the old Goodyear's that came with the car. Right now I'm getting 52 mpg whereas I used to get 56-57 for pretty much the same circuits. The lifetime average is 46.5 and that hasn't varied much over the years.

The Michelin's held the road much better and felt a lot safer, which is why I bought them, but the tread life is not good. Could just be a bad set I guess. Of course, this was Toyota telling me this, so I'll go out and check myself. They said 3 tires were at 5/32 and 1 was at 4/32. I run 34-40 psi and drive 75% or more highway. I say 34 because I got the oil changed in Alabama the last time and forgot to check. Found out they made them all 34 psi until I had them rotated again.

 

IMHO you should never go below 40PSI. I run 41-43 consistently. Low tire pressure will wear out tires fast but will give you a softer ride. Depends on what you want. Some folks want a comfortable ride and a good impact resistant tire. It is hard to make a tire that does everything any person would ever want. Michelin's have a good ride as well some other brands like General and Yokahama but will hit your MPG. Gas prices were an issue at one time but most folks are dialing back on super freak MPG like me. I am in it for the long haul.

 

Didn't intend to run low, ETP, but was pretty miffed at the dealer over others things and just forgot to check. Still, running the recommended psi should get you the warrantied mileage or better.

 

I'm have Ecopia 422+ now, and am contemplating the Michelins A/S. I wouldn't mind better handling knowing I would take a hit in MPG. My concern is noise, does anyone know how the Michelins compare to the Ecopias as far as road noise? I run my ecopia 422+'s at 33-35 PSI. They are low noise and comfortable. After reading the above running the Michelins at 40+ PSI, is that the recommended PSI? Personal preference?

 

Mo, I simply chose 40 psi because many run close to or at the maximum tire pressure that's indicated on the tire sidewall, 44 for the Michelin. I got them mostly for safety and I thought they'd be quieter than the Goodyear Assurance that came on the car. The ones we had on our van were the quietest of the 4 brands we used on it. I could feel the difference in handling immediately, but road noise is a little harder to quantify because the Prius is pretty noisy to begin with. They seem quieter overall, but there are some road surfaces where I think the Goodyear was quieter, if that makes any sense. Bear in mind that my experience is over 75% at highway speeds of 75-80 mph. I honestly don't know if tire pressure makes that big of a difference. If Costco honors the warranty, I'll probably just replace them with another set, otherwise I may try something else, maybe even go back to Goodyear even though mileage is not the primary concern.

When it came to mileage, it seems like I took the same hit as I would have had I gone with Defender instead of the Premier and the Defender is warranted for 80,000 or 90,000 miles vs the 60,000 that I'm not going to come close to. If I find out that's because of an alignment problem or something, then that's on me, otherwise I expect to get a significant discount on a new set.

 

@DoubleDAZ I've had a couple of experiences taking advantage of tire warranty.

In the first case it was a set of Michelins that reached the wear bars at 50% of the warrantied tread life. The tire dealer contacted Michelin, and I got a new set for half price.

The second case, there was a bubble/hole on the sidewall of a Michelin bought through Costco. I showed it to them, they deemed it unsafed and advocated replacement. They measured remaining tread depth, did the math as to how much of the tread life had been used, and "pro-rated" the cost of replacement accordingly. One thing: I get the sense they were pushing really hard with the depth gauge. I would suggest you bring your own, and try to be in on the measurement process.

Thanks for the report on the Premier A/S too, they're one of several tires I'm considering for replacement in 215/45R17. All things considered, I'm probably going to go for Primacy MXM4 (v rated) now, but don't ask me tomorrow, lol.

I recently got a set of Defenders for our son's car, and he likes them. I've driven them just a few clicks, when they were brand new, basically across town to the airport to pick him up, found them easy rolling and good feel, was able to achieve good displayed mpg for that car.