Low Rolling Resistance replacement tyres (Europe)

There was a test in THE consumer magazine in the Netherlands trashing my 205/55/16 Michelin Energy Saver + (5.3 out of 10) and the best tire was also a Michelin (Primacy I think (edit: "Primacy3"), 7.5 out of 10 rating for the same price!!!!!) with equal ratings (like rolling resistance and longevity) or better ratings (grip in the wet*) on all subtests.

Handling in the wet was supposedly very good according to the official sticker on the Energy Saver+ which was one of the main reasons for buying them, but I have always found it mediocre at best.

(I am typing this on my phone (tapatalk) but cannot find this thread on my laptop (???), or I would add all tested tyres and their ratings... Edit: found it I wrote to them to see if I can post the complete table with results with their permission.)

 

Very good information regarding tyres.
I am trying to decide between these:
Hankook Kinergy Eco K425
Hankook Ventus Prime 2
Bridgestone Ecopia 001s
Continental eco contact 5
for my Prius 2007.
Currently driving Bridgestone ER300. I consider to replace all 4, even though the rear 2 still have some life. The front ones are wearing on the outside. This may be due to the faulty intermediate steering shaft, for which I am still in the process to resolve with Toyota, I hope. Tyres are 5 years old and the rubber seems to be quite tired, therefore I reckon should replace them all. Current mpg isn't very good.
Many thanks.

 

I had ER300 Ecopias and thought they were good, but the Ecopia 001S's that I have now are in a totally different league. They really do glide along as if you're floating on air and the economy is much better than the ER300's. They also stick better in both dry and wet conditions. The ER300s were also quite noisy the lower the tread.

Make sure your 12v is in good order and also tyre pressures must be spot on.

 

Thanks for your reply.
Hankooks are very tempting because of their price (as I have spent quite a lot on the previous repairs)
and all the good things Britprius was saying about them.
Ecopia 001s specs are impressing. 12 volt battery is new. You're right about the pressure. I should check it regularly.

 

From what I've read, the E001s have poor wear life?

Super in terms of LRR so near best for mpgs T the right pressure

 

Mine seem to be wearing well. The only trouble I had was sourcing a set - near on impossible. Obviously some demand for them out there.

 

I don't know if Turanza T001 is the same tyre (E001), but my front set are wearing faster than the previous installed ER300.

 

So then is between the Hankook and Continental. Has anyone experienced anything bad with Hankook?

 

Turanza T001 and EP001 are two different tyres, but both are wearing relatively fast according to ADAC (2.5 vs 2.8):


2015 Sommerreifentest 205/55 R16




Good take for normal tyre wear are GY and Conti, I'm avoiding Michelin as they have ridiculous low wear and my experience is they get just as bad (or even more) over the years. Bridgestones are still very good, even with the profile wear down to minimum. Aquaplaning may suffer but I think it's not such a big issue on Prius heavy weight and 195 size.

 

Btw we make about 7k miles per year.

 

Thank you for your info.
I've always got good performance with Michelins, even aged ones, the recent selected T001 were opportunity choice only. Next move I'll go back to the Bibendum brand.

 

with that little mileage i dont think wear will be much of an issue

 

He is 100% right. Unless car is kept in garage and only driven on rare occasions, ~5 years enough to deteriorate rubber. In my experience on daily drive after 3 years performance considerably worse, even if there is enough thread left.

5 years * 7k mi = 35k, no worries.You will not be keeping them for 10 years

 

i don't keep tyres for longer than 5/6 years regardless of mileage. I put 4 tyres on our CRV 4 years ago and I'm now seeing some small cracking on them, They've only done 25k miles. I'll keep an eye on them but will most likely change them after 5 yrs or so.

 

you can prevent cracking and improve appearance by using some tire care sprays, but tires will look better but will not grip as good as new. I tend to drive 25-30k a year, so 50-80k mi warranty is what we get.

 

Cheers. I don;t have that problem on the Prius where I do 20k+ miles. It's the wifes car that only does 5-7k miles per annum.

I find that tyres start to loose grip etc after 5+ years, so maybe it's time to change anyway. It's never been an issue on any of my cars and I wear then out long before I reach the 5yr mark (although since I started switching between winters and summers, it does prolong their life)

 

Alright narrowed down to two:
Dunlop Sport BluResponse and Hankook Kinergy Eco K425. They're very similar priced.
Hankook seem to be made in China and not rated best on wet but, tested between 5-7th place.
Dunlop very well rated in all aspects 2nd-4th place. Slightly concerned about the noise and fuel consumption. They're made in Poland.
The big question is as which are best for Prius.

As I understand I should choose 205/55 R16 instead 195...
Mpg is important for us.

 

Our offer for 205/55 R16 Summer tyres

I have Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance and have very happy with Grip, Noise and mpgs. Wear - I'm still not sure, but I think as they're quite a soft compound, they won't last too much over 30k miles

Check out Eirtyres for the EU rating on tyres to help with your decision

BritPrius is a big fan of the Hankooks btw! And yes, 205/55/16 gives you a far bigger range to tyres to choose from and are cheaper too

 

Do beware that changing from 195 to 205 means you have to change all 4 tyres. I didn't and got skidwarnings above 100km/h (~60mph) due to difference in tyre circumference. This was solved by buying two more...

Here's the test I spoke about earlier (bottom half being of interest for the Prius). Tested by these folks: Consumentenbond (I have permission to post if I add the source).
"Testoordeel" is a grade, 10 being the highest, 0 being the lowest.
Next columns are:
- grip in the wet (weighing factor of 40%),
- grip in the dry (20%),
- wear (20%),
- fuel efficiency (10%) and
- noise (10%).
Grading goes from "++" (excellent) through "+" (good) and "■" (mediocre, should be te hollow version of a square but I couldn't find that in ascii code ) to "-" (bad) and "--" (crap), but I guess that is self explanatory.

I see Tony D's favorite is right up there too!!!
Please note that these people (often in conjunction with German consumer organisations) really test stuff in practical conditions. I have more faith in them than I do in standardised European testing (which claimed very good grip in the wet for my Michelin Energy Saver+ tyres. I find them mediocre at best, certainly not worthy of an "A", which they get according to some mandatory European sticker).

 

In the group 205 test Hankook K425 was pushed down to 16th place from the 6th place in the group test 185??
These tests are confusing and then conflicting of having 205 instead 195. GasperG was pointing out this in one of his posts.
Similar conflicting results can be seen between 195 vs 205. Only due to the width of 10mm? Or in the above scenario 20mm??