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New shoes - crap mileage!

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Fuel Economy' started by Zipy, Jun 7, 2022.

  1. Zipy

    Zipy Junior Member

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    Well she (2016) needed new shoes at 60k plus. Bought Michelin X Tour A/S. My average went from 57-58 mpg to 50! . With gas prices where they are now this isn’t what I expected. I know they aren’t LLR tires, but dang! 7-8 mpg less? They are the 15’s on a “two”. I want to take them back!!!! SORRY, rant complete.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yeah, it should improve a little with break in. hopefully just a loss of 3-5mpg. i think costco takes tires back, maybe others do?
     
  3. The Professor

    The Professor Senior Member

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    You can mitigate this somewhat by adding extra pressure to them. Some people on here are regularly using 40PSI for example. Just remember that with both low rolling resistance tyres and increasing the pressure, one important attribute that's you're also reducing is the friction (grip) between your vehicle and the road.
     
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  4. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Sorry but you should always get LRR tires.
     
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  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    I would hang onto them, be patient. The mpg will "almost" come back, eventually. Getting something else may be an exercise in frustration. I've had similar experience.

    The X-Tours are rebranded Defender T+H, a pretty decent tire.
     
  6. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Any new tire drops MPG for the first n thousand miles, that will recover.

    A non LRR tire is a drop untill replaced. Sadly, in the US there is no measurement of how LRR a tire is.
     
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  7. The Professor

    The Professor Senior Member

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    Why?

    Michelin claim around a 7% reduction in fuel economy. A set of Michelin Primacy LRR tyres costs around £500 here in the UK. Comparable non-LRR Michelin tires cost around £300. So based on current fuel prices it would take around 4 years of driving 12,000 miles per year for them to break even, assuming they last 48,000 miles, which I'd be very surprised at. Independent tests put this saving at 3% in real world tests, not the 7% claimed, so you'd have to be sure of getting 100,000 miles out of them for them to break even... That's not going to happen.

    Now I know there are other tyres with different costs etc, but Michelin are the tyres I use and am familiar with so I'm using them as an example.

    The only remaining advantage is that they're a bit quieter.

    The biggest disadvantage is they have less grip and hence increased a stopping distances.

    So the bottom line is you're paying more in the long run, for quieter tyres that are less safe.
     
    #7 The Professor, Jun 8, 2022
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2022
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  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    And you have to take the LRR claims with a grain of salt. We went from orignal Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 to Michelin Primacy MXM4, both in 215/45R17, and both say "Green-X", Michelin's LRR moniker. Mpg TANKED with the new tires. The Primacy's are still on the car, and mpg is picking up, but I doubt I'll ever get back to the Pilot rolling resistance.

    OTOH, with a previous Civic hybrid, we went from Bridgestone Insignia SE200 to Bridgestone Ecopia EP20, both in 195/65R15. The EP20 had a LRR badge (terminology escapes me), while the Insignia said nothing specific (but were reputed to be LRR). Anyway, with the new EP20, mpg didn't skip a beat.
     
  9. PaulDM

    PaulDM Active Member

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    Not necessarily. if you check the “euro tyre rating” which shows A-E each step is a 3% loss of economy. I have changed an A rated tyre for a B rated tyre as it’s we t performance is 6 metres better in braking (2 car lengths better) I stuck up the 5 mpg loss..
     
  10. Zipy

    Zipy Junior Member

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    Well after consulting with Costco about my MPG loss, they are going to switch me to the Ecopia EP22Plus. No hassle at all! Good old Costco. We shall see. My originals were Toyo Nanoenergy.
     
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    good deal, i hope it works out for you. so many costco compliments
     
  12. Billy56

    Billy56 Member

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    Many have told you over & over....buy the OEM tires!! Unless, of course, you WANT lower efficiency...
     
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    That's more'n likely a made-in-Japan iteration of Bridgestone Ecopia 422 Plus, rare as hen's teeth in North America. There are 2 more physically different versions, with the same name, one from Mexico and one USA.
     
  14. PaulDM

    PaulDM Active Member

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    Same with the rareness of the EC300+ in the UK. When you can find them they are £200 each
     
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  15. Mambo Dave

    Mambo Dave Active Member

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    So you went 60k miles on tires, wore them down to nothing - which made them lighter than any proper tire would be - and now you complain about inertial losses from having safe, proper tread depth, tires.

    Got it.
     
  16. tucatz

    tucatz Active Member

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    Last year at 50k I replaced the OEM with Goodyear assurance. Fabulous so far - quieter and my mileage is hangin in there around 50mpg on a 2016 touring.
     
  17. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Assurance ComfortTred?

    Last set of Goodyear Assurance FuelMax tires we got for our 2011 were hard to come by. They told me they were phasing out the FuelMax line. Don't know if they told me that so I'd settle on something that was in stock or not.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  18. Bentriderken

    Bentriderken New Member

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    I have just had the same experience with Michelin Defender T & H. Mileage dropped about 6 mpg. Michelin states that they have a satisfaction guarantee for 6 months. I intend to take them up on that. I am considering switching to Bridgestone Ecopia EP 422's. Any feedback on those? Thanks.
     
  19. Doug McC

    Doug McC Senior Member

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    That’s what is on my ‘22 and I am really happy with them. MPG’s at >55 overall (based on computer read out (sorry, I have better things to do with my life than creating spreadsheets for calculating “real world” mpg)). Ride is fine, too early to determine longevity. If I needed new ones I would go with these (I kind of figure “if it’s good enough for Toyota, it’s good enough for me”, sorry. I live by the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid).
     
  20. sclevine

    sclevine Active Member

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    My 2nd set of tires was the Ecopia and my 3rd and 4th are the Defender. The Ecopias had better mileage than the Defender, but in my experience the Defender handles the road better especially in wet conditions as the tires age, so I've accepted the even lower mileage. For me, the Ecopia's were about in the middle between the Defenders and the OEM tires.
     
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