Tire dilemma

Yep. This is the difference you and I were discussing the other day re: your mileage on these tires vs. mine. Not only are the warranties different, the UTQG is 540 vs 640.

If I knew I would get 70k miles out of a set of Ecopias, I'd be inclined to agree with you. But if you're replacing the Ecopias at 35k, the calculus is very different--and that's not including the Defenders being cheaper than the Ecopias to begin with (if I wait and have Michelins put on in place of the Weatherpeaks when they go on sale later this month, Costco will actually owe me money). I don't know how to be sure Costco orders the "better" Ecopias at this point--or to be sure that they actually have.

 

Reasonable question! I have another one and can compare the results--I'll do that tomorrow morning.

 

To clarify, the most recent set was not the stock set that came with the car. They're the ones I bought five years ago when that set was toast at 32k. The second set got 35k. You and I went back and forth a little on what might've happened already and came to the conclusion that I probably got the 50k tires and didn't know it--which brings me back to how you'd be sure Costco ordered the 70k tires if you're not a tire expert yourself.

Considering even Costco says Ecopias don't last, and the number of angry reviews of them on the Bridgestone website, I'm disinclined to believe it's just me. I think you're a lucky exception, who perhaps got the better Ecopias that lasted 70k. Either way, when I replaced the Ecopias this time, Costco told me I had no warranty claim because I was there just over five years since I bought them. If it hadn't been for the lockdowns over the last few years, I probably would have had one, but as it is, no. And the Ecopias are already gone. They were replaced with the defective set of Ecopias, which is how I ended up with the Weatherpeaks as a replacement instead.

 

This is why I'm wondering about them, or about just keeping the Weatherpeaks, though I'm not getting anything close to 65mpg (it's more like 43-45 at the moment, but I haven't tried them much on the highway yet and will be putting about 350 mostly highway miles on them in the next week). Even if I only got 70k on either, it'd be twice what I've seen from the Ecopias so far. If the mpg is within reasonable spitting distance of the usual 48/50 I've seen from the Ecopias, that feels like a worthy trade to me.

 

Yeah, I went to the LRR list originally and gave up because it's pretty old. I'm assuming your thinking is that lighter tires are better?

 

Quick update: After inflating the Weatherpeaks to 38/36, I definitely see a distinct improvement in MPG, as expected. It's only been a few days, but I'm getting about 47 on my way to work, which is a 20-minute mix of highway and city driving. Short trips are not as good, but I'm not too surprised by that--I've had some 10-15 minute local trips that were over 50, and 5-minute trips that are more like 43. If that stays steady, I might just keep what I have, since it won't be too far off from what I was getting before, especially as the tires break in and should do even better. We'll see.

I'm heading out on a road trip on Thursday that'll be three drives of about 115 miles each before I'm home, and I'm very curious to see what happens there.

As an aside, turns out my other tire gauge is no longer functional, so I haven't been able to double-check the inflation, but I'm pretty confident what I have is at least in decent ballpark range for now. Next week, I'll go get a new one and compare.

 

Ha! I'm not sure that's a method I really want to employ...

Fair point! Mine has a sweet spot around 72 that always surprises me (and annoys me a bit, because I'd like it to be closer to 65!). I don't tend to be a super-fast driver, though.

 

Well, I drove about 350 miles in three approximately equal chunks this weekend and got some of the best MPG I've ever had in this car. 54.1, 56.4, and that again on the way home. I certainly can't complain about any of that.