Which Michelin would you buy?

I bought the Hydroedge, because according to john1701a, they perform extremely well when you hit a patch of water at high speed, and because they are a top-rated all-season tire, good for summer as well as winter. Safety is my top concern, as I've stated elsewhere.

 

This is from Consumer Reports:

"Best for all weather conditions:
2 Michelin $111
5 Michelin $100

The Michelin (2) is a very good all-around performer, but is only available from shopping clubs. The Michelin (5) performs capably but is noisier, with mediocre hydroplaning resistance."

The "2" tire is the X, the "5" tire is the Hydroedge. The X was rated very good or excellent in all categories except snow and ice were it received good ratings. I'm not concerned about those two conditions and you probably are not either being in HI. It even beat the Hydroedge in hydroplaning resistance. Both are really good tires, but the X's are a little less expensive ( even though CR lists them at $1.00 more than the Hydroedge) and rated better in most categories. You can check out the list of all season tires and recommendations at consumerreports.org

 

San Diegans don't have to worry about lots of water, so I got a set of X Radials at Costco a couple of months ago when I had a coupon, but I haven't put them on yet (I'm making my OEMs last a little longer before going on a road trip, so I'll be changing them at 40,000 miles). They were about $50 cheaper for the set than Hydroedges in the Prius size. I was impressed that they were rated so highly by Consumer Reports, and I believe CR's ratings also indicated that they had good rolling resistance (although I don't know how they determined that). I'm going to be putting almost 5,000 miles on them in the first couple of weeks of October, so I'll get a pretty quick idea of how they act!

Many Prius owners are big fans of Hydroedges, even though they're noisy, but the X Radials are ONLY sold at club stores (Costco, Sam's, BJ's) and are not advertised, and therefore I think they are kind of below the radar for most people. I think a few people got Hydroedges early on and gave them rave reviews, and that may be why so many people have jumped on that bandwagon and didn't want to try something new, even after the CR report came out. Unless you're in an area that deals with tons of rainfall, I think I would be guided by CR's opinion and get a "better" tire for less money. Let's see if I still have that opinion when I finally get them on!

 

I got mxv4+'s because that is the only type Michelin claims is low rolling resistance.
I will never get any other series with high rolling resistance, for summer tires. I may try MXV4 S8 next for the higher pressure rating, though it is not in a standard Prius size.

 

Hydroedge is what I bought. About a 2-2.5 mpg hit but if you are going to drive on wet roads its the best.90K tire life is also a BiG plus.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralph b @ Sep 10 2006, 06:06 PM) [snapback]317465[/snapback]</div>

Which size Hydroedge did you end up purchasing?

 

I saw no noticable drop in mpg with the Michelin MXV4+ tires. Just improved handling, especially in rain, and much quieter. Softer ride too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jennjay @ Sep 10 2006, 05:47 AM) [snapback]317292[/snapback]</div>

This surprises me, considering that everyone, including john1701a, whose opinion I respect, was raving about how great the Hydroedge was at resisting hydroplaning.

 

our next set of tires will be the energy mxv4+, unless they come out with something fantastic in the meantime.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Sep 10 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]317503[/snapback]</div>

Same here.

 

195 65 15 the same as overseas stock....and yes waranty states 90,000 or 6 years on the hydroedge

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jennjay @ Sep 10 2006, 07:47 AM) [snapback]317292[/snapback]</div>

If they consider the HydroEdge just "mediocre", what the heck do they consider "outstanding" ?

I've been delighted with the traction from mine over the past 2 years (44,000 miles). They are not as good as snow tires and they can be rather noisy on a cement highway at 44 PSI, but the grip in water is great.

 

Here are the comparisons by Consumer Reports (from the 11/05 issue):

Hydroedge = H (Diameter 24.3, revs per mile 856)
X-Radial = X (Diameter 24.4, revs per mile 851)
Goodyear Assurance TripleTred - TT (Diameter 24.2, revs per mile 863)*
[The stock Goodyear Integrity tires have a diameter of 24.4, and 855 revs per mile]

Ratings are E, VG, G, F, P (Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor)
Dry Braking: X-VG; H-E; TT-E
Wet Braking: X-VG; H-VG; TT-E
Handling: X-E; H-VG; TT-VG
Hydroplaning: X-VG; H-G; TT-VG
Rolling Resistance: X-E; H-VG; TT-VG
Snow Traction: X-G; H-G; TT-VG
Ice Braking: X-G; H-VG; TT-F
Ride: X-VG; H-G; TT-VG
Noise: X-E; H-F; TT-E
Tread life: X-G; H-VG; TT-G

Summary:
The X-Radial is better than Hydroedge at handling, hydroplaning, rolling resistance, ride, and noise.
The Hydroedge is better than X-Radial at dry braking, ice braking, and tread life.

The only major difference is in the noisiness of the tires, where the X-Radial is Excellent and the Hydroedge is Fair (and most people who buy--and really love--the Hydroedges do acknowledge that they are noisy). I would imagine that the difference between Exellent and Very Good or Very Good and Good are relatively minimal. I opted to go for the X-Radials based on price, rolling resistance, and the slightly higher overall rating.

Overall Score:
X-Radial: Can't tell if their rating bar is in Excellent or Very Good--probably right on the border
Hydroedge: Rating bar is in the middle of the Very Good category
[Edited to add that the TripleTred is minutely better than the X-Radial and looks like it's j-u-s-t over the border into Excellent territory]

Notes on the Ratings: Overall score emphasizes safety-related tests, including braking handling, and resistance to hydroplaning. We scored performance on snow and ice more heavily for winter tires. Dry braking was from 60 mph, and wet braking was from 40 mph with the antilock brake system engaged. Handling includes how well the tires gripped in an avoidance maneuver involving a swerve into the left lane and back into the right lane; dry and wet cornering grip, and subjective steering feel. Hydroplaning reflects how quickly we could drive through standing water before the tires began to skate over the surface. Rolling resistance, measured on our dynamometer, is a factor in fuel economy. Snow traction reflects the distance our test car needed to accelerate from 5 to 20 mph on moderately packed snow. We tested ice braking on a skating rink from 10 mph with the ABS disengaged. Ride and noise relfect our onroad judgments.

Separate note on tread life (from a sidebar blurb on the ratings page): Use our tread-wear ratings as your indicator of wear potential. The warranty is your second-best option, as a failure to meet this claim could mean that the manufacturer must reimburse you some of the tire's price.

Some people take CR as gospel, and others thing their testing is way off base. I happen to think that they know a lot more about things than I do, so I tend to listen carefully to what they have to say. I don't always pick their top-rated product, but their ratings keep me from making some bad mistakes!

*The TripleTred does not come in the 185/65/R15 size that the Prius calls for, but the 195/60/R15 has revs per mile in the same ballpark as the Integrities. The 195/65/R15 TripleTred has 836 revs per mile. A 195 size tire can be mounted on the stock Prius rims (which I think are 5.5"??). I included this tire for comparison, because it was the top-rated tire in CR. Out-the-door price would definitely be more expensive than either of the Michelins at Costco, especially when Costco has their $60 coupon!

 

I have the MXV4s on both the Lexus and the Prius and am very happy with them, good rain and snow performance for the benign tread pattern, very smooth and quiet. The Prius only gets driven 5k a year or so, but the tires on the Lexus already have nearly 30k on them and they've got at least another 30k left in them.

 

To me, this was an easy choice - we put on the Costco Michelin Xs. Better in every way. I was unwilling to take on the noise issues of the Hydros, and in any case, I go out of my way to avoid a unidirectional tread design, which limits your options for rotation patterns.

After nearly 5k miles, I'm very happy with the choice we made.

 

I chose the Xs too.

They cost less than the MXV4, have twice the tread life, and get better reviews in almost every category (Check MXV4 reviews anywhere, like Tire Rack). They may be slightly worse in Rolling Resistance, but they still rate darned good according to CR.

I just did a round trip from DC to Norfolk and back with less than 200 miles on the tires, and got 59 MPG (MFD) on the trip, so it's not that big a hit on mileage if any, even before they're broken in.

I would have considered the TT if they had it in OEM size. I put them on my wife's car and she raves about them. Says they are absolutely the best tires she's ever had.

Though as pointed out in previous posts, uni-directional tires can be a pain, and with the Prius tending to wear the left front more than any other, I definitely wanted to be able to cross rotate.

By waiting for the periodic Costco Michelin Promotions, the tires were also very reasonably priced.

And, since I rotate every 5K as specified by Toyota, I'll have the records necessary to invoke the TreadWear warrantee should they fail to last the full 80K miles