What tire would you recommend?

[rkarl89203]

After researching this forum i am a bit confused as which tire is best for replacement of my OEM dunlops.
I come up on a search with the Dunlops, Yokohamas, and, weirdly,
Nankang which seem to have the best reviews. At 31,000 miles and after my long trip i need to find suitable replacements at a reasonable price.
I note even some posts mention yet other brands.
Any POSITIVE suggestions?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Don]

First, I would definitely stay with the stock sizes. Second, I would only buy tires rated LRR if you're looking for the best range. Tires not so rated (like the Yoko's) can reduce your range noticeably

That said, the OEM Dunlops are hard to beat, but they are unreasonably (IMO) expensive. I blew out a front tire once and limped into the nearest tire store and they got me a new pair (I always replace tires in pairs) of Continental Conti Eco tires for less than $100 each . . . . and they got them there within an hour or two, so I wasn't terribly particular. They are still on the car now and seem the equal (to me at least) of the Dunlops. If I needed new tires now, they would be my choice. My Ford came with them as the factory tires, so the iMiEV now has good company in the garage :lol:

Don

 

[phb10186]

Ive got continental eco's on the front as initial replacement for the factory dunlops (still have the dunlops on the rear) - i'd say there is no noticeable difference in range or handling, and the Continentals feel as though they are made of softer rubber (but may be just cos they are newer)...

IMIEV aside, my default choice is Michellin as they last longer in my experience, when I cant get those, any of Dunlop, Continental or Pirelli seem to be about as good as eachother, so I's go for price. I had a set of Falken's on my old Toyota which were 1/3 the cost of Michelin, and to be fair, they were excellent tyres as well. Do you spell 'tyre' with an 'I' in US English... that's gone unnoticed by me all these years???

 

[rkarl89203]

Had not thought of the Continentals.
Hmmm
I will check into those.
Anyone have experience with the Nankangs?

 

[rkarl89203]

Okay, researched the Continental tires.
The site says zero matches. Weird.
Any ideas or tips?

 

[Don]

Okay, researched the Continental tires.
The site says zero matches. Weird.

"Research??"

When I Google '145/65-15' I get all kinds of links to the Continentals - PEP Boys says they are $80.99 each and I see listings for several other vendors

https://www.pepboys.com/tires/sbs/145/65/15/01548

Buy 2, save 10% and they're $75.99 each

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

I was referring to the actual continental website.
Will check out Manny Moe and Jack.
Appreciate the tip.

 

[rkarl89203]

Located 2 Continentals for the front at Manny Moe and Jacks in Crystal Lake.
Just over $200 for both, including installation.

 

[PV1]

Continental only makes tires in the OEM size for the front. They don't have 175/60R15 rear tires. I've also verified that the 175/55R15 size they offer will NOT work on the I-MiEV with the OEM front size (these are offered for the Smart Fortwo).

In my experience (as I've had all three brands), Dunlops offer the best combination of ride, handling, range, and noise. The Yokohamas are quiet and handle really well, but cause a drop in range. The Continental front tires are slightly noisier and don't handle as well, but I had better range (+5 miles) and was consistently getting more than 4 miles/kWh.

The front tires on Bear are nearly gone. I think I'm going to swap over the Yokos that are on Koorz and try to quantify the range drop. Dropping $600 each year on rubber is getting old. You'd think with a massive influx of gas traffic, there'd be more than enough funding for some half-decent roads :roll: .

 

[Don]

In my experience (as I've had all three brands), Dunlops offer the best combination of ride, handling, range, and noise.

Unfortunately though, you have to couple that with the highest cost in dollars per mile - Like 2X higher. As usual, there's no 'free lunch' for tires just as in most other things. Luckily, the car understeers so badly, you only need one set of rears for every 2 sets of fronts :lol:

Don

 

[phb10186]

Dropping $600 each year on rubber is getting old. You'd think with a massive influx of gas traffic, there'd be more than enough funding for some half-decent roads :roll: .

No chance - from what I've learned about local authorities/ municipal councils/ the borough in charge of road repairs in any country ive ever been to is that they would rather pay for road-related car damage claims and back-fill their pensions than actually fix the roads... and let's be honest, the I-Miev doesn't like pot-holes much.

 

[rkarl89203]

Bought the Continentals for the fronts.
Nice tires.
Negligible effect on regen or range.
$190 for both.

 

[DonW]

FWIW,
I just purchased all 4 Yokohama Avid Envigor tires in stock sizes from Simpletire.com for $290 total delivered to my local Pep Boys. Pep Boys charged me $90 to mount, balance, TMPS service etc. About $380 all said and done vs. a $620 quote from Les Shwab and a $740 quote from discount tire. I cant say much about the mileage and handling yet but the grip is worlds better than the stock tires that were down to 4/32nds after only 33,000 miles.
Anyway, thanks for having such a great forum. I have been lurking for years, made my purchasing decision from the information here, and have had many questions answered by poking around.
Donny

 

[JoeS]

Donny, welcome to the forum and glad it is serving you well. Good price for the tires and thank you for letting us know. You'll probably find a slight increase in tire noise and a slight decrease in range compared to the OEM Dunlop Enasaves, and as long as you keep the tire pressures below 40psi you should be fine. Incidentally, some of us consider 33,000 miles on the OEMs as pretty good.

 

[jray3]

Anyway, thanks for having such a great forum. I have been lurking for years, made my purchasing decision from the information here, and have had many questions answered by poking around.
Donny

Thanks Donny, glad to hear from you, and from the Les Schwab mention- you're in the Pac Northwest? It'd be great to have more i-MiEV representation at upcoming Drive Electric Week Events.

I think 33k on the original front tires indicates a very gentle driver. :mrgreen:

 

[Luddite]

My car has 26k miles on it but the tyres have been replaced at least once (in 2015) and the front ones are feathering on the edges.

Being in the UK, we have EU tyre labeling which claims to rate the efficiency of the tyres.
http://www.blackcircles.com/popups/eu-tyre-label

The hankooks (which I currently have) have a rating of E

http://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/hankook/kinergy-eco-k425/145/65/R15/T/72/f?tyre=31666146

and the yokohamas have a C rating (better)

http://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/yokohama/bluearth-ae01/145/65/R15/H/72/f?tyre=32362942

Think I may go for them - they stop better in the wet too!

These rotallas have the same rating too but I'll probably go for the yokohamas.

http://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/rotalla/rh02/145/65/R15/T/72/f?tyre=34927485

Any experiences with any of these?

Thanks

 

[ed5000]

I just had 4 new Yokohama Avid Envigor tires installed on my car and wow are they quiet. I've had them now a month. The old Dulops Ensaves had just over 24,000 miles and would have been good for a little longer except the left front was tire wearing on the outside edge. I've been running the Dulops at 42 psi but while driving home on my new Yoko's at 35 psi I really liked the quietness and the softness of the ride so I raised them a small amount to 38 psi and it still runs at the same quietness. They're not as sporty at this low of pressure, as the cornering is not as quick and I can hear noticeable tire noise when doing so.

As for fuel economy, I'm not so sure there's that much difference. Round trip to work and back (about 33 miles) costs me 8 or 9 bars from a full charge with either the Dunlops or the Yoko's but it's funny because the range remaining gauge says I can only go 63 miles on a full charge now compared to the older Dunlop's 70 miles range. Not very scientific but I think tire diameters are just different.

I took the car to Oakland Mitsu since I was trying to throw a little business their way after my big battery change out last March (which has been working great btw) and 4 yoko's costed me $589 vs. $720 if I got the Dunlops. But I checked around and the price was about the same wherever I looked. In California we have tire disposal fees and other taxes which makes them more expensive than some other states. The great thing is that they checked my alignment for no charge and said it was still within specs from last year.

 

[Don]

As for fuel economy, I'm not so sure there's that much difference. Round trip to work and back (about 33 miles) costs me 8 or 9 bars from a full charge with either the Dunlops or the Yoko's but it's funny because the range remaining gauge says I can only go 63 miles on a full charge now compared to the older Dunlop's 70 miles range. Not very scientific but I think tire diameters are just different.

New tires are always significantly larger in both diameter and circumference than old worn tires and that throws lots of things off. Since the speedometer and odometer are almost always based on the number of revolutions a tire makes, both those change when you install new tires. The effective gear ratio also changes which affects fuel economy

When you wear a tire down from 10 or 11/32nds of tread down to 2 or 3/32nds, you've worn away around 1/4 inch of tread and the diameter of the tire is 1/2 inch smaller, which makes the circumference about an inch and a half smaller . . . . and that changes just about everything

Going from LRR tires to non LRR tires could make an even bigger change - An estimated loss of fuel economy (range in our case) of about 4% for urban driving and 7% for highway driving

Don

 

[ed5000]

When you wear a tire down from 10 or 11/32nds of tread down to 2 or 3/32nds, you've worn away around 1/4 inch of tread and the diameter of the tire is 1/2 inch smaller, which makes the circumference about an inch and a half smaller . . . . and that changes just about everything

That's interesting. An inch and a half on each revolution probably really adds up. At least until the tire wears down some.

 

[acensor]

Requesting any updates on the Yokohama vs Dunlop for rear tires:

I stupidly cut a turn too close and dinged one rear wheel/tire into the curb.
Thought I'd gotten away scott-free as it was a low curb and I saw no rim damage.
But then saw a bleb/blister on the outside sidewall of the OEM Dunlop.

Of course, other than risking driving with a now suspect tire (in a car with no spare tire), I'll have to replace both rears.
The modest compensating good news is at least I did get 26,000 miles use out of my rear Dunlops before sabotaging myself.
(The good/bad news is I estimate I could have gotten at least 10,000 more on them')

My local Les Swab Tire is offering two choices:
A pair of OEM 175/60R-15 ENASAVE Dunlops for $387
A pair of 175/60R-15 Avid ENVigor Yokahomas for $275
(both are our the door with balancing, etc., and lifetime road hazard warranty)

I see old threads here with folks happy with the Yokohamas on the rear.
Any updates on experience with them? I don't mind saving $112, but supposedly the Dunlops have lower rolling resistance.
And $112 is peanuts in the my total cost of ownership.

But curious if anyone has updates regarding wear or other good or not so good reports on the Yokohama?
Are you folks who got the Yokohamas still happy with them?
Still report as quiet and no significantly impairing range?

Any thoughts?

Alex