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Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max vs Bridgestone Ecopia EP422

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by anthonylokrn, Oct 24, 2011.

  1. anthonylokrn

    anthonylokrn Member

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    In the market for new set of tires. My current set of Goodyear Integrity are on the way out (big nail in one tire and a bubble on the other). I am mainly looking for low noise and good wet traction (all-season tires).

    I narrowed it down to either the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max or the Bridgestone Ecopia EP422. The Goodyear currently has a $40 rebate which is a plus.

    Has anybody used or reviewed both of these tires? Any help would be great to simplify my decision.

    Thanks,
    Anthony
     
  2. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

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    I have the Goodyears - I put them on my car about a year ago and have been very happy in general and specifically I thought that they handled well in the rain and snow last winter. As of right now I'd buy them again.
     
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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  4. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

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    I installed G/Y assurance Fuel Max! Wonder-full smooth and FE tire.Never will I purchase another brand. Hal
     
  5. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Funny you found that already. I posted in my tire test thread the other day then today I received an email from Woody at Tirerack.com letting me know it was up on their site. I've been talking to them about performing this kind of test and they were very receptive. I really like the company.

    If you are interested in the Bridgestone EP422 or the Michelin MXV4 with GreenX be sure to check tirerack.com as well as your local stores like Costco. Those two brands always have a $70 rebate offer. Sometimes Goodyear offers an $80 rebate.

    Click this link for more tests relevant to the Prius:
    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/98592-new-tire-tests-tirerack-com.html
     
  6. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    Looking at your choices it seems the unstated desire is LRR as well.

    If I went by the bolded text only I'd assume you'd seriously consider the tires below as they both have excellent survey results for wet traction and low noise.

    Hankook Optimo H727 (better than average RR, still good pricing and better snow/ice ratings, best rated "Standard Touring All-Season" on tirerack)
    Gen II/III 15" choice $74 831 195/65/15 Hankook Optimo H727

    Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring (not LRR, don't confuse it for the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred (one says Touring the other doesn't). The touring version is the best rated "Grand Touring All-Season" on tirerack.
    Gen II/III 15" choice $103 836 195/65/15 Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring


    If you stick with one of your two LRR choices I'd look at these sizes:

    847 205/60/15 Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max or
    836 195/65/15 Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max

    833 195/65/15 Bridgestone Ecopia EP422

    The Fuel Max is nosier than the Optimo H727 or ComforTred Touring.

    The EP422 doesn't have survey data on tirerack but it is cheaper than the Fuel Max.
     
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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  8. xpcman

    xpcman Senior Member

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    The above has been cut and pasted into a number of threads. I know a "good thought is worth repeating". But, isn't it time to have a NEW thought?
     
  9. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    It did but that could be sample variance as it gets good survey results.

    Also tirerack tests only at recommended PSI of the test vehicle and the H727 responds better at higher than stock PSI from what I've read.

    And then there was this post in http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...0-how-your-hankook-h727-tires-holding-up.html

    They are made in Korea and China so maybe one factory does better or maybe different batches behave differently. Too much to keep track of but any mass market item you buy is a "sample variance" contender. It's like buying lottery tickets.

    That's why I'm still willing to recommend them, hundreds of tirerack users completed their survey and on average it was rated the best "standard touring all-season" tire.

    I wouldn't recommend it to someone that runs at 35/33 but if you are willing to up the tire pressure it's worth considering.

     
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  10. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    You may not notice it but if you look through those threads I'm adding and removing tires based on the OP's question/preferences.

    Tires I didn't include in this thread that are in my potential list include

    General Altimax HP (at several sizes)
    Yokohama Avid ENVigor (at several sizes)
    Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S (at two sizes)
    Michelin Energy Saver A/S (at one size)
    Michelin Primacy MXV4 (at one size)
    Michelen HydroEdge (at several sizes)

    and I always consider tires I find when researching the reply and modify the part above, below, or even including the pasted portions.

    Don't let formatting and similar content lull you into assuming I'm saying the same thing in every post that has a line like

    Gen II/III 15" choice xxx $xxx xx/xx/15 Company Name Tire Name
     
  11. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    O, know I remember their ratings in the consumer survey and they did rate high. Higher than the Fuel Max if I remember correctly.
     
  12. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

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    Who rates the tires for Tirerack? And here lies the problem. Some of the comments on tires I have owned are not even similar to how the tire performs! Hal
     
  13. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Tire Rack performs their own testing. Consumers may add a review to a tire which is usually less than a robust testing procedure but still helpful as they are actual customers using the tire. So it's good to check both sources before a purchase. :)
     
  14. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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  15. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    In addition to the staff testing and user "reviews" there is an online survey. Not all tires on tirerack have survey data as they don't publish it until they get some minimum number of survey results. Any tire that sells commonly will have survey data.

    So if you see tirerack testing it's useful but not all tires are tested by tirerack in fact not even 10% of the tires have test data.

    If you see reviews, you are getting customer reviews + any fanboy postings or astroturfing (paid posts by employees to be overly positive or overly negative about a tire). But you might see as little as 1 review for a tire. I don't consder reviews helpful until there are hundreds or until I see reviews for the exact tire size / car combination I'm looking for. A quick check shows

    Altimax HP has 1567 reviews
    Optimo H727 has 280 reviews
    Michelin Hydroedge has 225 reviews
    Assurance Fuel Max has 126 reviews
    Assurance Comfortred Touring has 121 reviews
    Michelin Energy Saver A/S has 45 reviews
    Ecopia EP422 has 24 reviews

    Now reviews just ask for a free form statement and a rating from 1-10 along with "Miles driven on tires", "Location" (city/state), "Driving Condition" (highway/city), "Driving Style" (easy, average, spirited).

    If you see survey data you get much more information including the miles driven but adding

    "Would buy again?"
    "Hydroplaning resistance"
    "Wet Traction"
    Dry "Cornering Stability"
    "Dry Traction"
    Dry "Steering Response"
    "Light Snow Traction"
    "Deep Snow Traction"
    "Ice Traction"
    "Ride Comfort"
    "Noise Comfort"
    "Treadwear"

    All subjectively rated from 1 (worst) to 10 (best) and averaged. Tirerack shows the total mileage of the surveys tallied per tire

    Altimax HP has 18,091,170 miles reported
    Optimo H727 has 2,343,907 miles reported
    Michelin Hydroedge has 5,337,378 miles reported
    Assurance Fuel Max has 1,009,448 miles reported
    Assurance Comfortred Touring has 1,082,617 miles reported
    Michelin Energy Saver A/S has 486,005 miles reported
    Ecopia EP422 has no survey data

    Maybe they have survey data for the Ecopia EP422 but not enough to be considered reliable so they don't publish it? I don't know their policy.

    It is pretty clear that the Ecopia EP422 has sold less tires but maybe that is because it's a newer design.

    Since the form that asks for survey data makes the end user pick from the drop down duplicate / confusing names like Yokohama AVID (15 choices) and Goodyear eagle (26 choices) could lead to survey data being dumped into a similarly named wrong tire.

    It's not terribly different from looking at reviews on newegg.com or amazon.com. Users could put bogus reviews up. Companies can astroturf. But all and all I'd say it's better than not having the information it provides us.
     
  16. xpcman

    xpcman Senior Member

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    Sorry. :) I thought you worked for Nankook. :(
     
  17. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    No problem :D, I'm not working for any tire or auto related company nor am I getting paid to post here.

    Feel free to say I give bad advice if you think so or recommend a different tire.

    It's a group think process so every post has a chance to influence me and the others who read it.
     
  18. wick1ert

    wick1ert Senior Member

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    I think you've done a great job with your posts for tires. You do a lot of research before posting, and when you suggest something for someone, have sound reasoning behind it, with an easy to understand explanation.
     
  19. anthonylokrn

    anthonylokrn Member

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    Thanks for all of the replies! I've decided with the EP422 and am just awaiting for the Costco $70 off coupon to be active again. Thanks again!
     
  20. ystasino

    ystasino Active Member

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    Just ordered these as well, mostly because the Michelin Energy Saver A/S were nowhere in stock and the EP100s were reportedly soft as a compound and would wear down in snow (they are classified as a summer tire). $434 fitted and balanced.