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Bridgestone Ecopia EP422

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by james78, Apr 28, 2011.

  1. james78

    james78 Junior Member

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    Today I went to Costco and purchased the new Bridgestones, I wanted the Michelin Energy savers but their are non to be found according to several tire shops in southwest florida. One dealer told me Michelin make a certain number of a production run 185/65/15 and won't go back to that size until they make all the other sizes they make? Anyhow with the new stones Costco said they would only put in the tire inflation on the door jam but said I could pump them up myself with their Nitrogen, for now I thought I would try them with the called for pressure.
    Before I went I marked the wheel and rolled 1 rotation with Goodyear Assurance that was on and got 74-5/8". When I got home I did it again and got 75" So between the old and new was 3/8" no allot but as you add up the miles...
    Actually the tire doesn't look low with the 35/33 pressure.
    driving it seamed like it rolled the same as the Goodyear.
    I'm thinking the reason for this is it rides a little harder then the goodyears with less pressure. Maybe the sidewalls are stiffer or just the material in the makeup? The ride by no means is uncomfortable.
    A little more road noise again not intolerable
    The main thing is you can feel the imperfections in the road like a performance tire, to some people they would feel like it's what’s called wondering, being pulled by the road. We also have a 2007 with 17" wheels which really feels the road and this is not that bad.
    Overall so far I would say I'm happy with the tires, also my listed fuel milage on the screen went up as I had 100 miles on when we got the tires. I will fill up this weekend and let everyone know what my first tank is at 35/33 pressure.
    Last thing price OTD 394.00 for all.
     
  2. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    Hello I have had the ecopia422 for 5 months now and have put 11,000+ miles on them and would recommend them to everyone. I would disagree with the road noise issue I found them much quieter than Goodyears. I also can tell you I noticed a 4 mpg drop for first 3,000 miles before they started to improve and now I consistently have an increase of 3 mpg over Goodyears.
     
  3. james78

    james78 Junior Member

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    what pressure are you running?
     
  4. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

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    G/Y assurance Fuel Max are rated very good.H89 rating. Did you not like them? The tires you got are also a good tire and have LRR as well. All new tires are quiet in comparison to old.How many miles did you run on the Goodyear's? Hal
     
  5. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    I am running tires at 42/40
     
  6. james78

    james78 Junior Member

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    hal w
    We bought the car about 2 years ago and the front 2 were like new and the back 2 a little less then half but looked good, no cupping or anything. Ever since we've had the car the tires felt rough like there was cupping or tread wear that would make a, I don't want to say vibration but something you could feel in the car. The dealer because of what they said they sold it to us for wouldn't replace the tires. We got (to us) great fuel milage averaging around 48-52MPG. I was pricing all the brands and with the rebate the Bridgestones I felt were the best deal. With the new tires I don't feel that road,vibration, whatever it was I felt, however I feel the ride is stiffer even though I have the pressure allot less. Not that I'm complaining I have around 100 miles and I'm satisfied overall with everything about the tires so far. The miles on the Goodyear’s were about 24000 miles.
    stefano5777
    Thanks for the pressure. How are they wearing? Costco won't change the pressure but said I could use there Nitrogen hose and pump them up myself. I thought I'm going to try the recommended pressure first. The tires look like they are hitting perfectly across the tread now so I might be leery later to pump up more unless the milage stinks. I filled up Friday and driving home we usually get up to around 50 mark with it only being 16 miles to home but this time I hit 70. I couldn't believe it so I hope this is a good sign to come.
     
  7. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    stefano5777[/FONT][/COLOR]
    Thanks for the pressure. How are they wearing? Costco won't change the pressure but said I could use there Nitrogen hose and pump them up myself. I thought I'm going to try the recommended pressure first. The tires look like they are hitting perfectly across the tread now so I might be leery later to pump up more unless the milage stinks. I filled up Friday and driving home we usually get up to around 50 mark with it only being 16 miles to home but this time I hit 70. I couldn't believe it so I hope this is a good sign to come.[/QUOTE]

    I am experiencing excellent tire wear so far. I rotate my tires every 5,000 miles which is when I change my oil.As I have mentioned before I did not experience optimal fuel economy with tires until just over 4,000 miles.James what part of Florida are you located at?
     
  8. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    I just got the EP422s last month. They are *way* quieter than the EL400s that came off. We have a stretch of freeway near where I live that has expansion joints that aren't quite perfect and it results tons of noise and shock every time you go over one of them with the EL400s since we got the car new. The EP422s are utterly silent and you don't even feel them. The difference is like night and day.
     
  9. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    A drop in MPG that later recovers with new tires is often indicative of alignment issues. What were the alignment readings after you got your new tires installed?

    My EP422s are delivering the same fuel economy my EL400s since they were new.
     
  10. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    I had alignment done when I purchased tires. So that would rule that out :) I have been told tires have a slight break in period which from what I read is normal for new tires.Whether this is true or not I can only say unless I changed my driving habit when I first got tires I believe to be true.
     
  11. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    The only thing that is adjustable is the front toe plus the allowable range of alignment for both toe and camber is quite large.

    Do you recall what your alignment readings were? If you had .28 and .27 toe on the rear, the printout would say it was within spec, but you'd loose several MPG with that reading.

    Can you post your alignment sheet?
     
  12. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    When I get home I will look for sheet and post alignment numbers.
     
  13. james78

    james78 Junior Member

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    I am experiencing excellent tire wear so far. I rotate my tires every 5,000 miles which is when I change my oil.As I have mentioned before I did not experience optimal fuel economy with tires until just over 4,000 miles.James what part of Florida are you located at?[/QUOTE]


    We're in SWFL. Bonita Springs. I wanted to reply to after I filled up a few times. We filled up 3 times and got 52, 50, 52. since trhe new tires. Usualy we got between 48 to 53 so as you can see we are beating our old average with the new tires at stock pressure. I may bump it up alittle but the tires are wearing good so I'm not sure. I did have an alignment done but it was hardly off the dealer dsaid it could be done but not totolly need. I did it that way i know it is as close to perfect as can be to try and get the best milage. Thnaks to all that respond to these threads. The next fuelup I'm putting in the fuel conditioner listed in other threads and hopefully better milage.
     
  14. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    We're in SWFL. Bonita Springs. I wanted to reply to after I filled up a few times. We filled up 3 times and got 52, 50, 52. since trhe new tires. Usualy we got between 48 to 53 so as you can see we are beating our old average with the new tires at stock pressure. I may bump it up alittle but the tires are wearing good so I'm not sure. I did have an alignment done but it was hardly off the dealer dsaid it could be done but not totolly need. I did it that way i know it is as close to perfect as can be to try and get the best milage. Thnaks to all that respond to these threads. The next fuelup I'm putting in the fuel conditioner listed in other threads and hopefully better milage.[/QUOTE]

    Don't be afraid to bump up to 42/40 the tire wear is consistent at those pressures and vehicle handles are Florida weather quite well.
     
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  15. PScottSea

    PScottSea New Member

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    I replaced the Goodyear Eagle LS tires on my 2007 Prius with a set of Bridgestone Ecopia EP422. Cannot say enough good things about these tires. First of all, Costco discounts are huge. The ride is much quieter than before and has really excellent performance/feel - even quieter than (and similar feel to) the Michelin X - more along the lines of the Nokian eNTYRE on my friend's Prius - but for what I paid I can replace the Bridgestone's twice as often. However, the MPG results are the real story. All of a sudden I can drive "normally" and achieve 48/45 MPG. Seattle is hilly, 42 average was my old normal with the Goodyear Eagle's. Now a little bit of Prius driving technique (mild hyper-miling) and the car averages 48-52 with daily driving. Am I impressed by the Ecopia EP422? If they hold up at least as well as the Goodyear's (significant wear bars at 22k) then I sure will be. We drive in the rain a lot, and get snow at the mountain passes - so winter will be the true test. For now I am more than pleased by the uptick in MPG. I will check back six months from now and let you know about their winter handling.
     
  16. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Thanks for posting your experience with this tire. I have been curious about the mpg on these tires.
     
  17. FreydNot

    FreydNot Member

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    Thanks for posting your Seattle experience with these tires. I'm in the Seattle area too and I've been trying to decide between the EP422 and the Continenatal ProContact w/Eco Plus. I've been very happy with Continenatal "extreme contact" tires on my PT Cruiser and would probably go that way except that I keep reading about how much people like the EP422's.

    FYI, I've got 300 miles on my current tank and the MFD shows 51.9MPG. This is my best tank yet. I commute from Seatac to Bellevue and back 5 times a week plus normal "other" driving when can include a trip from Seatac up to Marysville and back every month or so. I've had the car for 9 months now and I've put 10k miles on it.

    It's a 2008 with OEM Integrities at 42/40 (and ready to be replaced). The weather has been between 70 and 75 lately which seems to be a very good temp for fuel economy.
     
  18. geepsterz

    geepsterz New Member

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    I purchased my Ecopia 422 from Wheel Works (July 2011), so I am not using nitrogen. Although WW would only inflate to 35F/33R, I had a 5K oil change done at a local chain -that inflated my tires to 42/40. Then, later at my first 5K (now @73,400 mi.) tire rotation at WW, they said that my tires came in at 30-32 PSI. I was surprised that I lost so much air in roughly 30 or so days. Does this mean that tires leak that much(?), or could it be that the non-nitrogen molecules hold air better? Further, what is the recommended interval for tire pressure checks? I guess that I have not been paying a lot of attention to this, but it's got my attention now... I just ordered a Moroso tire gauge, and will now use my home compressor to set/check my PSI weekly(?)

    Other than this, I changed to the Ecopia 422s after 40,000 miles on Michelin Pilot Primacy 195/55-16s, and I really like the improved ride and quiet better on the Ecopias. Mileage has been all over the place (but usually around 46MPG) because after reading more on the chat rooms, I started tanking-up until the nozzle-clicks, vs topping-off, since reading something about possible damage to the internal tank bladder. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!
     
  19. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Did the oil change place actually even muck w/your tire pressure? I suspect they didn't.

    At least once, once at Wheel Works recently (by coincidence) and another IIRC time at a Toyota dealer, they wrote down the recommended pressures and didn't change the tires to what they wrote down.

    I also bought EP422s recently at Wheel Works and wrote down 35/33. I told them afterward (not before, my mistake) that I wanted them higher and they said sorry, I have to tell them before and by CA law, they're only supposed to go w/recommended pressures unless I tell them ahead of time. Turns out, they inflated the EP422s on the rear to 33 and left the pressure of my RE 960 AS tires on the front at ~43 psi.

    You should check your own tire pressure in the future.

    I also recommend not forcing more fuel into the bladder. Stopping at the auto-stop or maybe 1-2 clicks past it is enough. You can read about/see the bladder tank at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/30593-gas-bladder-exposed.html. Galaxee's DH used to be a Toyota technician.
     
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  20. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Since air is comprised of approx. 78% nitrogen, I doubt that what their aired your tires up with made any difference in your supposed loss. Like cwerdna said, I would not rely on WW or anyone else to adjust your tire pressure. Do it yourself and you'll never have to wonder. :)

    I supposed you had WW in Fairfield do the work for you?
     
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