Energy Saver A/S to be replaced by Defender

We already know the Defender is less fuel efficient than the ESAS. If they truly do last 90k then it may be a wash depending on furl prices.

 

How is Defender on the wet surface? It does not look good in the tirerack test.

 

It's ranked about the same as the Energy Saver A/S in consumer reports.

The Defender is better for snow and dry traction, as well as life-span. Corroborating tire rack, consumer reports has the ProContact and Assurance at 5/5 in wet braking. Defender and ES A/S get 4/5.

 

Agreed.

They are also the OE tire for the 2013 C-Max hybrid.

 

I realized after I posted (and edited), on my 2010 Fusion the Energy Saver A/S are OEM, but I have 17" tires.

The OP indicated Michelin said they would be discontinuing the Energy Saver A/S in the 15" size, which doesn't preclude still making them in the 17" size.

The C-Max comes standard with 17" tires. So Prius owners might have to go that direction, since the Ecopia's have reported highway instability, which may bother people who still favor handling (Ecopia is pretty poorly rated in Consumer Reports).


But, the Defenders at least are reported to equal the mpg of the OEM Yoko tires, while providing vastly superior traction and tread life to the Yokos, so at least there's upside.

 

Unfortunately a 17" tire will hurt fuel economy more than using another 15" LRR tire. FWIW my 17" EP422s are great. Handling sucks compared to the MXM4 and PureContact but comfort, noise and FE is good. The ES A/S is not that great for handling either but still better than the EP422. CR rates the EP422 so low because of it's poor handling. If they placed as much priority on FE then it would have rated higher than many of the other tires in their list like the Defender or ProContact.

 

Yeah, but the move from 15 -> 17 adds handling and highway stability, so you pretty much cancel the reported negatives of the EP422's.

 

Aye, that is why I did it. FE is still MUCH less than a 15" ES A/S but I have better handling and style. lol

 

I have to correct my earlier statement my Fusion has 16" tires. 205/60/16 Energy Saver A/S.

This puts the diameter at 25.7", which is larger than the stock 25". Could work, not sure if it'd cause problems.

 

I remember when I was looking for the ES A/S in a 205/55R16 which is the correct size & found that it wasn't available. They do make the ES in a 205/55R16 summer tire so if you use winter tires or live in a warm climate that can be a good option. They seemed to provide very close to the same mpg as my OE 15" tires.

 

hate to bring this back but does anyone know why they were discontinued?

My pile stock of them running low

 

they're still available/
just special order (which in my case took 1 day) /