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Michelin Defender vs. Continental TrueContact - recent experiences?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by brightlights, Nov 11, 2016.

  1. brightlights

    brightlights Junior Member

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    First off, I have read F8L's thread, which I understand to be more or less the seminal work on the subject. :)

    I'm in Baltimore. I drive on I-95 in hurricane rains, the Baltimore definition of a blizzard (3 feet... laugh away, Boston,) and the bigger problem, ice. I love Goodyear TripleTreds but am not able to swap off of the stock wheels at this point.

    I'm getting 55mpg now with Integrities that still have some tread left in them. The (lack of) traction is annoying. I'd prefer not to take more than a 5-7% MPG hit but the best mileage in the world doesn't help me if I spin out into a ditch.

    Thought I was set to go on Continental TrueContacts, but what I'm reading in the TireRack comments is that the MPG drop on a Prius is more like 10%. Lousy data collection as half the reviews don't talk about driving style or what tire was on the car beforehand. Anyone have recent experience with these? How has your MPG held up over the life of the tire so far (and what's that lifespan been?)

    The Michelin Defender is second on my list as the ice performance seems to be just OK. Again, recent experience would be great as some of my reading suggests quality has dropped in the last two years. Thoughts on that? Again, MPG performance over the life of the tire?

    I should say that Ecopias are off my list due to handling in wet or icy conditions and that the Michelin Premier and Energy Savers are out of my price range right now. I know I'm going to have to break the tires in to get the most out of them.
     
    #1 brightlights, Nov 11, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2016
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  2. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    I have the TrueContacts on two of my vehicles - a Nissan Versa and the Prius. What I like most about the TC's is the minimal amount of treadwear I'm seeing on each car. The Ecopia EP22 tires wore down fast and the handling with them sucked. I also like the road feel of the TC's no matter the season.

    It's true that the MPG has taken about a 7% hit but who cares when gas is only $2/gal and going lower over the winter months. My Prius has almost 256K miles on it and so doesn't get the 50+ mpg it once did before 200K miles and I don't drive it at 70 mph or less all of the time any more either. I've had the Prius up to 83 mph recently - the fastest I've ever dared to take it in six years and 122K miles.
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    When I hear all-season in the same sentence with snow and ice, don't know what to say. When the temps drop below 7C, it's time to swap to snow tires. Some short term financial pain and hassle, but worth it in the long run.

    I'd hate to think the US TPMS regs are pushing people away from snows, but yeah there's that.
     
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  4. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Snow is only a problem until the roads are plowed. I live in a medium sized metropolitan area and in the 16 years I've lived here the snow has always been plowed and the roads salted in no more than a day. Consequently, snow tires and all wheel drive are not really needed here. Your experience may vary and that may suck for you.
     
  5. brightlights

    brightlights Junior Member

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    I've never felt I needed more than an all season tire, actually. I'm not off-reading or trying to replace 4WD and I don't drive in legitimate blizzard conditions. The roads in my neck of the woods tend to be questionably plowed, so what I'm dealing with is mostly wet and slush frozen over. As I said, I ran Assurance TripleTred tires for years on my Honda and was safe in our conditions. I need my tires to be able to hit a patch of slush or ice and try to stick on the road rather than giving up and dying, and they need to go through light snow. I've driven cars with snow tires as my fiancé prefers to use those and don't feel I had much of a handling difference in comparison. If I were in Minnesota my answer would be different!

    Thanks for sharing. How long have you had these tires on?
     
  6. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    About 15 months and 22K miles. I just rotated them for the 3rd time a few days ago. I didn't measure the wear with a tire gauge but Continental added an indicator at the side of the tread (D W S) for dry, wet, snow. Maybe the S has worn down but it's not to the point where it's obvious.
     
    #6 jadziasman, Nov 12, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
  7. Igoryan

    Igoryan Junior Member

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    Didn't want to start a new thread.
    Trying to decide between Continental TrueContact and Nokian WRG3. Both in the same price range at the moment.
    Both are great traction tires in any conditions.
    I probably saw every thread on this forums regarding both of these tires. It looks like there is a hit in MPG, but I wonder how these 2 tires compare in this perspective?
    I just got the car and didn't notice that tires were dead, I can see the threads showing up from inside. I am only getting 42MPG at the moment.

    WRG3 would probably feel heavier and more noisy?

    I am driving in Illinois. Sometimes it's raining a lot, some snow in the winter.
     
    #7 Igoryan, Mar 28, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2017
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    WRG3 will get you through winter. They're a step down from dedicated snow tires, but definite improvement over all-seasons. I think they will wear kinda fast through summer, due to softer rubber, designed to stay softer when cold. It's basically a compromise tire, but yeah.

    I've had WRG2, used them as a separate snow tire, and couldn't WAIT to get them off each spring: their rolling resistance was definitely not as good as our EP20 for example. The WRG3 make mention of improvement in rolling resistance though, so not sure.

    Don't know much about the TrueContact, they're high rated all-season on TireRack?
     
  9. Igoryan

    Igoryan Junior Member

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    Yep, very good ratings, but a few Prius owners mentioned there was 10% MPG hit and a lot of noise. If so, WRG3 should be somewhere in that range, but probably better overall traction.

    Very contradictory though. Others say TrueContact is quiet and MPG is really good. I guess some of the reviews might be bogus.

    Anyway, I wonder how they compare.
    I've had Good Year triple threads on my other car and they were really good all seasons, but pretty noisy and heavy.
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Sadly, variation in reviews might also be due to poor manufacturing control.
     
  11. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    We have the True Contacts from TireRack.com seem fine... we had a major puncture and the Tire Rack Warranty helped there as far as getting replacement.
     
  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    How are they for RR? Your impression.
     
  13. Igoryan

    Igoryan Junior Member

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    Can you please tell about your experience? How's the fuel efficiency after they broke in?
    Are they mostly quiet?

    If I am getting 42mpg now, I am afraid to think what's it going to be with new tires.:D
     
  14. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    We went from OEM GY Integrity, GY ComforTread, to True Contacts, and I cannot say there was much difference, but none of those are super-MPG tires. My opinion is the better MPG tires such as Ecopia 422 and Mich A/S are less good at snow traction. So my approach is not to go for MPG, if were in California or Florida I'd have a different approach. Our driving is short distance now so our MPG has dropped 47 to 40-42 not related to tires.

    News tires will always take a hit on MPG because they are thicker, and a couple other physics factors. Check out the Prius user comments on TireRack.com I do not think TrueContact is stellar MPG but just OK.

    If you put em now, you'll get 1.7% better MPG because summer gaso is 1.7% better MPG, not to mention reduced tire fraction and a host of other reasons summer is better.
     
  15. Igoryan

    Igoryan Junior Member

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    Thanks. I went ahead and ordered True Contacts.
    I'll post here my observations later. I hope the MPG will not decrease a lot, since now I have 3 super old and bald Kumho Solus KR21 with uneven wear, which are not even LRR and one Avid Ascend :)
     
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  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yes please do. (y)
     
  17. brightlights

    brightlights Junior Member

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    Well, since y'all bumped the thread... :)

    In November I switched from Integrities to TrueContacts. I was getting about 54MPG with the Integrities over a very warm fall season. The temperature dropped at the same time I put the TrueContacts on (42F/40R pressure) and I averaged 48MPG over the winter, with drops to 45MPG over the coldest weeks. I'm about 5000 miles into the tires and the temperature has warmed up to the mid-50's. Now averaging 52MPG.

    They give me the traction I need for my driving conditions and over time the MPG drop is not significant compared to the Integrities. I like them so far.

    I don't notice road noise so I couldn't tell you if they're quiet or loud. I didn't notice a difference from the Integrities.
     
  18. Igoryan

    Igoryan Junior Member

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    So I installed True Contacts. Drove 700 miles. Very happy with my choice.
    Surprisingly, I didn't notice a decrease in MPG and I think I actually started getting 1-2 MPG more. Before it was 40 now 42. But again, I've had really old Kumho Solus and they were not LRRs.
    True Contacts a very quiet and comfy, good traction in dry and wet conditions. Running them at 42F/40R.
     
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  19. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Thanks all for the info.

    We currently have Bridgestone Ecopias on our 2010. They do great on the MPG side. However, as others have said...they do seem to wear rather fast. I'm not too fond of the snow/ice handing either. And since our daughter frequently drives this vehicle, that needs to change. Thankfully, she is a fairly good driver and we made it through the winter without any incidents! :whistle:

    It appears that the best option for our situation may be the Conti TrueContacts. They have awesome ratings across the board...except for LRR performance it seems. Am I really going to take a 7-10% MPG hit vs. the Ecopias? If so, that would be a shame....

    I also noticed the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus and it appears that the have somewhat better snow/ice ratings than the Ecopias. Does anyone have any idea how the LRR performance is on these? Poking around it appears to be a 5% or so hit compared to the Ecopias.

    Thanks!
     
  20. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I do not know - we retired the same time we got the Conti's so our driving habits went to short trips. My impression is not too bad vs. our prior tires, but we never had the max MPG tires because I go for winter traction not just MPG