Energy Saver A/S to be replaced by Defender

I hear ya. This last weekend I made a trip over the Sierra range (8,000ft) down into Mono Lake basin (6,378ft.) then up into Tioga Pass (9,943ft.) and through Yosemite then back home on one tank. With 70-75mph speeds (on the major highways) and the AC set at 76F I ended the trip with something like 52mpg calculated. When I went to refill the pump kept clicking off so I'm not sure how full I got the tank. Rather than run that tank out and ruin my error reporting data I drove for about 72miles the refilled normally. Either way my fuelly is screwed because of the Yosemite trip but I had fun and my girlfriend was happy I was not trying to hypermile.

 

Would really love to see all those spots someday soon. I am a huge National Parks fan and really need to get to Yosemite!

 

Hummm. I just "ordered" my 185/65R15 Energy Saver A/S for my 07. we'll have to see if I actually get them.

No idea how I missed this thread, given I was shopping for tires recently.

 

I hope you get them! They've been great for me!

 

You will love it! The mountains are awe inspiring. Just brush up on your geology of the Sierra Nevada before you go. It will make the visit that much more spectacular.

 

For everyone discussing tank fill levels: uniform fills are not that critical. One fill calculation could be skewed a bit, two fills will virtually erase the error, three for sure. The more fills and mileage notations you do, the more impervious you are to any variations.

 

That works for my situation but some of these guys are going for maximum miles on a tank which requires some math and a little luck. If you are not confident you got a good fill then it is difficult to estimate your max miles for that particular tank.

 

^ What can work when you're concerned about a particular tank is to just start with what the dash says, and then knock off 5~10 percent, whatever you've been finding to be the error. It's frustrating that Toyo seems to be intentionally tarting up the dash displayed mileage. OTOH, I think with the new Prius C and PIP they're closer to reality.

 

Well, I got the tires. I like them well enough. However, the installer used rim clamp-on weights (removing the old ones which were stuck "inside". This causes the wheel trim rings to sit wrong. Am I being to fussy to expect that my trim rings to sit properly, without a big weight there?

 

No, you are not being fussy. The shop should do things the way you want, not the way they want.

 

Weights (and valves) are something you need to iron out up-front. Too many times I've seen nice mags with rusting weights clamped on. The onus should be on the tire shop to sort it out with you first: it's less hassle/labour for them to do it right the first time, and they can charge a premium for the nicer weights. But the reality is you have to initiate the questions.

 

I took the car back and got non-clamp on weights. Now the trim rings actually fit and the outer line isn't disturbed. I also got them to drain out the 1/4" of oil over full that they were supposed to fix before. Now I've got to figure out how to let them know that they've lost a customer.....

 

I would suggest sending a snail-mail letter marked "confidential" to the manager.

 

I recently replaced my factory Avid tires which only netted me 31,000 miles.(is that normal?) with the Michelin Defender...a local tire shop had them on sale for $501.00 otd with a $70 rebate. I do notice a few mpg difference on the freeway, but at city speeds up to about 55mph these seem to roll a lot better than my Avids. They ride super smoothe and the way i figure if I give up a couple of mpg on the freeway thats okay if I can get 60-70k miles out of them, they will pay for themselves versus the Avid oem. Again they ride real smooth and are very quiet, Im kind of bummed they lose a little on the freeway but I cruise 75-80 mph so I guess I cant complain. Hope this helps for anyone interested in new tires. I do run them at 40psi cold.

Ryan

 

I thought the warranty is 90k on the defenders.

 

Keeping your PSI's up will help lengthen your tire's life as well as improve your MPG's. You can further lengthen your tires life and improve your MPG's by cruising 70 - 75 mph instead of 75 - 80 mph. You'll still get where you are going with plenty of speed.

 

The warranty is 90k, I was just saying if I could get at least 60-70k I would be happy and the mpg difference vs the cost of tire replacement would be worth it.

 

I just replaced my factory Ecopia EP20s which only got me a paltry 40K miles with the Michelin Defender. The Energy Saver A/S was unavailable at several shops. Also considered the Ecopia EP422 and Assurance Fuel Max, could not justify spending nearly 600 for tires with a 65K rating when the newly designed "Green X" Defender with a 90K rating was around. I must say the Defenders make a huge difference in the ride. Smooth and quiet, they make the car feel more put together. I touched 50 mpg on my commute this morning with a full tank, and am hoping they will be equal to the fabled Energy A/S.

 

^ In past experience with Michelin: while they may warranty some distance for treadware, that doesn't mean they'll achieve it. We had Michelins (Harmony I believe, but I'm fuzzy) that were warrantied for 120K kilometers, but were at the wear bars at 60K (circa 37500 miles). Actually took advantage of this, the tire place went to bat for me, and we got replacements (same tire) for half price.

Bottom line though, just because they throw out a treadware warranty number doesn't mean they'll achieve that. I think they're counting on people forgetting, not bothering to pursue it.