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Lost 10% EV Mileage with new Michelin Tires...

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by JasonG, Jan 3, 2020.

  1. JasonG

    JasonG Member

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    I recently bought new Michelin Energy Saver summer tires from Costco for my 2017 Prime. I had been easily getting about 30 miles on the estimated mileage with the stock Dunlop tires but after switching tires my mileage has dropped 10% and I struggle to get back and forth to work which I easily did before... :(

    Any thoughts? I upped the pressure to 40 psi and it helped as it was even worse initially. Is there a break in period and it should improve? Anyone have these tires?

    Thanks for your help!
     
    mr88cet likes this.
  2. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    New tires always result in lower efficiency. That's just the nature of rubber edges not worn down yet. After break-in, a few thousand miles, you'll see some degree of improvement.
     
    #2 john1701a, Jan 3, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2020
  3. JasonG

    JasonG Member

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    Cool, thanks for your help. Hopefully will improve over the next few months... If anyone else has experience with these tires and their performance, let me know.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i put them on my pip a few years ago, with no noticeable amount of ev range loss.

    but i have read that there are several different models made in different countries.

    also, i wasn't coming from dunlop, which may have very low rolling resistance, idk.

    mine are a/s 'all season'
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'm getting that sense too. A shakeout of globalized industry.
     
  6. JasonG

    JasonG Member

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    Hmm, well hopefully will break-in... I didn't get a/s as I'm in California and don't drive in the snow. :)

    They got good reviews for mileage so didn't think I'd see this.
     
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  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah I got the impression without the A/S they had even lower rolling resistance. They're "summer" tires.
     
  8. JasonG

    JasonG Member

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    Exactly... Should be better if anything
     
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  9. David Rush

    David Rush Junior Member

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    I have not had my Prime very long but have a lot of experience with my Honda Insight1
    When I first bought it, it had cheap tires and when I put on proper LRR tires, I immediately got 15% better fuel economy.
    At the end of life for those tires which were old, age-hardened and bald, I dropped about 5% but still keeping LRR new tires.
    Right now, I start at about 3.3 L/100 km and use 0.5L more for winter tires, 0.5L more in cold weather and another 0.5L more when my wife drove it. Running the A/C in the summer used about 0.5L.
    ….. numbers are a big part of my life.
     
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  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Not Michelin Energy Saver summer tires, but with Michelin Xice winter tires, the HV mpg was down ~15% on the first season on my Prime. Now on the second season after ~5K miles, I am getting close to HV mpg I got with OEM Dunlop tires during winter months. I did not see the same reduction on mpg with my Gen3 when comparing OEM Ecopia to Michelin Xice. PRIME may be more sensitive to change in LRR property of tires. Yeah, OEM Dunlop Enasave is hard to beat on that category.
     
    #10 Salamander_King, Jan 4, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2020
  11. mr88cet

    mr88cet Senior Member

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    Our 2017 Prime and 2009 Prii have been riding on Bridgestone Ecopia+ tires for many years. The Prime came with them. Although I’m only so-so about them with respect to road noise, I found that they were far more economical than the Michelin supposedly-low-rolling resistance tires we had on the 2009 before that.

    The difference was quite substantial: Around 5MPG on the 2009!

    Two important caveats, though: First, some of that 5MPG improvement was just simply because the old tires were ... well, exactly that: old tires. Second, I doubt if Michelin makes that exact tire type now, and newer ones may be considerably better (I don’t know either way).
     
  12. JasonG

    JasonG Member

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    Well, I will see if they improve over the next few months... Also, the weather got cold around the same time so it was a double whammy somewhat. I'll report back and let everyone know if the performance changes. If I had known I probably would have stuck with the Dunlops... but I think Michelin's are a better tire overall.