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Best Alternatives to Michelin Energy Saver A/S ?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by ngc4565, Feb 6, 2012.

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  1. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    TYPOS are mine....kinda hard hitting all the right keys all the time with a splint on one hand....as for grammar....nothing changed.........

    You want to correct the grammar, contact Consumers..........
     
    #21 LTZR1, Feb 7, 2012
  2. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    The Primacy's were ranked 3rd under Consumers Report category "Best balance of good grip and fuel efficiency:" in that same issue that they tested the Continentals

    Continental ProContact EcoPlus+ $90
    Michelin Energy Saver A/S $120
    Michelin Primacy MXV4 $122

    We have the Michelin Primacy MXV4 on one of our cars and it's an excellent tire in all performance areas. You made a great choice !
     
    #22 LTZR1, Feb 7, 2012
  3. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    The "3 MPG" is THREE MILES PER GALLON....and it NOT a percentage.

    "We calculate the the difference between the most and least fuel efficent tires in our ratings is about 3 MPG."

    And...they did test the Nokian WRG2. It ranked 2nd ( 80 ) behind the Michelin Primacy MXV4 ( 84 ) in the Performance ALL Season category. It was rated "very good" in rolling resistance compared to
    "excellent" for the Michelin Primacy MXV4. And in tread life, it was only rated "fair" compared to "very good" for the Michelin MXV4.

    Finally, Consumer Reports does not "stock" or sell tires.
     
    #23 LTZR1, Feb 7, 2012
  4. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Jeff knows it was stated as a number -- that is his point. When those tyres are tested on a Prius the difference will be more than 3 mpg.

    Readers should keep in mind this is the worse case difference. How many people buy the worse tyre ?
     
    #24 SageBrush, Feb 7, 2012
  5. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    Relative to the OE tires, the overall traction and handling of the aftermarket Primacy MXV4 tires have been in a different league.
     
    #25 The Critic, Feb 7, 2012
  6. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    Thanks for the clarification. Get well soon!
     
    #26 ngc4565, Feb 7, 2012
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Interestingly, if you play around with the math you find that the ConProContact EcoPlus is cheaper in the long term than the Energy Saver A/S based on the the estimate that the Conti gets 2mpg less than the Energy Saver and a 65,000 mile lifetime. With fuel at $3.60/ga the difference was $27 in favor of the Energy Saver BUT that was based on the 65,000 mile warranty for the Energy Saver. The Conti is warrantied for 80,000 miles so the advantage goes back to the Conti. :)
     
    #27 F8L, Feb 7, 2012
  8. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    I've only owned one set of Continental Contacts before. The good news is that they last forever. The bad news is that forever is a long time.
     
    #28 ngc4565, Feb 7, 2012
  9. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    No doubt! That is what scares me. I go through tires like whoa!
     
    #29 F8L, Feb 7, 2012
  10. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    It looks like we have some fans of the Continental ProContact EcoPlus with UTQG of 600 AB [corrected by NGC4565] as an all season tire.

    The Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 with a UTQG of 400 AB looks like a good alternative for summer only driving (my application), but keep an eye on the dry stopping distance. That trailing "B" in the UTQG is not a concern since the car seldom exceeds 70 MPH.

    The Michelin Primacy MXV4 seems to be a popular write in candidate, but is not a LRR tire. The UTQG of 620 AA suggests that what you lose in fuel economy might be recovered in tire longevity.

    Thus far we have no mention of the Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 with a UTQG of 400AA. Any fans of this tire out there?

    Hopefully I have summarized this correctly.
     
    #30 ngc4565, Feb 8, 2012
  11. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    #31 LTZR1, Feb 8, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  12. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    Don't delete the "[/QUOTE]" tag if you want to post a quote. I wonder why the Tire rack doesn't include the MXV4 in their database as a LRR tire? Gotta call them on that one.
     
    #32 ngc4565, Feb 8, 2012
  13. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I think it may only be LRR in specific sizes instead of across the board.

    The ContiProContact with EcoPlus is actually rated UTQG 600, not 400. It comes with an 80,000 warranty which is the highest of all of the tires we are talking about.

    The EP422 is a good tire but it ranked well behind the EcoPlus in the TireRack.com test I linked you to.
     
    #33 F8L, Feb 8, 2012
  14. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    Not according to the Tire Rack or Michelin. Perhaps what these other reviews mean is that the MXV4 has the lowest rolling resistance in its class (Grand Touring All Season), but the tire itself is not a member of the LRR class. I hope this makes sense.
     
    #34 ngc4565, Feb 8, 2012
  15. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    " tag if you want to post a quote. I wonder why the Tire rack doesn't include the MXV4 in their database as a LRR tire? Gotta call them on that one.[/QUOTE]



    Ooooops ! Sorry about that. Don't know how that happened.
    Might have been the "club" / splint on my hand. Thanks for letting me know.

    I don't think Tire Rack was doing as much with LRR when they tested the Primacy MXV4. Just a bit of info.....CR does much more thorough testing than Tire Rack. They test the tires for months and up to 6000 or more miles compared to Tire Racks rather brief testing by comparison. The comment is certainly not intended to reflect negatively on what Tire Rack does, but to point out the longer period of time CR does their tests over.
     
    #35 LTZR1, Feb 8, 2012
  16. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    If you go back through the spec list on Tirerack.com you'll see that only certain sizes of Primacy MXV4 are labeled with the GreenX label. This is what Michelin uses to designate a tire as exhibiting LRR characteristics. :)
     
    #36 F8L, Feb 8, 2012
  17. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    CR contracts with an outside engineering company that uses a dynamometer to measure the LRR of the specific tires CR tests.
    The intent is to able to very critically measure rolling resistance and be able to compare that measure within and beween tire categories.
     
    #37 LTZR1, Feb 8, 2012
  18. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I understand. I'm just stating that Michelin doesn't rate every size in the Primacy MXV4 line as LRR. There is likely a threshhold created by Michelin that they consider to be a limit at which a tire can be labeled LRR (GreenX). So there may be minor variances that keep them from labeling all sizes as LRR.

    That being said there are obviously difference levels of LRR. There can be as much as a 2-4mpg difference between tires that are labeled LRR. I personally believe the MXV4 is on the low side of the LRR chart compared to tires like the Energy Saver A/S, Ecopia EP100 or dB tires.
     
    #38 F8L, Feb 8, 2012
  19. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    Right - my bad. There are three versions of the tire listed in my size with UTQG ratings of 400, 500, and 600. The EcoPlus version is rated 600 AB, and it is the least expensive. Go figure...
     
    #39 ngc4565, Feb 8, 2012
  20. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    I forgot to mention that the Tire Rack advised me that Michelin had no production scheduled for the Energy Saver A/S for the next two months, and that it would be at least three months before these tires were available again. I cannot run another three months on the winter tires.
     
    #40 ngc4565, Feb 8, 2012
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