Can't find Bridgestone Ecopia EP4222 tires

The Energy Saver A/S is difficult to find anymore anyway. Tirerack.com says the Ecopia EP422 will be available 02/04/2012. Another option is the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max which is a pretty good tire.

 

tirerack has it for $106, go to tirerack.com, select products and from the dropdown menu select Tires then Shop by Size, select 195, 55, 16, I got 46 results, on the left side unselect the 19 summer tires and then unselect the 7 winter tires leaving you with 21 results, Select View all 21 Results and make sure they are priced from low to high.

I guarantee their prices will be way lower than any tire shop, its worth it for me and I only save 6% Mich sales tax which almost pays for my shipping, you will be saving 8.75% Cali sales tax so the sales tax you save will probably pay for the shipping and then some. you can have them shipped to your house or directly to one of their recommended installers and yes they will give you a list near you as well as how much they charge for installation.

Back to the tires, the bridgestones are ranked 6th in the category by tirerack experts and ranked 8/10 by customers, there is a tire ranked 8.4/10 by customers called General G-Max but those are sticky high performance tires and may hurt your fuel economy. Instead General makes tire called the Altimax HP which is also ranked 8/10 by customers, is ranked 5th in the category by Tire Rack (Not all tires in the same category are avail in all sizes), and is $13 cheaper at $93 a pop. General makes great tires, probably the most bang for your buck, They make the worlds best studded snow tire although the competition is light as most tire makers have switched to only making studless snow tires.

Firestone also makes a $103 tire with a 560 UTQG rating which should last almost as long as a set of Michelins. I caution people who park out in the sun from buying expensive high mileage tires because the tires will take a UV beating from the sun and the sidewalls will deteriorate long before the tread is worn out. It is weird that tire rack doesn't offer a single all season michelin in this size, they do have the Energy Saver in Summer but not all season and it is of course very expensive at $136.

Click specs and you will see that the Bridgestones are made in the US whereas the Generals that I'd choose are made in either Romania or Brazil, stay away from any tires made in China as the quality is highly questionable.

Tirerack.com is a great website that gives both expert and consumer reviews so even the average joe can spend his day off doing research so he can buy the perfect set of tires!!

 

its common for tire shops up north to be out of stock of winter tires in many sizes this time of year, that''s because winter tires are made around March and they only make as many as they think they'll sell so when they're gone they're gone.

but all season tires? there's usually a good selection year round. so I'm as stumped as you are. So did you order 2 or 4 tires from tirerack? how much was the shipping?? (I assume they're coming from their Las Vegas warehouse) How much were the tires + shipping from Tirerack??? how much would the tires + sales tax be from costco??

I love tirerack and it looks like I got them another customer, I should get a referral fee or something. Another cool thing about tirerack is you'll be able to shop around town for the best price on installation + balancing. I find the best prices are the independently owned shops where they charge a higher installation rate for low profile tires and a higher rate for oversize truck tires, they tend to have a very fair rate for regular passenger tires. If you are lucky and speak to a manager or owner on the phone just say you're calling around comparing install rates as they may quote you a lower rate than just a regular clerk. A new shop may also be looking for new customers and may give you a great rate to get you through their doors.

A big chain around here charges $20 per tire to include nitrogen filling, there's a smaller shop with a nice Hunter balancing machine that only charges me $10, of course I do have to settle with oxygen instead of nitrogen.

 

LOL! I actually mentioned Tirerack.com before you did but whatever. I just found your comment funny.

 

I don't know a lot about engines, and even less about our complicated hybrid system, but since the tire is the only thing that makes contact with the road I have slowly and steadily been making myself an expert in both mild temperature tires (what you call all season) and cold temperature tires (what you call winter tires)

F8L I saw you also recommended some goodyears, this is my last winter on my blizzaks and since there's little to no info on goodyears new Ultra Grip Ice WRT i think I'm gonna make my prius a guinea pig next winter and try a set. I've always hated goodyear as i hate any tire company who tries to untruthfully convince Americans that all season tires can be run year round in the snow belt. (Why are Europeans smarter than Americans on this issue??) Goodyear is pretty new to the winter tire game, but I'm gonna take the gamble cause I think when a company is late to a certain market they tend to spend a lot of money and research getting their product perfect in order to make a big splash in that market.

 

Cnschult, let us know how it goes. You have a lot of background knowledge and experience with winter tires so I have to defer to you on recommendations. I usually just recommend the usuals like the Blizzaks and IceX tires. Continental just won awards for their new snow tire as well but I do not have any experience with them. I totally agree with you regarding all-season tires being used for very cold (below 40deg F) vs. a true winter tire that is designed to stay pliable in cold temps.

I believe TireRack has a warehouse in the Reno area. Shipping is always very fast to our area.

 

yep those conti extremeWINTERcontacts are second to none, i got those in a wheel/tire package from tirerack as xmas/birthday gift for my sister's corolla, let me tell you that extremeWINTERcontact with FWD drives better than our AWD subaru forester with yok geolander a/s tires. The subaru is very annoying, you have to enter sport manual shift mode in order to slide it into second gear for a slower start in snow otherwise you just sit there spinning your tires, than you have to remember to manually throw it into third and then into fourth, very annoying, why couldn't subaru just give us a snow button like our rx300??

people think you need AWD in snow, they are either stupid, brainwashed (by Audi, Acura & Subaru) or a combination of the two. AWD helps a little with acceleration but does nothing for you in terms of braking or steering, in fact the extra weight makes those two tasks harder than a FWD car. My mother only drives 7K miles a year so it doesn't make sense for her to switch between a summer and winter set so that's why I recommended the forester to her.

I've also owned Yok IceGuards, blizzak ws-60 and blizzak LMs and General Altimax. About those studdable Firestone and General Altimax Artics, I wonder if after we've used them a few years and they are worn down to say 50% if they can be sent up to Canada or Alaska to be studded to be used for ice driving. As Prius owners we should recycle as much as possible to set an example for others.

I think if insurance companies started giving out discounts for those you use winter tires, and refuse to pay repairs for those using summer tires in the winter, then you'll really see the popularity of winter tires to increase in this country like they are in Europe.

F8L, Reno, Las Vegas, close enough, you knew the point I was trying to make was that the warehouse is very close to Cali therefor the shipping will be both fast and cheap. Ernie1, I'm glad that you are happy with your tirerack purchase and I bet you get your tires in much much less than 10 days.

 

You were right. They are near Vegas. I think I was confusing them with Discount Tire or maybe Cabella's or who the heck knows. lol

Thanks for the info on the ExtremeWinterContacts.

 

Ernie, I thought I saw that size at Costco in Woodland today. You might want to call them.