Initial Fuel Economy Loss With Michelin Primacy MXV4 Tires

Ohh and keep taking care of that car. Maybe I can buy it from you in a couple of years when you are done with it. lol

 

I have had Primacys on for about 6-7k miles. It doesn't get much better.

I still like them more than the Avids, you can drive in the rain with confidence.

We average around 46 with ours but we are in stop-go central Atalnta GA.

I also started tracking with fuelly just prior to switching tires so I cannot honestly tell you what we got before, I do know that when my display says 49 its about 46 and I remember seeing 51+ so we were probably at 48-49ish.

 

Interesting as I'm using much higher pressures on my Gen II 2005 Prius with Yokohama AVID ENVigor tires and I don't notice any loss in traction or steering response.

The PSI I choose from on a tire with 51 PSI max is:

50/47 high (short trips or warm winters)
48/45 med (long trips or summer use)
45/42 low (winter below freezing)

Have you tried the higher pressure on your new tires or are you just going by your experience with the mediocre OEM tires?

I know the Michelin's have a 44 PSI max so I'm not suggesting you push it as far as I do with a different tire but I am suggesting you treat that aftermarket tire differently than the low cost OEM tire.

 

Can you give us an update? What happened to your mpg during the last couple of years as the tire aged and got worn down?

I'm in a similar situation with my 2011 Volt. My old Fuel Max tires were getting a bit worn down after 57,000 miles and I decided to replace them after getting a leak in one of them and before the next winter season started. I did a bunch of reading but perhaps not quite enough before deciding to put on the Michelin Primacy MXV4 215/55R17 tires that were rated 94H with 620 tire wear.

Like you, I saw a larger than expected initial drop in mpg. I dropped roughly 10% from my old tires and similarly on EV range. I only have about 400 miles on the new tires.

Which exact MXV4 tires did you put on (so I can look up their wear rating and tread depth etc.)? I noticed that the ones I put on have a deeper tread depth than the OEM versions of the tire and this gives the tire longer tread life but perhaps worse initial rolling resistance.

I'm wondering how much my mpg will improve with more miles on the car and therefore less tread depth eventually.

 

Jeff,

jdenenberg and jdcollins5 both have had these tires for awhile and can comment on long term fuel economy trends. Mike only had them for a short time before switching to the Energy Saver A/S.

 

With your hint, I found another thread that had lots of useful info.

Best Alternatives to Michelin Energy Saver A/S ? | PriusChat

Too bad I didn't read it earlier. I noted that "The Critic" gave up on his MXV4's after 14,000 miles when they were still giving mpg of 3-5% under. Oh well.

With the new tires I can still make into work 45.5 miles later with 2 miles of remaining EV range but the sun is coming up later each day. More use of headlights and colder temps will likely mean some gas engine use on the drive to work this winter. Last year I managed to avoid the engine on all but a handful of days.