Replacement tires that give better mpg than the stock Integritys

Nokian WR's, any of the Michelin energy series.

Wayne

 

+1

 

Nokian I3 stock size 185/65/R15. It is the only known tire that is lighter than the Integrity. It has 80,000 miles warranty. You can get it for $55 each. Can't beat that.

I have about 200 miles on it and averaging 55.5 MPG (about the same as Integrity). I am running 47 PSI (max for I3) for the front and 45 PSI in the rear.

 

treat suggestions here carefully as some people speak nonsense with authority. The suggestion to look at Nokian is valid, but not all of their models. The WR, WRg2, and H models are Low Rolling Resistance. I believe that the I3 is not. There are a few other LRR tires on the market such as the Michelin "Energy Saving" series (not the other models discussed in these groups). See the attached Excel file for data on my 120k miles of experience with Goodyear Integrity, Michelin MXV4+, and Nokian WR tires on my 2004 Prius.

JeffD

 

Wow. I just spent some time reading reviews of those Nokians (WR), and they sound great for if/when I move back to snow country.

 

This is AWESOME data.
Just needs a laymen's conclusion for us ADD sufferers, in respect to overall best tire(included in file) for MPG
.

 

So, if you want LRR you've got:

Nokian WR, WRG2 or H.
Michelin "Energy Saving" series (eg. MXV4+)


If you want an LRR tire that's fully certified for snow, AND is good to drive all year round that leaves just:

Nokian WR or WRG2.

These are my prospects for this fall, here in "snow-land". Despite all the posts I've read, it's still hard to understand exactly the difference between them except g2 is newer and better in slush. Some have said WRG2 replaces WR but both are still on Nokian website.


...

 

From the spreadsheet I see the Integrity wins on the mpg front.

 

I3 is not advertised as LRR in USA but it is in Europe. See below quote from their site. I have 850 miles on them now and from coasting on my regular route, I can tell they are lower rolling resistant than the Integrity. Partly because I am running 47/45 PSI vs 44/42. However, I3s are not broken in yet. I have 71k miles experience on the Prius. I know how the ultra performance summer tires with 17" drives like. From that two data points (Integrity and Nexen), I can tell I3 coast further more than the Integrity. For $55 each, I truely believe they are a bargin with 80k miles warranty!

"Nokian i3 maintains a good grip in rainy and cool conditions. The full silica composite (Nokian cool silica compound) is designed for Nordic conditions. The tyre maintains its grip properties in cold spring mornings and in the cool early autumn, even when temperatures drop below 10 degrees centigrade.

The tyre features three prominent main grooves, and lateral grooves open to the side, giving the tyre excellent hydroplaning properties.

The acoustically optimised tread pattern and noise cavities in the grooves dampen tyre noise.

The ecological nature of the Nokian i3 is particularly evident in two features. Similar to other Nokian tyres, no high aromatic oils are used in the manufacturing process. The tyre is also economical: it rolls easily and consumes little fuel."

 

Note that there are some other LRR tires, it's just that I don't have solid info on them. The Nokian WRs have a very aggressive tread design. This makes them great in snow/slush, but a little noisy. The WRg2s have the same tread on one edge and a "Touring" tread on the other. This probably reduces both the noise and snow traction, but I don't see where they would be better in slush. I view them as a compromise for less snowy regions.

I see that the I3s may indeed do well in MPG, but someone needs to document some good comparison data so that we can evaluate their performance. My comparisons held the PSI the same for all three tires (42/40) even though the WRs can be inflated safely to 51.

JeffD

 

Then you don't know how to read data.

The Michelins win by a whisker over a full year (due to better cold weather MPG) and when you adjust properly for the effects of revs/mile the difference is about 1% in favor of the Michelins. It looks like the WRs will beat the Integrity tires by more than 2% in MPG over a full year, but I'll have to wait until November to do that calculation.

JeffD