Ecopia EP422 tires suck

[DaveEV]

I replaced with the Primacy MXV4, which is supposed to be very LRR, but my efficiency has suffered so badly (~0.3-0.4 mi/kWh)

Yeah, when I'm shopping for replacements, I will find that type of efficiency loss (close to 10%!) unacceptable. I'm already down about 10% in battery capacity, don't need another 10% hit. I do have a feeling that the non-OEM Ecopias will be slightly better in tread wear than the OEM tires, though.

Finally, a lot of my wear was on the outside edges of each tire and the installer found the alignment off.

Do you have a before/after printout of your alignment specs?

 

[LEAFfan]

If ALL you care about is rolling resistance, then by all means get the Ecrapias. If you care at all about everything else a tire is supposed to do, get something else...

Range and rolling resistance is pretty high on my list, so I'm still looking at the Ecopias. I have about 4/32's left after 2 years and 20,00 miles of driving. Should I stay with the 205/55/R16 (20 lbs.)that came with the car, or go with the 195/55/R16 (19 lbs.)?

Before I leased my 2013, I had over 17k miles on my 2011, and the tires were like new
8/32. I put 41-42 psi in them, except during my mileage record they were at 44.

 

[planet4ever]

I'm having trouble with formatting this table. Hope you can make sense out of it.

You need to put "Code" tags around it, and also edit it with a fixed pitch text editor, such as Notepad. Then it will look like this:

Bridgestone Ecopia Tires

                        195/55/R16   205/55/R16   205/55/R16   P205/60/R16

Service Description     87V SL       89H SL       91H  SL      91H SL  
UTQG                    480 A A      400 A A      480 A A      480 A A
Max. Load               1201 lbs.    1279 lbs     1356 lbs     1356 lbs.
Max. Inflation Press.   51 psi       44 psi       44 psi       44 psi
Tread Depth             10/32"       10/32"       10/32"       10/32"
Tire Weight             19 lbs.      20 lbs       19 lbs.      21 lbs.
Rim Width Range         5.5-7"       5.5-7.5"     5.5-7.5"     5.5-7.5"
Meas. Rim Width         6"           6.5"         6.5"         6"
Sect. Width             7.9"         8.4"         8.4"         8.2"
Tread Width             7"           6.6"         6.8"         6.7"
Overall Diam.           25"          24.9"        24.9"        25.7"
Revs Per Mile           xx           837          837          812

Ray

 

[TomT]

There is much more to tires than just how long they last... Like handling, braking, turn-in response, robustness, puncture resistance, etc. The Ecopias suck at every one of those.

Before I leased my 2013, I had over 17k miles on my 2011, and the tires were like new
8/32. I put 41-42 psi in them, except during my mileage record they were at 44.

 

[jfsquires]

I'm having trouble with formatting this table. Hope you can make sense out of it.

You need to put "Code" tags around it, and also edit it with a fixed pitch text editor, such as Notepad. Then it will look like this: Ray

Thanks for editing and republishing this.

From their table at:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Ecopia+EP422&partnum=955VR6EP422V2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&tab=Specs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

there is a pretty good selection of R16 Ecopias in addition to the 4 I posted. My highest priorities are safety and range, but I don't know enough about tires to know which to choose, so I'm open to suggestions.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

anyone notice a difference in the load rating on the Ecopias from the OEM and ones from Firestone? dk if that strengthens the sidewalls or not but the one I was higher (and slightly more expensive) from Firestone

I can get a set of Ecopias from Costco for less than $500. So for 25 months of driving, that's $20
per month. Compared to the cost of gasoline alone - maybe 5 to 6 gallons - that's not too bad.

If the 91H version of the 205/55 is stronger than the 89H version, any idea why it is 1 pound lighter?
Would the 205/60 version be better at #21 (1 pound heavier)?

have no idea. at first i was thinking the 91's were weaker maybe. like wire ratings? the bigger the number, the smaller the wire. but the 91's do have a heavier load rating. so have no idea.

 

[jfsquires]

There is much more to tires than just how long they last... Like handling, braking, turn-in response, robustness, puncture resistance, etc. The Ecopias suck at every one of those.

For those of you who replaced the Ecopias with Michelins, did you stay with 205/55/R16.
The Ecopias do 837 revs per mile, and the Michelins of the same size do 836, but the 205/60/R16
does 810, a 205/55/R17 only 803. I assume if you lost range with a different size or profile that you took this into account.

 

[aleph5]

I bought the non-OE 91H rating version of the Ecopias in the same size 205/55/R16 (from Tirerack), because they were a few bucks cheaper and have the higher UTQG rating vs. OE. The Michelins I had for 3 weeks were also the same size. (I wondered about the diameters; thanks for calculating that, jfsquires.) I was a little concerned that the non-OE Ecopias might lose whatever magic the originals seemed to have, but I got them installed Saturday and immediately noticed my efficiency hover back in the 4.0-4.4 range that I had been accustomed to. Lifetime average for my car is 4.2, I think, though except for winter the gauge seems to spend the most time at 4.3mi/kWh.

It's been a little tough to compare the Michelins to Ecopias due to our weather in Tennessee. We've had unusually cool weather this spring, so I thought some of the Michelin problems could be attributed to that. However, there were also a few days in the 70s-low 80s where the Michelins still got barely above 4.0mi/kWh and I could still see the battery bars click off too quickly on my normal commute. Puttering around Saturday with the new 91H Ecopias I was getting 4.3mi/kWh with temps in the upper 50s. This morning the gauge was down to 4.0-4.1 or so, but the temp was in the low 50s. (I reset the economy gauge when I started out with the new tires.)

All in all I'm relieved and happy to be over the range anxiety I got living with the Primacys. Given comparison tests that conclude that Ecopias are no better than other LRR tires, I wonder if it's because such comparisons used ICE cars which bury any LRR differences within the (low efficiency) limits to which they can test. An EV may be needed to properly evaluate LRR tires.

Still, kudos to Michelin for their return policy and I love the idea of their free flat towing service. Maybe redundant to Nissan's roadside assistance, it would have been reassuring to have, though, given we have no spare. Sorry to have to give that back.

Unfortunately, no I didn't get a printout of the alignment, drees. Sorry. That would have been useful.

I replaced with the Primacy MXV4, which is supposed to be very LRR, but my efficiency has suffered so badly (~0.3-0.4 mi/kWh)

Yeah, when I'm shopping for replacements, I will find that type of efficiency loss (close to 10%!) unacceptable. I'm already down about 10% in battery capacity, don't need another 10% hit. I do have a feeling that the non-OEM Ecopias will be slightly better in tread wear than the OEM tires, though.

Finally, a lot of my wear was on the outside edges of each tire and the installer found the alignment off.

Do you have a before/after printout of your alignment specs?

 

[TomT]

I stayed with the same size.

For those of you who replaced the Ecopias with Michelins, did you stay with 205/55/R16.

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

I haven't tried other tires, but I actually find my car handles very well, it sways a lot under hard cornering, but the tires seem to stick.

That said, their rated life is 60,000 or something, and of course no way in the world they will ever get that. I am 7k now, haven't and won't rotate them, but will replace front tires before this coming winter I expect, which would mean the fronts would be used up after 15k. Rotation evens out tire use but doesn't extend the total life of the rubber.

 

[TomT]

Put something better on it and you will be amazed at the transformation and increased piece of mind...

I haven't tried other tires, but I actually find my car handles very well, it sways a lot under hard cornering, but the tires seem to stick.

 

[jfsquires]

I bought the non-OE 91H rating version of the Ecopias in the same size 205/55/R16 (from Tirerack), because they were a few bucks cheaper and have the higher UTQG rating vs. OE. The Michelins I had for 3 weeks were also the same size. (I wondered about the diameters; thanks for calculating that, jfsquires.)

Apparently we can't calculate the number of revs per mile from the diameter because the tire flexes as it rolls. I used the numbers published by the tire manufacturer. I was surprised that a change in profile from 55 to 60 would make as large a difference as it does.

The car must figure distance and efficiency from the number of times the wheel rotates, so fewer
rotations per mile would show a shorter apparent distance and lower efficiency? Would a 205/60
last longer than a 205/55 (812 revs/mile vs 837)? Were the Michelins with a different rev/mile number
as inefficient as they seemed? Can the Leaf's odometer be calibrated to match different tires?

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
I just had to replace 2 tires on my 2011 @ 20K miles. Torn belt on one tire and it looks like Nissan did not rotate them at the 12 month service. They were worn a lot more than the rear tires. I replaced with OEM but now I'm wondering about that decision. I am going to run them at 44 psi year round from now on.

 

[GlennD]

Last weekend I replaced my tires with MXV4s. In looking at my tires at 16K it was evident that I would have to have new tires before lease turn in.

My reasoning is that I currently can afford excellent tires so why wait until the last minute. Let me have some of the good times.

 

[TomT]

That was exactly my rationale when I replaced mine early. Plus, the anecdotal evidence that indicated that the Ecrapias were unusually susceptible to punctures and sidewall damage. With no spare, I wanted something more robust as well.

Last weekend I replaced my tires with MXV4s. In looking at my tires at 16K it was evident that I would have to have new tires before lease turn in.
My reasoning is that I currently afford excellent tires so why wait until the last minute. Let me have some of the good times.

 

[Cinnabar]

I decided to stick with the Ecopia's and ordered a new set from Costco yesterday. I'm at 32K miles and have been running at about 36 psi. Two of them are worn to 2 cm so I will replace the whole set. I plan to run the new set a bit over 40 as others have recommended.

While many have had problems, my tires have been decent. The clincher was when I ran over a ladder going about 75 mph a few weeks ago with no puncture or other ill effects.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I decided to stick with the Ecopia's and ordered a new set from Costco yesterday. I'm at 32K miles and have been running at about 36 psi. Two of them are worn to 2 cm so I will replace the whole set. I plan to run the new set a bit over 40 as others have recommended.

While many have had problems, my tires have been decent. The clincher was when I ran over a ladder going about 75 mph a few weeks ago with no puncture or other ill effects.

holy crap :shock:

 

[thankyouOB]

MXV4s and liking them. tried different PSIs and settled on 41.

takes the rocks out of the ride with no noticeable reduction in range.

 

[smkettner]

33,500 on my ecopias. Plan to rotate a final time at 35k and replace at 40k. Not that I particularly like them but I still intend to get what I can out of them. Mostly keeping them at 45psi.

 

[stevewa]

My Ecopias started showing shoulder wear at about 22K, and at 27K one of them developed a slow leak. I had my tire guy check the alignment (in spec) and replaced all four with Nokian eNTYRE(s). These are XL load rated and can handle up to 51 PSI. Initially I'm losing some efficiency due to the new tread but it seems to be coming back slowly. The Nokian also has a 75K mile warranty (pro rated of course) on the tread life.

After the dreadful RE92s on our 2002 Prius and these EP422s I'm in no big hurry to go back to Bridgestone any time soon...