Why do so many think the Ecopias are terrible?

[supra410]

I see many folk's post about how crummy the ecopias are. I'm curious what a person is looking for when dissatisfied with a tire. I know in high horsepower/torque applications, tires are a big issue. Trying to tame over 500hp in my gas powered toy. I get much better performance with bfg drag radials, over the street nitto tires. That is solely a traction issue. Obviously, I'm not too concerned with ride quality as driving it seems like impending doom, over the tranquility of driving my Leaf.

In my Leaf, it leaves me to wonder. How the ecopias are so inferior? I have driven my Leaf in, cold, hot, wet and have not observed any real issues in traction. I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the ride quality. I have over 10k miles on them and they seem to wear much better than the stock yokos on my Prius did. There's no argument that Michelins are a superior tire to most on the market. Bridgestone makes a great tire in their wide selection of models. There are many fantastic tires out there.

Is it brand loyalty, that makes a person think a tire is better than another? Any feedback from people who changed would be great to hear. Also, curious what other tires people are using.

 

[garsh]

There are two main issues I've read about here.

The first is that the sidewalls are very thin & easy to damage. Several people here have reported hitting a curb & tearing a hole in the sidewall, requiring replacement. I've personally tried to be more mindful when parallel parking due to those reports.

The other issue is premature tire wear. To be fair, this seems to be an issue with many OEM tires.

Other people complain about things like poor handling, but most people aren't too worried about that in this kind of vehicle.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Ours seem to be holding up ok, might make it to the end of the lease. Aside from that they are round and black, and unless they wear out I won't be replacing them.

 

[KillaWhat]

The Ecopia are a poor quality OEM tire.
They are easily damaged, and with no spare, that can be a problem.
They have offered VERY poor wear to many people.
If you are/were a "Car" person; one who thought about those black round things before you became an EV person, then just having whatever Nissan got the best price on might not be what you want your family riding around on.

I'm a Car person.
I mess with things until they are the way I want them to be.
I like quality, ride, performance, and a sidewall that doesn't divot when I bump a Curb.

Also, not that this is a ringing endorsement, look at what Nissan put on the New 13's with the premium wheels... Michelin MXV's if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Stanton]

I've never had a tire that lasted <20k miles (let alone on a NEW car), and I never will again: that's why I replaced the Ecopia's with Michelin Defenders. Yes, my m/kWh has gone down, but they handle much better and I won't be spending $500 on tires every 2 years (anymore).

 

[mksE55]

switched to continental conti-eco. alot better tire. ride. HNV , handling. and price. I didnt think the Ecopias where that bad until I got new tires.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I don't doubt there are better tires, as many here who pay close attention to such things feel strongly about it. I just haven't felt the issue was so compelling as to motivate me to toss four new tires in the dumpster and drop five hunge on something different, preferring instead to get some use out of what I already paid for.

 

[TickTock]

Yep. MXV4's offer significantly better cornering and traction. The premature wear was my primary reason for changing (almost bald at 20k miles) but I also never liked the cornering - felt too bouncy. I was happy to find the MXV4s eliminated that. The one thing good about the Ecopias are they *do* have pretty low rolling resistance which is presumably why Nissan went with them. I wish I had been more scientific when I swapped mine - I do have loads of data that show 8-10% reduction in range when I switched to the MXV4's but I wish I had done a skid test. The Ecopias were compared to several other tires here and came in at the bottom on the skid test (although 0.79 really isn't too bad for a non-performance tire) but I don't know how the MXV4s compare under those same conditions.

 

[DaveEV]

MXV4's offer significantly better cornering and traction.

I find that hard to believe - I had MXV4s on my last car (Subaru Impreza WRX, same size as the LEAF) because they were reported to to have low rolling resistance. The MXV4s replaced Bridgestone RE92As which aren't all that different than the Ecopias. I found the MXV4s squishy and numb feeling compared to the RE92As - a lot of that because of the deep tread depth on the MVX4s. The tires rolled over quite a bit (like the Ecopias) under aggressive cornering even with the tire pressures pumped up to 44 psi. I'm sure a lot of what I felt was because I was comparing new tires to halfway worn tires, but still.

The Ecopias feel similar to what I remember the RE92s felling like - while it's no summer performance tire, it is a fine all-season tire. But who knows - maybe my memory is fading.

If dry pavement performance is an issue for you - get some LRR summer tires - there's a decent selection these days.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

We have never had a set of OEM tires ready to replace at less than 30K miles, but our LEAF Ecopias are now almost slick on the edges. I've rotated them regularly and maintained the pressure above the recommended level at 40psi. One tire still has decent tread, albeit similarly thinner at the edges, because it has 10K fewer miles -- it's two predecessors died (1) in a shallow pothole and (2) from road debris in the thin sidewall. One of the three originals has a small sidewall divot where it was once pinched against a parking lot curb. We'll likely be getting Michelins.

 

[myleaf]

I switched to MXV4s and here are some of my thoughts.

The original Ecopias lasted about 22K for me. They seemed to be wearing quite rapidly on the edges of the tire until someone suggested I inflate to 40 psi (I use to inflate to 36). I experienced no damage from hitting pot holes or curbs.

I replaced with MXV4s. They seem durable and quiet, but I seem to have taken a hit on range. Upon switching I noticed going from 4.4KWh/mile to 4.1 KWh/ mile. Although this is not based on a very controlled experiement, this is what I believe is accurate.

 

[supra410]

Very interesting. The two main gripes seem to be durability, and rapid wear. Learning of the ease of damage issue. I will definately be more mindful about potholes. I wonder if them being LRR tires have anything to do with rapid wear. I would expect atleast 45k out of them. The yokohamas on my Prius were shot by 35k miles. The majority of those miles being highway. Just over 20k miles is terrible. That's the wear rate of High performance summer tires.

 

[supra410]

I switched to MXV4s and here are some of my thoughts.

The original Ecopias lasted about 22K for me. They seemed to be wearing quite rapidly on the edges of the tire until someone suggested I inflate to 40 psi (I use to inflate to 36). I experienced no damage from hitting pot holes or curbs.

I replaced with MXV4s. They seem durable and quiet, but I seem to have taken a hit on range. Upon switching I noticed going from 4.4KWh/mile to 4.1 KWh/ mile. Although this is not based on a very controlled experiement, this is what I believe is accurate.

The range should improve, once the tires start to break in. Atleast, that's what I've been reading from other members.

 

[DaveEV]

I replaced with MXV4s. They seem durable and quiet, but I seem to have taken a hit on range. Upon switching I noticed going from 4.4KWh/mile to 4.1 KWh/ mile. Although this is not based on a very controlled experiement, this is what I believe is accurate.

Seems to be par for the course. How many miles do you have on them? Anyone also notice any shoulder wear on the MXV4s? The MXV4s are longer wearing, but because of the LEAFs suspension it will only be a matter of time before they start wearing on the shoulders, too.

Now keep in mind that not all MXV4s are the same - they are available in an "Energy S8" version, "Primacy" version and both are available in both H and V speed ratings. The "Energy S8" version has a lower tread wear rating than the Primacy and the V rated tires will likely handle a bit better than the H rated tires. My previous experience with the MVX4 was with the Primacy H-rated version - not impressed. I imagine that the "Energy S8" V rated version would be better unless your primary concern is tread wear.

 

[TickTock]

Yep. MXV4's offer significantly better cornering and traction. The premature wear was my primary reason for changing (almost bald at 20k miles) but I also never liked the cornering - felt too bouncy. I was happy to find the MXV4s eliminated that. The one thing good about the Ecopias are they *do* have pretty low rolling resistance which is presumably why Nissan went with them. I wish I had been more scientific when I swapped mine - I do have loads of data that show 8-10% reduction in range when I switched to the MXV4's but I wish I had done a skid test. The Ecopias were compared to several other tires here and came in at the bottom on the skid test (although 0.79 really isn't too bad for a non-performance tire) but I don't know how the MXV4s compare under those same conditions.

I found a separate study which puts the MXV4s at 0.85g but take with a grain of salt since this was not a side-by-side test and road conditions can impact the result. However, they do have a common tire we can cross-reference with - the Yokohama Avid Ascend.

Car and Driver:
Ecopia : 0.79
MXV4s : ????
Avid Ascend: 0.82g
Tirerack:
Ecopia: ????
MXV4s : 0.85
AVid Ascend : 0.86

So one can estimate that the MXV4s score ~ 2-3 points higher than the Ecopias.

 

[myleaf]

I replaced with MXV4s. They seem durable and quiet, but I seem to have taken a hit on range. Upon switching I noticed going from 4.4KWh/mile to 4.1 KWh/ mile. Although this is not based on a very controlled experiement, this is what I believe is accurate.

Seems to be par for the course. How many miles do you have on them? Anyone also notice any shoulder wear on the MXV4s? The MXV4s are longer wearing, but because of the LEAFs suspension it will only be a matter of time before they start wearing on the shoulders, too.

Now keep in mind that not all MXV4s are the same - they are available in an "Energy S8" version, "Primacy" version and both are available in both H and V speed ratings. The "Energy S8" version has a lower tread wear rating than the Primacy and the V rated tires will likely handle a bit better than the H rated tires. My previous experience with the MVX4 was with the Primacy H-rated version - not impressed. I imagine that the "Energy S8" V rated version would be better unless your primary concern is tread wear.

I have about 2k miles on them. They are Primacy MXV4s 91H from Costco. I have not observed any wear on the outer edges of the tread. They are inflated to 40psi which seemed to help reduce edge wear on the Ecopias (but I know these are a different animal).

 

[TickTock]

I switched to MXV4s and here are some of my thoughts.

The original Ecopias lasted about 22K for me. They seemed to be wearing quite rapidly on the edges of the tire until someone suggested I inflate to 40 psi (I use to inflate to 36). I experienced no damage from hitting pot holes or curbs.

I replaced with MXV4s. They seem durable and quiet, but I seem to have taken a hit on range. Upon switching I noticed going from 4.4KWh/mile to 4.1 KWh/ mile. Although this is not based on a very controlled experiement, this is what I believe is accurate.

The range should improve, once the tires start to break in. Atleast, that's what I've been reading from other members.

I read that, too, but haven't experienced it yet 8000 miles later.

 

[DaveEV]

TireRack comparing the EP422 91H version (not OEM on the LEAF) to Continental ProContact w/EcoPlus, GoodYear FuelMax, Yokohama AVID TRZ

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=155" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EVDRIVER]

Mine wore really fast. The MXVs are far superior in every regard and the traction is far better and I don't feel like they are going to fail on me. They are very efficient but I bet if they made them even more frail they would be more efficient until they blow apart.

 

[TomT]

Our Acura MDX came with Michelins on it and they lasted 60,000 miles before I finally replaced them due to age (8 years old)...
The Ecopias are easily the worst OEM tire I have ever had on a new vehicle!

I've never had a tire that lasted <20k miles (let alone on a NEW car)