Replacing a Single Ecopia With a New Tire?

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baumgrenze

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Messages
114
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Our 2012 just lost another tire to a hidden curb tonight (cracked sidewall.) The car just recently clocked 25,000 miles. Only recently did I move the rear tires to the front. This one is a OEM tire (EL 8K JBC4111) and the center treads measure 0.270" depth.

I'm ready to buy a replacement at Tire Rack, but have some concerns about driving the car with one front tire with 25,000 miles on it and the second brand new.

Is this a 'rational' concern?

Also, there are 3 Bridgestone Ecopia tires available in the list of tires suitable for use on a 2012 Leaf SL:
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 (H- or V-Speed Rated) $107.69
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus (H- or V-Speed Rated) $99.25
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus (H- or V-Speed Rated) $104.69

Which of these makes the most sense for us? I noticed that the 2nd and 3d on the list are 1 # lighter than the first, which is marked O.E. and 'Bestseller.'

The car is driven exclusively on the mid-San Francisco Peninsula, (Palo Alto) on dry roads in summer, wet roads in winter, no snow and/or ice. It is a 'retirement' car (no regular commute) so it sees lots of city street driving with perhaps 20-25% freeway driving at speed. The car is not driven 'aggressively.'
 
Just a suggestion, a quick search online found several used tires stores in your area, including this one:

Gonzalez Used & New Tires

You might get lucky and find a stock Ecopia at one of those, or at a local wrecker.
 
A used or cheap new tire probably makes sense - your OEM tires probably only have 10,000 miles left in them. I don't think I'd even bother trying to find an Ecopia. If you do get a new tire of any stripe, make sure it goes on the rear and keep it there (which basically means any future rotations of that tire can only be side to side).
 
Thank you both for the suggestions.

Perhaps I should have made these 2 points:

1) the OEM tires were first rotated, front to back, at ~23,000 miles, 2,000 miles since the rotation in October.

2) the tread-wear is 0.27 over 0.3125 or <15%

That leaves me more comfortable driving with a new tire and and the existing one. Am I missing something mechanical?
 
baumgrenze said:
Thank you both for the suggestions.

Perhaps I should have made these 2 points:

1) the OEM tires were first rotated, front to back, at ~23,000 miles, 2,000 miles since the rotation in October.

2) the tread-wear is 0.27 over 0.3125 or <15%

That leaves me more comfortable driving with a new tire and and the existing one. Am I missing something mechanical?
My local wall land had the leaf sized non plus ecopia on clearance for $50 each.

New is best if it's cheap, but as mentioned keep it on the rear, the other 3 tires can be rotated if they are very close in wear but that situation is unlikely.
 
baumgrenze said:
Our 2012 just lost another tire to a hidden curb tonight (cracked sidewall.) The car just recently clocked 25,000 miles. Only recently did I move the rear tires to the front. This one is a OEM tire (EL 8K JBC4111) and the center treads measure 0.270" depth.

I'm ready to buy a replacement at Tire Rack, but have some concerns about driving the car with one front tire with 25,000 miles on it and the second brand new.

Is this a 'rational' concern?

Also, there are 3 Bridgestone Ecopia tires available in the list of tires suitable for use on a 2012 Leaf SL:
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 (H- or V-Speed Rated) $107.69
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus (H- or V-Speed Rated) $99.25
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus (H- or V-Speed Rated) $104.69

Which of these makes the most sense for us? I noticed that the 2nd and 3d on the list are 1 # lighter than the first, which is marked O.E. and 'Bestseller.'

The car is driven exclusively on the mid-San Francisco Peninsula, (Palo Alto) on dry roads in summer, wet roads in winter, no snow and/or ice. It is a 'retirement' car (no regular commute) so it sees lots of city street driving with perhaps 20-25% freeway driving at speed. The car is not driven 'aggressively.'

My suggestion is to replace the pair of tires (both fronts or both backs) where the bad one is. Hold the one good tire as a spare, especially if you are going to install more Ecopias. If range is not an issue for you, I would shop for good quality tires, not LRR tires. I have four Westlake tires that were put on by the dealer I bought the car from. I don't know how they compare, quality-wise, to other tires (never checked) but I have had no issues with them in over two years.
 
Thank you to everyone for your supportive replies.

I looked carefully at my existing tires. It makes sense to get 2 new tires and mount them in front. That will leave me with 2 decent tires for the rear, one with about 36% remaining treadwear (10/32" new to 4/32" replacement time paradigm). the other with ~14%, and that will leave me with one 'leftover' tire with about 5% remaining treadwear. This could become a 'garage spare' that could be left at home and fetched in emergencies.

The way too many threads about tire rims, wheels, wheel covers (to look fancy) so that I am confused about which used rims to try to find. I have an early 2012 SL (December 2011 delivery.) What I want is a rim that will clear the front calipers like the OEM rims. If a used Altima or other rim will work, perhaps that might be easier to find. The information on the forum is confused because some of it is for donut spares, etc.

Maybe I should ask, what is the most economical exact match (not style but fit) for my OEM hub which reads

ENKEI

3NA2A
SP40

J DOT
NISSAN

NO92-665
16X61/2J 40

on the backside of the spokes, something one might use for snow tires perhaps?
 
I came across some reports that running a combination of old/new tires may lead to limited regen under braking due to differences in rotational speed and car computer killing regen apparently thinking the car is stating to lose traction.
 
http://www.roadkillcustoms.com/hot-rods-rat-rods/Wheel-Bolt-Pattern-Cross-Reference-Database.asp?LugCount=5&StudSpreadInch=&StudSpreadMM=114.3#axzz4fqdoJGTx

Go there and take the list of cars with 16" rims and 5x114.3 lugs to a local u pull it wrecker yard, if you don't care a set of $25 90's accura or Chrysler rims are about 90% likely to fit, 100% likely on the rear.

If you care about efficiency just stick with oem leaf rims, I don't know of any other rim that is proven to give any meaningful efficiency improvement. I do know many can reduce it.
 
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