new Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 PLUS

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wazzup360

Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
6
I just came back from Costco where I ask to get my tires replaced with the same Ecopia EP422.
The tires are marked Ecopia EP422 PLUS with a 680 treadwear rating so not the same as what was on the car.

Are those PLUS tires the new replacement for the original EP422?
I can't find any information. They are not even listed on Brigestone web site.
All I've seen is that they comes as OEMs on new Mazda 3.

With 66k Miles I need all the help I can get with range and I now wonder how those new tires compare to the old ones.
Does anybody have information about them?

Thanks
 
I think I also have the plus tires. You will see a range hit with any new tires because worn tires have lower rolling resistance than new tires of the same model. But as far as I could tell there aren't any tires that are lower rolling resistance than the Ecopia 422s, so for those of us who want maximum range that seems to be the way to go.

I assume that you know that Nissan's recommended 36 psi is much too low; best to run your tires at 40-44 psi (cold). I generally keep mine at 40-42. The ride will be harder but the tires should wear more evenly, in addition to having reduced rolling resistance.

For those of us who care: the Ecopias are quite good in snow for non snow tires. Until the tread gets worn down quite a bit.
 
The LEAF is known to be bad about wearing the outside edge of the front tires.
Higher pressure helps reduce this.

But some of it may have to do with Nissan specification for the front tire camber.
I got the following suggestion from someone else on MNL. I have not done this yet, but plan to when I replace the tires which are marginal at 24,800 miles.

The trick with camber is to adjust it at -1.0 (negative one). Spec is +0.3 till -1.2 deg. Usually they set it in the middle around -0.4. Setting -1.0 instead of -0.4 stopped wearing the outer edge on my car. Do it on the front wheel(s) where it wears the outer edge.
Click to expand...
 
I'm sorry, wazzup360, but I do not have any answers to your questions. But your post did raise a few questions in my mind:
wazzup360 said:
I just came back from Costco where I ask to get my tires replaced with the same Ecopia EP422.
Click to expand...
Could you please tell us the price? The last time I priced the Ecopia's for the LEAF at Costco they were running $107.99 (plus M&B and whatever else). It was, by about $10, the cheapest tire they had for the LEAF.
wazzup360 said:
The tires are marked Ecopia EP422 PLUS with a 680 treadwear rating so not the same as what was on the car.
Click to expand...
This caused me to go out and look at the tires on our 2011 to see what the treadwear rating was. I couldn't find anything about the treadwear on the tires. Does anyone know if 680 is better, worse or the same as the OEM versions?
wazzup360 said:
With 66k Miles I need all the help I can get with range and I now wonder how those new tires compare to the old ones.
Click to expand...
Can you tell me if this is your first tire replacement on your LEAF? If so that is not too bad! Our LEAF is just below 25,000 miles and the tread still looks good, although I can see a bit of wear on the outer edges.(OTOH, I just rotated the Michelin X-Radials on our 2013 HCH for the first time after 45,000 miles and 6.5 years and I am convinced we will easily get another 45,000 to 60,000 miles out of them. But these tires came with an 80,000-mile treadwear warranty. Simply amazing! And, yes, we still get the same fuel economy from the car that we got when it was brand new.)

As others have mentioned, expect to get a bit worse fuel economy from the car for a while after you get the new Ecopias until some of the tread wears off.
 
Without aftermarket parts, the camber is essentially fixed and not very adjustable.

Front: http://www.protuninglab.com/11-12-nissan-leaf-front-camber-bolt-kit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rear: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/shop_parts/camber_and_alignment_kit/nissan/leaf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DNAinaGoodWay said:
What do you mean, "not normally adjustable"?
Click to expand...
 
RegGuheert said:
I'm sorry, wazzup360, but I do not have any answers to your questions. But your post did raise a few questions in my mind:
wazzup360 said:
I just came back from Costco where I ask to get my tires replaced with the same Ecopia EP422.
Click to expand...
Could you please tell us the price? The last time I priced the Ecopia's for the LEAF at Costco they were running $107.99 (plus M&B and whatever else). It was, by about $10, the cheapest tire they had for the LEAF.
wazzup360 said:
The tires are marked Ecopia EP422 PLUS with a 680 treadwear rating so not the same as what was on the car.
Click to expand...
This caused me to go out and look at the tires on our 2011 to see what the treadwear rating was. I couldn't find anything about the treadwear on the tires. Does anyone know if 680 is better, worse or the same as the OEM versions?
wazzup360 said:
With 66k Miles I need all the help I can get with range and I now wonder how those new tires compare to the old ones.
Click to expand...
Can you tell me if this is your first tire replacement on your LEAF? If so that is not too bad! Our LEAF is just below 25,000 miles and the tread still looks good, although I can see a bit of wear on the outer edges.(OTOH, I just rotated the Michelin X-Radials on our 2013 HCH for the first time after 45,000 miles and 6.5 years and I am convinced we will easily get another 45,000 to 60,000 miles out of them. But these tires came with an 80,000-mile treadwear warranty. Simply amazing! And, yes, we still get the same fuel economy from the car that we got when it was brand new.)

As others have mentioned, expect to get a bit worse fuel economy from the car for a while after you get the new Ecopias until some of the tread wears off.
Click to expand...

It was my first set. I kept them inflated at 42PSI.
The Costco price for a tire was $113. With the current $70 rebate, I paid $95.5 each
Total out of the door in California was $492.28

Treadwear is 640. I don't know why I saw 680 yesterday
The OEMs I had on the car were 400 and the replacement I was expecting to get are rated 480.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Ecopia+EP422&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=055HR6EP422V2&tab=Sizes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
TimLee said:
But some of may have to do with Nissan specification for the front tire camber. I got the following suggestion from someone else on MNL. I have not done this yet, but plan to when I replace the tires which are marginal at 24,800 miles.
The trick with camber is to adjust it at -1.0 (negative one). Spec is +0.3 till -1.2 deg. Usually they set it in the middle around -0.4. Setting -1.0 instead of -0.4 stopped wearing the outer edge on my car. Do it on the front wheel(s) where it wears the outer edge.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
This is a good idea - it won't solve the issue completely but I dialed in about -1* on my car and at least in combination with ~40 PSI my replacement tires are not showing any abnormal shoulder wear despite my commute having some windy roads now.

TomT said:
Without aftermarket parts, the camber is fixed and not adjustable.
Click to expand...
You can certainly adjust camber without aftermarket plates, you just need to be a bit more creative and of course, you don't have as much adjustment range. There is plenty of slop in the top-hat bolts and main strut bolts to move things around at least 0.5* or so without trying hard. I did it myself in my garage.
 
TomT said:
Without aftermarket parts, the camber is fixed and not adjustable.
Click to expand...
You can certainly adjust camber without aftermarket plates, you just need to be a bit more creative and of course, you don't have as much adjustment range. There is plenty of slop in the top-hat bolts and main strut bolts to move things around at least 0.5* or so without trying hard. I did it myself in my garage.[/quote]If you can put together a set of instructions with pics, or a video, that would be greatly appreciated.
 
garsh said:
If you can put together a set of instructions with pics, or a video, that would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
It's pretty easy:

  • Jack up one of the front wheels of the car.
  • Remove the front wheel.
  • Loosen up the 3 top-hat bolts, but don't remove them. You can get to them with the right wobble socket without having to take off the windshield cowel.
  • At this point you should be able to wiggle around the top of the strut. Hold the top of the strut inward and re-tighten the top-hat bolts. This should get you a bit of negative camber.
  • Loosen up the two big strut bolts holding the strut to the front hub, but don't remove them.
  • You will see that there is a bit of play here, too and if you push right you can get a bit more negative camber.
  • Using a floor jack can help hold things in place while you re-tighten the strut bolts.
  • Repeat on the other side.
  • Now check your camber and toe settings and tweak as necessary. Personally I didn't bother trying to get the camber all that accurate, but I did buy some nice Longacre toe measuring tools to make sure I got the toe set well since incorrect toe settings will eat up tires and hurt efficiency.
 
You could certainly do that but it is probably easier and better to just spend the 32 bucks for the pair of adjustable camber bolts... Unless you are racing in a class that prohibits them, of course! ;)

drees said:
You can certainly adjust camber without aftermarket plates, you just need to be a bit more creative and of course, you don't have as much adjustment range. There is plenty of slop in the top-hat bolts and main strut bolts to move things around at least 0.5* or so without trying hard. I did it myself in my garage.
Click to expand...
 
What about caster? Isn't it caster first, then camber, then toe?

And remember to weight the drivers seat with enough sandbags to equal the weight of the usual driver or it could pull.
 
wazzup360 said:
Are those EP422 Plus tires the new replacement for the original EP422?
I can't find any information. They are not even listed on Brigestone web site.
Click to expand...
That appears to be the case.
The EP422 Plus does now show up on the Bridgestone site.
They have a 70,000 mile warranty.
Was hard to find warranty details.

Tire Rack still has EP422, but they are on closeout, so likely EP422 Plus is better and replaces them.
The 2011 LEAF 205/55-16 size is same tread depth of 10 mm as original EP422, but tire weight is listed at 19 #, EP422 was listed as 18 #.

They may have changed the compund to improve the tread life from 400 to 640.
 

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