Some comments on Doral Tires mentioned above. I bought a used 2015 SV with 22K miles. The backs had Bridgestone Ecopia's and fronts had Doral SDL 55A's. The Doral's look nice. I have since read and seen video Doral reviews, not specifically from EV owners. They get pretty good marks or comments for low road noise and longevity. The price is right, about half of the most discounted deal on Ecopia's you could find.
What is the efficiency? I don't have enough data to judge their relative efficiency. Well I was getting about 4.0 when I first got it, driving like I stole it. Now that I have slowed down, do a little more surface street vs. freeway, I'm getting about 4.3 to 4.8 from charge to charge. I recently went 72 miles (two 36 mile round trip) and had 13 remaining. Half of the driving was at night with lights and heater. No world record, just not bad or par for course. My point is my tire combo does not seem to hurt me.
I don't like having a mix set Bridgestone/Doral. The front tires were replaced with the Doral's before I bought it, so they have a bit more tread than the rear Ecopia's (which are not bad). So if I want a matched set I'd have to get two Doral and sell the Ecopia or get two Ecopia and sell the Doral's. However the Doral's on it now are almost new.
Looking at "off brand tires", I see others like "Milestar". Again I make no recommendation, just that Doral's I have look good and get good marks from owners for a budget priced tires. I believe they are made in China? Of course some will say China tires are made by the devil. However that is from people at tire stores selling name brand tires or who never owned one. The fact is some of the factory's in China have partnerships to make name brand tires to sell in that part of the world. They are also owned by bigger tire companies of more well known brands outside North America....
However per the other threads the usual suspects are:
Bridgestone Ecopia
Michelin Defenders
Michelin Energy Saver A/S
Used old worn tires get better mileage? Why:
- They are lighter, less tread, less weight
They have less traction, thus lower rolling resistance (but also less traction, which could be less safe in wet weather)
Diameter of worn tire is smaller, so you show higher speed/miles traveled. "Apparent" mileage isn't real mileage of course.*
*Circumference of 205/55R16 tire is 78.1". Full tread depth 11/32. Worn is 2/32 tread.
Difference in Dia. from new to worn is 18/32 or 9/16 = 0.5625". Change in circumference (78.1/76.3 = 1.024 or 2.4%.
That means 85 mile range is really 83 miles. No big deal, but if you go from worn to new and disappointed by your range,
in part it's a measurement error of about 2.5% for this size tire.