Energy Saving Tires

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aaron
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Aaron said:
Time for new tires! Are energy saving tires worth the extra cost? Do they wear out quicker than not energy savers? $800 dollars for tires just seems a bit insane to me. I have a truck and I don't spend that much!
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As many vehicles go to run-flat tires you will see prices north of $1K. Obviously you don't run truck tires on your truck, LT tires are pushing $1K a set. My EV running run-flat tires is $1200 for tires and my 20O4 F-150 using LT not P tires is also about $1200 (almost half the resale value of the truck).
 
nrkmann said:
20O4 F-150 using LT not P tires is also about $1200 (almost half the resale value of the truck).
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I just had new LT265/70R-16E’s from BF Goodrich installed on a 3/4-ton for less than $800. That included mounting, balancing and disposal fees. The tires were in the $170/ea range. Even the pricier Michelin tires were only $200/ea.

What tires did you have installed on the 1/2-ton?
What shop charged those prices?
 
PHEV Newbie said:
I've ordered Crossclimate+ as well. Coincidentally, I have 27K miles on my 2018 (delivered 12/17) Clarity and the OEM tires have become downright dangerous in light snow (the treads still look pretty good so age probably contributes). I almost crashed going slowly around a corner. It's gotten pretty bad on wet pavement too. Until I get the new tires installed, I only drive the Clarity on dry roads. When the car was new, I was impressed with snow handling so beware if your tires are getting to 3 years old. The Crossclimate2 is not currently available in Clarity's size but don't worry that you're getting an obsolete tire with the Crossclimate+. The below video explains the difference (probably accurate because Michelin supplied his tires). The Crossclimate+ was designed for the needs of European drivers while the CC2 was designed for the US market. The CC+ has better handling and braking in dry and wet conditions (according the Tirerack tests) while the CC2 should be better in the snow and last longer (according to Michelin). For folks here, the CC+ should also provide better fuel efficiency/range than the CC2 (again a greater priority for European drivers). The major plus for us is that the CC+ will provide superior performance to OEM on all aspects except range.
BTW, the CC+ also has a higher load rating (important for a heavy car like the Clarity), temperature rating (A vs OEM's B), and speed rating (Y vs OEM's V) compared to the Energy Savers.

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Update: I've had the CC+ on my Clarity for the last few days and driven about 200 miles on them, city and highway. I agree with all the points made by jpklk96 and have a few additional impressions. First, compared to the 3 year old Energy Savers, the car is transformed. Handling and grip are far better as expected but the one thing that shocked me is how much quieter and comfortable the CC+ are. The most dramatic difference is on broken pavement. The OEM tires were loud and harsh going over them while the CC+ soaks up the shocks beautifully. On center feel is also improved, which was unexpected given the tread pattern. There's been a bit of range loss but it's about 20 degrees colder since I got the new tires so that might account for the difference. I haven't driven on snow yet but these tires have the 3 peak snow rating so they should be great (the main reason I chose them). I regret not switching them out sooner!
 
Landshark said:
I’ve driven in both, among other states, in both wet and dry conditions. Sometimes it varies from one day to the next.

I also don’t tailgate, so the shortest stopping distance offered by a particular tire isn’t a top concern when tire shopping.
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Except when someone does something unexpected. I lived in the NYC area most of my life. If you live in an area where you think stopping distances don’t matter, or think YOU get to control stopping distances, god bless you...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Recoil45 said:
If you live in an area where you think stopping distances don’t matter, or think YOU get to control stopping distances, god bless you...
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Why would you think that I think either of those things? Show me a chart of stopping distances for various tires that were tested on a Clarity and I’ll show you a chart that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.

I follow other vehicles at a safe distance. I pay attention when I drive. I understand how stopping distance increases as speed increases. If a deer jumps in front of my car, within a distance that is too short to stop the car, no super sticky street racing tires are going to help.

I’m not particularly interested in obsessing over finding the tire that provides the shortest stopping distance. If I were that concerned about not being able to stop my car before hitting another object, I’d probably quit driving.
 
Recoil45 said:
Except when someone does something unexpected. I lived in the NYC area most of my life. If you live in an area where you think stopping distances don’t matter, or think YOU get to control stopping distances, god bless you...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Is that New York City where traffic usually crawls and you rarely drive more than 30 mph?
 
Landshark said:
Why would you think that I think either of those things? Show me a chart of stopping distances for various tires that were tested on a Clarity and I’ll show you a chart that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.

I follow other vehicles at a safe distance. I pay attention when I drive. I understand how stopping distance increases as speed increases. If a deer jumps in front of my car, within a distance that is too short to stop the car, no super sticky street racing tires are going to help.

I’m not particularly interested in obsessing over finding the tire that provides the shortest stopping distance. If I were that concerned about not being able to stop my car before hitting another object, I’d probably quit driving.
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I agree. Stopping distance is one of those statistics that doesn’t really mean that much. There are so many variables...
 
PHEV Newbie said:
Update: I've had the CC+ on my Clarity for the last few days and driven about 200 miles on them, city and highway. I agree with all the points made by jpklk96 and have a few additional impressions. First, compared to the 3 year old Energy Savers, the car is transformed. Handling and grip are far better as expected but the one thing that shocked me is how much quieter and comfortable the CC+ are. The most dramatic difference is on broken pavement. The OEM tires were loud and harsh going over them while the CC+ soaks up the shocks beautifully. On center feel is also improved, which was unexpected given the tread pattern. There's been a bit of range loss but it's about 20 degrees colder since I got the new tires so that might account for the difference. I haven't driven on snow yet but these tires have the 3 peak snow rating so they should be great (the main reason I chose them). I regret not switching them out sooner!
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PHEV Newbie - Glad you are enjoying the CrossClimate+! Just completed my first rotation (front-back) Friday night with approx 7,500 miles driven and still just as happy with these tires as when I had them installed. They remain extremely smooth-riding and quiet, and I still feel there are significant handling/ride benefits without a significant mileage penalty. For comparison, I test drove a NEW RAV4 Prime XSE two weeks ago, and while the acceleration and feature content is much improved, I still find the Clarity rides better (18" tire versus 19" tires) and is quieter. My lease comes up in June and still weighing my options...really do enjoy this car!
 
PHEV Newbie said:
Update: I've had the CC+ on my Clarity for the last few days and driven about 200 miles on them, city and highway. I agree with all the points made by jpklk96 and have a few additional impressions. First, compared to the 3 year old Energy Savers, the car is transformed. !
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This is very positive info re the Cross Climates. Anyone have similar positives to say about a tire for non-snow locations? Or are the Cross Climates so good they make sense in non snow places?
 
David Towle said:
This is very positive info re the Cross Climates. Anyone have similar positives to say about a tire for non-snow locations? Or are the Cross Climates so good they make sense in non snow places?
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The Cross Climate Plus only has a 40k mile warranty. For that reason alone I wouldn't bother with them unless you were okay with that and really needed the winter traction. I live in a very snowy place and I probably will buy a tire that will last longer (or at least have a better warranty) even though it will probably sacrifice some snow and ice traction.
 
David Towle said:
This is very positive info re the Cross Climates. Anyone have similar positives to say about a tire for non-snow locations? Or are the Cross Climates so good they make sense in non snow places?
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If you don't experience snow, I'd go with something else. If an all season performance tire is what you're looking for, consider the new Michelin Pilot All Season 4. It's a significant improvement over the highly rated Pilot AS3+. Michelin claims better snow and wet handling/braking and a quieter ride than the AS3+ it replaces. Outside of snow, its performance is superior in all aspects to the CC+. I would have chosen those but we do get snow here, sometimes a lot (like today!).

Snow update on the CC+. We had nearly a foot of snow overnight. I drove this morning on unplowed and plowed/snowed over roads and the Clarity outperformed my Subaru Outback outfitted with Michelin Premier A/S tires (not rated highly for snow), especially when braking. The traction control light came on a bunch of times as I navigated turns on deep, uneven snow but I was always in control. No problem going up and down hills that gave some AWD vehicles difficulties. Not surprising since few drivers bother to switch to snow tires. Some SUVs actually have summer tires and some owners just leave them on in the winter. Just goes to show that FWD with snow rated tires outperform AWD vehicles with regular A/S tires. I strongly recommend the CC+ for the Clarity.
 
I read that Michelin will add up to 25 additional tire sizes to the CrossClimate 2 which is an update to the CC+ Same tire just updated rubber compound. Perhaps it too will come in a size suitable for the Clarity.
 
PHEV Newbie said:
If you don't experience snow, I'd go with something else. If an all season performance tire is what you're looking for, consider the new Michelin Pilot All Season 4. It's a significant improvement over the highly rated Pilot AS3+. Michelin claims better snow and wet handling/braking and a quieter ride than the AS3+ it replaces. Outside of snow, its performance is superior in all aspects to the CC+. I would have chosen those but we do get snow here, sometimes a lot (like today!).

Snow update on the CC+. We had nearly a foot of snow overnight. I drove this morning on unplowed and plowed/snowed over roads and the Clarity outperformed my Subaru Outback outfitted with Michelin Premier A/S tires (not rated highly for snow), especially when braking. The traction control light came on a bunch of times as I navigated turns on deep, uneven snow but I was always in control. No problem going up and down hills that gave some AWD vehicles difficulties. Not surprising since few drivers bother to switch to snow tires. Some SUVs actually have summer tires and some owners just leave them on in the winter. Just goes to show that FWD with snow rated tires outperform AWD vehicles with regular A/S tires. I strongly recommend the CC+ for the Clarity.
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This has been my experience driving in snow as well with the CC+! I like this tire so much, I now have it on three cars: My Clarity, a 2010 Honda Civic LX, and an '06 Acura TL - 6 Speed. I think another thing that helps the Clarity in snow is it's higher curb weight relative to other mid-size sedans. My biggest surprise after extended driving on the CC+ is that they seem to be a great compromise tire - relatively quiet, decent efficiency, and good handling/braking in multiple weather conditions. Yes - the 40K mileage warranty is not great but since my OEM Energy Savers only lasted 28k I was willing to give them a try. No regrets!
 
nrkmann said:
As many vehicles go to run-flat tires you will see prices north of $1K. Obviously you don't run truck tires on your truck, LT tires are pushing $1K a set. My EV running run-flat tires is $1200 for tires and my 20O4 F-150 using LT not P tires is also about $1200 (almost half the resale value of the truck).
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I'm not sure what this means? If you don't spend at least a grand on truck tires they aren't truck tires? How do you not put truck tires on your truck?
 
PHEV Newbie said:
If you don't experience snow, I'd go with something else. If an all season performance tire is what you're looking for, consider the new Michelin Pilot All Season 4. It's a significant improvement over the highly rated Pilot AS3+. Michelin claims better snow and wet handling/braking and a quieter ride than the AS3+ it replaces. Outside of snow, its performance is superior in all aspects to the CC+. I would have chosen those but we do get snow here, sometimes a lot (like today!).

Snow update on the CC+. We had nearly a foot of snow overnight. I drove this morning on unplowed and plowed/snowed over roads and the Clarity outperformed my Subaru Outback outfitted with Michelin Premier A/S tires (not rated highly for snow), especially when braking. The traction control light came on a bunch of times as I navigated turns on deep, uneven snow but I was always in control. No problem going up and down hills that gave some AWD vehicles difficulties. Not surprising since few drivers bother to switch to snow tires. Some SUVs actually have summer tires and some owners just leave them on in the winter. Just goes to show that FWD with snow rated tires outperform AWD vehicles with regular A/S tires. I strongly recommend the CC+ for the Clarity.
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Makes sense. AWD is mostly only going to help you accelerating anyway. Glad to hear though, I'll definitely upgrade the tires to higher all-weather performance once the OEMs wear.
 
Clarity_Newbie said:
I read that Michelin will add up to 25 additional tire sizes to the CrossClimate 2 which is an update to the CC+ Same tire just updated rubber compound. Perhaps it too will come in a size suitable for the Clarity.
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After my experience with the CC+ on my Clarity, I'm looking to install these on my Subaru too. Surprisingly, both the CC+ and the CC2 are currently available in the size for my Subaru. Just looking at the specs, the CC2 is not an improved tire over the CC+. As I wrote previously, Tire Rack has reviewed both versions and the CC+ outperforms the CC2 in dry and wet testing (snow and ice reviews coming). For my Outback's size, the CC+ has a load rating of 1929 lbs and V speed rating whereas the CC2 has a load rating of 1709 lbs and an H speed rating (CC+ for the Clarity has a Y speed rating). In short, CC2 is a lower performance version but provides longer life and is a bit less expensive. By comparison, the OEM tires have a load rating of only 1477 lbs and is more expensive than the CC+.
 
Crossclimate 2 is the latest generation of the crossclimate+ of the all season luxury touring tire line. The CC+ is the successor to the original CC...so now CC2 is the latest iteration.

There is also a CrossClimate ® SUV line which is separate. Plus I believe even another sub-CC line.

Nothing wrong with CC+. Nothing wrong with CC2. Michelin labels the CC2 as the latest generation.

Currently running CC2 on my Subaru and happened to be in the northeast the past week during snowmegaddon...they performed as advertised.

Folks should do their research and pick the tire they feel suits their need. Choice is a wonderful thing.

Have a great day.
 
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