tire recommendations

Has been brought up a few times, I'd suggest a search for the threads.

 

Over many vehicles and many miles, I have really liked Pirelli. Last year, I replaced the tires on my wife's 2017 CR-V with Pirelli tires and they are great. Much better than the original factory tires. I still have about 7,000 miles to go on my factory Michelins. When they are done, I will probably get the Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus II tires. That written, there are many good tires out there.

 

I’d ask “What do I get for the extra $25-50 per tire from Michelin, that I don’t get from Continental, Goodyear, Pirelli, Toyo, Yokohama or any number of other reputable manufacturers?

Then I’d head to Costco or one of a few local tire shops to see what specials they might be running on those brands. Whoever does the work, be sure to inform them of the resonators on the inside of the wheel and show them a photo so they know what their dealing with.

Michelin makes good tires. They just tend to be priced a bit higher than the others.

 

Just replaced with these bought from Tirerack: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Turanza+T005A&partnum=345WR8T005AOS&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Honda&autoYear=2018&autoModel=Clarity%20Plug-In%20Hybrid&autoModClar=Touring

Better grip than the Michelin and seems to be quieter based on my ears. Wife mentioned that these are smoother overall but maybe they're new. These do have rim protectors which is a plus compared to the Michelin's. Can't beat the price but you're buying 2018 mfg. tires. Bridgestone has come a long way but then again these do not have Michelin's name recognition and price.

 

I found these online and found the price to be almost too good to be true!



I can’t discern any real difference in grip on dry roads or noise over the stock tires. Never got any appreciable snow in E TN to try them out on.

I’ve been told on this forum they’re not great tires, especially regarding wear. They’re missing the “+” in All Season +. But at that price, so far so good.

 

The OEM Michelin tires are designed for low rolling resistance over all else and it delivers. That's why Honda installed them, to maximize the EPA rated EV range and HV mpg. The downside is that they are noisy, relatively poor performing tires. Other manufacturers like Toyota and Hyundai install skinny tires on their hybrid vehicles for better mpg coupled with cheap variants to maximize profits (like the Falkens on the new Sienna) on high production models. Oddly, Honda could have improved the range further by installing skinnier tires instead of the wide, low profile OEM tires. This sets up a situation where switching tires can transform the Clarity's performance in braking, wet and snow traction, noise, handling and grip. I recently installed Michelin CrossClimate plus and it has improved how the car performs dramatically, under all circumstances (it is the top rated among high performance all season tires by Consumer Reports). They are in the new "all-weather" class which have the three peak mountain snow rating for winter performance. I drove on unplowed, packed snow after a 16 inch snowstorm and I had less trouble than a lot of SUVs out that day. Now that the tires have broken in and the weather is warmer, I can report that my EV range is just as good as the OEM tires. If you want even better performance (but worse in snow), you can install ultra-high performance all season tires but you'll take a hit with EV range. BTW, the OEM tires are more expensive than the CC+ and most ultra high performance all season tires so it makes no sense to install them again.

 

@PHEV Newbie's reply coincides with my experience and findings after a lot of research on tires. This winter I bought Bridgestone Pure Contact all season tires at a modest cost ($700) with a major improvement on snow and ice. With Spring springing, my EV range is pretty comparable to last year with some loss, maybe less than 10%, but I'll know more when when the temperature hits 70-80 degrees.