Clarity can handle corners!

David in TN

David in TN

Well-Known Member
I will need to clarify (pun intended.)

Before my 2018 Clarity, I had a 2017 Civic Si. Awesome car. Cornered like it was on rails. Ran great and strong. Averaged 37+ mpg. However, at that time I was doing tons of stop-and-go driving in city traffic and manual tranny got to be old - for this old guy.

Traded it for the Clarity.

Now, a while back I picked up a set of wheels off of a Nissan Maxima. They came with the same tires (Goodyear Eagle's) that were on the Civic Si. The difference in cornering capability is awesome! I can easily take a given corner 10+ mph faster than I could with the stock tires. When I say this, I mean the original tires would be squealing, where the Eagles just grab the road and don't squeal at all at a faster speed.

It seems that the Clarity is just under-tired (if that's a useful phrase?) and that it has a really good suspension under it. Having the other tires makes all the difference in the world for handling country roads.

These also seem to be a different compound that wear as long, if not longer than the Michelin's that are OEM.

When I get new tires... I know what I will be getting! More Goodyear Eagles!

YMMV!
 
David in TN said:
YMMV!
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I have a 110-mile-range MINI Electric for cornering and a Clarity for distance. I agree the Clarity's OEM tires don't do justice to its suspension. If cornering is the priority, range really doesn't matter, but have you noticed a difference in range?
 
insightman said:
I have a 110-mile-range MINI Electric for cornering and a Clarity for distance. I agree the Clarity's OEM tires don't do justice to its suspension. If cornering is the priority, range really doesn't matter, but have you noticed a difference in range?
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That would be my concern too. I am more interested in fuel economy than being able to take a corner at high speed. So far, I’m pretty content with its cornering ability with the OEM tires.
 
PHEVDave said:
That would be my concern too. I am more interested in fuel economy than being able to take a corner at high speed. So far, I’m pretty content with its cornering ability with the OEM tires.
Click to expand...
I don't believe anyone on this forum has reported finding tires that enable the Clarity PHEV to exceed the range it gets with the OEM tires. It would be nice if there were such tires and even nicer if those better-range tires offered more cornering power, but I doubt that combination is possible. Because my priority for our Clarity is distance, I'll be sticking with the OEM tires when it's time for a new set. When my driving occasionally gets a bit spirited and I hear a squeal, it reminds me I'm hastening the day that a new set of tires will be required.
 
PHEVDave said:
That would be my concern too. I am more interested in fuel economy than being able to take a corner at high speed. So far, I’m pretty content with its cornering ability with the OEM tires.
Click to expand...
I don't believe anyone on this forum has reported finding tires that enable the Clarity PHEV to exceed the range it gets with the OEM tires. It would be nice if there were such tires and even nicer if those better-range tires offered more cornering power, but I doubt that combination is possible. Because my priority for our Clarity is distance, I'll be sticking with the OEM tires when it's time for a new set. When my driving occasionally gets a bit spirited and I hear a squeal, it reminds me I'm hastening the day that I'll have to pony up the bucks for a new set.
 
Clarity's have independent multilink setup on the rear, while civics are equipped with a torsion beam
 
It is difficult to tell about range, since temps have generally been "cooler" than average. Been having high temps in the 60s. I'm showing 43 miles on the GOM. However, this week, temps should be in the 70s-80s, so I'm hoping to see more range on the GOM. I also doing some Courier driving on the side, and may run 200-300 miles a day. The time is split between interstate, city, and country roads. Last year, in July, I was near 60 miles on the GOM. We'll see how it goes. I still have the OWM's with about 50% tread wear on them.
 
Clarity has nice steering and corners well as long as weight transfer is gradual. If you need left-right maneuvers like mouse test it get all kind of out of shape due to tires not having enough grip. But I also feel with stickier tires it will do much better.
 
insightman said:
I don't believe anyone on this forum has reported finding tires that enable the Clarity PHEV to exceed the range it gets with the OEM tires. It would be nice if there were such tires and even nicer if those better-range tires offered more cornering power, but I doubt that combination is possible. Because my priority for our Clarity is distance, I'll be sticking with the OEM tires when it's time for a new set. When my driving occasionally gets a bit spirited and I hear a squeal, it reminds me I'm hastening the day that a new set of tires will be required.
Click to expand...
I've written in another thread about my experiences with the Michelin Crossclimate+. I mostly got them because the OEM tires are really awful on snow. In my experience and that of another poster, we haven't noticed any significant reduction in range or mpg, maybe a smidge. I believe the OEM tires are the most energy efficient out there and hence their high price. For that efficiency, there are major compromises in performance. The CC+ (less expensive than OEM) is vastly superior in every other way. It really transformed how the Clarity drives. Like the OP, I didn't know the Clarity could handle and stop as well it does until I replaced the OEM tires. It also performed better in heavy snow than my AWD Outback (with regular all season tires). So much so that I'm installing Crossclimates on it tomorrow. BTW, the CC+ is the top rated high performance tire on Consumer Reports. It has a higher load and speed rating than the OEM tires too.
 
Agzand said:
Clarity has nice steering and corners well as long as weight transfer is gradual. If you need left-right maneuvers like mouse test it get all kind of out of shape due to tires not having enough grip. But I also feel with stickier tires it will do much better.
Click to expand...

When I see this: " If you need left-right maneuvers like mouse test "
What is the mouse test?

Dan
 
insightman said:
I have a 110-mile-range MINI Electric for cornering and a Clarity for distance. I agree the Clarity's OEM tires don't do justice to its suspension. If cornering is the priority, range really doesn't matter, but have you noticed a difference in range?
Click to expand...
Previously had a mini and also have a model 3-- both of those corner very very well and set way too high of an expectation for my clarity. :-) It does fine, but in comparison...
 
Here's an update on gas mileage for the tires:
Goodyear Eagles: 48.03 (11 tanks of gas)
Stock Michelins: 53.40 (9 tanks of gas)

This is since May 5th. (yes, I started a new courier job and am filling up almost daily now.) Most of my driving is below 75 mph on interstate, or backroads at 55 mph or greater. I'm covering, on average, 375 miles a day.

So - the bottom line is -- do you prefer gas mileage or better handling?
 
David in TN said:
So - the bottom line is -- do you prefer gas mileage or better handling?
Click to expand...
I doubt that you can buy a better-handling PHEV than the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid. I kept the high-efficiency OEM tires because our Clarity is for long-distance drives. Because I place a very high value on handling I bought the most nimble BEV for the fun drives (for which its very limited range doesn't pose a problem).
 
One of my hobbies is waving flags at racecars. If you're in Seattle area, plan on going to Pacific Raceways 4th of July weekend for the NW Historics, biggest vintage event in the West.

Going to my station usually involves driving the track. While the Clarity doesn't match up with what I used to drive (see photo) and I'm still finding the limits on the stock tires, I'm impressed with the cornering ability.
FB_IMG_1617114116039.webp


Gene 2020 Honda Clarity
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Inside EVs mobile app
 
Now I'm wondering...

I have both a ScanGauge II and an Autel. Does anyone know of a way that I can measure lateral acceleration (g-force) with either device. It would be an interesting comparison.

Yes, I know it has to calculated going both directions, with a defined diameter circle. :-)
 
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