So when it is time to change tires curious if anyone has thought of replacements
- Thread starter johncl
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Depends on your driving habits, will see how they hold up and decide then. Have 14k miles and they are at 6 to 7/32. At 7,400 miles they were 7/32. For safety, I usually replace at 3 or 4/32. I should get over 30k with these.
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
There have been a couple folks switch to Continental, BF Goodrich, and maybe other models of Michelin tires. Run some searches on here for those posts. No one has accumulated enough miles yet for a full assessment, except for winter tires, which I assume you’re not referring to in July!
When it comes time, I will definitely switch to a different Michelin tire, probably the Premier A/S. The Energy Saver is too loud and too hard for our extremely rough Michigan roads.
When it comes time, I will definitely switch to a different Michelin tire, probably the Premier A/S. The Energy Saver is too loud and too hard for our extremely rough Michigan roads.
I also would love to go the the Michelins but first I want to hear some real world EV range impact reports. I've seen estimates as high as 15% mentioned. That might be too harsh a penalty for me.
My biggest complaint is that the traction doesn't seem that great, but no doubt is still too early for most because there is not enough millage put on them yet
Robin
Member
PHEV Newbie
Well-Known Member
Low resistance tires are known to reduce grip for handling and stopping compared with regular A/S tires. Honda has tried to mitigate this by installing 18 inch, 45 low aspect ratio tires (the size commonly found on high performance luxury cars from German brands). Although these wider tires are better than those found on most hybrid vehicles, they are still Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires so installing regular A/S tires will help and installing high performance A/S tires will make a huge difference given Honda's excellent steering and suspension tuning of the Clarity. The major cost will be a reduction in EV range and HV mileage, which will vary depending on the tire chosen. You'll have to decide whether you're willing to give up fuel efficiency for improved handling and stopping (and reduced noise in some cases).
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vicw
Active Member
There has been much talk about how quiet our Claritys are. In general I am happy with the cabin noise level, as long as the pavement is smooth, but on rougher asphalt surfaces, tire noise and rumble seem quite a bit worse to me than they were on our old 2007 Odyssey. If there are other tires that might provide less tire noise and improve traction and handling, I would happily give up a little fuel efficiency.
rickyrsx
Active Member
We need someone who has made the switch to post their results!!
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
The Tire Rack includes testing for mpg differences in their routine tire tests. When they tested the Michelin Energy Saver A/S and compared it to the worst mpg tire they have tested in the passenger all-season category (a Goodyear), they found the Michelin to provide 7.38% better mpg. There are probably even worse tires than that Goodyear out there, but I'm going to make an educated assumption and figure worst case might be pretty close to 7% loss in mpg in a tire switch, as long as there nothing extreme involved. If the mpg differences translate to miles per charge differences, for me that might mean around 4 miles per charge less on different tires. That's well within a number I can live with to get the better performance (again from Tire Rack testing) of something like the Michelin Premier A/S.
ClarityDoc
Active Member
More important might be stopping distance. The Clarity does well in this measure (with supplied tires), in spite of its 2 ton heft. Will this be true with replacements? I'd want to see evidence of preserved/improved stopping distance before I'd care about fuel economy.
Klong
Member
I switched as soon as I picked up my Clarity to BF Goodrich Comp 2 summer tires. Stopping distance from 60-0 improved from 98.3' to 79.4' according to the Tire Rack comparisons. The car doesn't tend to plow into the corners anymore and handling is greatly improved. I lost about 4 miles of distance but considering my insurance deductible - well I am hoping collision mitigation will become collision avoidance.
PHEV Newbie
Well-Known Member
Green tires are known to give worse stopping distances over good quality normal A/S tires. That just goes with the territory to provide ultra-low rolling resistance. High performance A/S tires will improve your stopping distance even more (there are test results for this on Tirerack.com and others). Of course the Michelin Energy Savers are really good green tires so I'm sure you can find a low rated normal A/S that will do worse, so stick with highly rated tires and you'll improve performance over OEM. Do look at noise ratings though. I doubt you'll want to install extra noisy tires for a bit more performance.
PHEV Newbie
Well-Known Member
Thanks Klong, that's really useful information. It's fantastic that you only lost 4 miles of range with sticky summer tires. I would have thought the range penalty would have been worse. Can you comment on the noise?
Highland58
Member
It seems that my Continental Extreme Traction tires are about the same level of road noise also. On fresh asphalt they are almost silent compared to the wind noise, but on rougher concrete they are fairly noisy. I've never found a tire yet that is not somewhat noisy on old concrete.
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
Is it my imagination, or have tire prices been shooting up fast lately?