14" LRR tire size selection

[PaleMelanesian]

Defenders are good tires. Not GREAT for LRR, but at least good, and a great tire in other attributes - longevity, traction (wet and dry), noise, dynamics.

I had Defenders on my Civic when I retired it.

[samwichse]

Defenders cost me about 4mpg on my Civic Hybrid vs the B381's.

But the B381 treadlife is very bad, so...

[darcane]

Well, I pulled the trigger on the Defenders this morning. They seem to coast a little further even at the 35psi the tire shop set them at and without my moon discs.

A lot better traction than my old, worn tires. The biggest change: a remarkable reduction in noise. I didn't even realize how noisy my old tires were until I put these on.

I'm happy so far, but too early to see any improvement in mileage.

[Daox]

What were you running before the Defenders?

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Daox

What were you running before the Defenders?

I was afraid someone was going to ask...

When I bought the car it had two Goodyear Viva 2 tires up front, a Uniroyal Tiger Paw and a tire I didn't recognize the brand (Nexten or something like that) in the rear.

One of the rear wheels was bent and leaking air, so I found a pair of wheels with usable tires for dirt cheap. Those tires were slightly small (for the older Civics) Bridgestone Potenza 930i.

I put about 25k miles on that setup. Which is interesting since the reviews I read on the Viva 2 mentioned only getting 30k miles on the tires before they were done, and mine were more than half gone when I bought the car. I was getting to where it was getting dangerous to drive because of poor traction even though the tread was not worn down to the wear bars yet.

I was not impressed with those tires at all, but figured it would be wasteful to replace them too soon...

[Daox]

Haha, mix n match. I got that going on on the Prius right now. 2 Goodyear Integrities with 2 Uniroyal tiger paws on the back. The Metro is running bald tires on the front. I'll change them once the first snow flies. It'll be mix n match too then.

[darcane]

Well, I guess there is a difference between impressions and hard numbers....

While we've had a bit of a cold snap and brisk wind, it's not enough to account for my first full tank on the new tires being way down on mileage. Right now I'm at an average of about 36mpg. Yikes!

My most favorable conditions for fuel economy are in the morning on my way to work. If I reset the Ultragauge at my gas station and drive in, I can typically average 60-63mpg. For example:


This morning warmed up a little and had no wind and light traffic... and it was a struggle to get 52mpg.

I'm hoping this is just an issue of the tires needing to wear in a little, since my mileage was supposed to increase, not decrease.

[Baltothewolf]

Did you forget to put air in them? You mentioned the tire place putting them at 35psi..

[cowmeat]

I've got the Michelin Energy Savers all the way around on Turtle and they're at 60 psi all the way around.
They ride a little hard, but I'm getting pretty good gas mileage. They have at least a year worth of tread left, maybe more.

[Ecky]

I presently have three Michelin Energy Savers and one RE92, at 55 all around. I'd like to get RE92's for all four, but it's hard to sell three tires. I'll wait until they're all worn out.