Goodyear Fuel Max Tires - Page 2 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

roosterk0031 · 02-06-2015, 04:27 PM

When I had a 03 Malibu I went to narrower tires, I think the 215's are too wide for best winter traction, mine were 15's instead of 16's. I was much happier with 205/65. If your looking at new tires for the Cruze, my opinion is still the same. The Impala only has 225s and is much heavier.

I recently put Nokian WRG3's on KT's Cobalt for their winter traction, all weather rating and LLR. A little pricey, but figure if I get 55,000 miles out of them combined with the LLR hopefully at even 1 mpg better they will at least pay for the premium they cost over all seasons. 1 mpg = 46 gallons(34 vs 35). I will probably get to refill it tonight so I see how she's doing and try them out on the small town snow packed and ice covered streets.

BrandonMods · 02-07-2015, 01:52 PM

I have never tried the NOKIAN name before, Ill look into those as well. Thanks.

roosterk0031 · 02-08-2015, 03:06 PM

Never heard of them either till a few years ago. Was wanting to replace the 14" rims on Stratus to 15" so it matched tire size with my other cars so watching Craigslist. Got a set of alloy rims and Nokian WRG2 for $200 that still had the nipps on them. Extremely happy with the traction and mileage, not sure how many miles they lasted as I finished the last 2 on my Cobalt. But I drove them alot on the Stratus and got some great MPG numbers (flawed somewhat cause I didn't account for difference in diameter). Happy enought I've bought 6 more (2 WRG2 for my Cobalt, have 2 snows) and 4 WRG3 for Kt's Cobalt.

BrandonMods · 02-08-2015, 06:22 PM

From what I was able to find on them online they look like they're asymmetric. For my size they would be V rated as well. The tread life warranty from manufacturer says they would be good for 55K. Have you gotten more out of them than that?

roosterk0031 · 02-10-2015, 01:03 PM

I think some of the WRG3 are directional, maybe the SUV or Van ones, I got the asymmetric so I could do normal rotation, they do have a inside/outside so have to pay attention to that when mounting them. Going to be better rotating them but will take 5+ years for KT to wear them out.

I'm sure I got at least 40k out of 2 of the G2s, 2 of them still have enough rubber for summer use. I'm really just saving them for the Stratus when I send it to the junk yard or next owner. If I didn't have 2-3 years worth of summer rubber in my garage for my Cobalt I'd try a pair of Defenders, can't imagine a tire lasting 90,000 miles.

BrandonMods · 02-14-2015, 08:28 PM

Defenders are nice but I had them for 50K at least on the Malibu when I used it for trade in value for the cruze. They still had 5/32 of tread on them as well.

roosterk0031 · 02-14-2015, 08:50 PM

Hard to see 2/32 making it 40,000 more miles. Read thru your Malibu history, I got my 03 with 11,000 miles for $9,995, dumped the GM antrfreeze shortly there after, went thru lots of front brake pads as the rotors would rust overnight, finally gave in and replaced the rotors. Had to replace both front wheel bearings as well. Somewhere around 200,000 had to replace the fuel pump and shortly later the idle control valve. Daughter drove off the road 3 miles from home at 265,000 and hit a box culvert sideways and rolled it several times. It was totals, she didn't get scratched.

Fuel history was here and did pretty good, but when retired that info was lost, would be nice if the site would have save it for others reference.

Was pricing tires for the Impala as as much as I'd like to have LLR great tires, at under $60 each I'll probably go Douglas Xtra II again. I have winter tires for it so summer only they'll be good enough.

user removed · 02-14-2015, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roosterk0031

Hard to see 2/32 making it 40,000 more miles. Read thru your Malibu history, I got my 03 with 11,000 miles for $9,995, dumped the GM antrfreeze shortly there after, went thru lots of front brake pads as the rotors would rust overnight, finally gave in and replaced the rotors. Had to replace both front wheel bearings as well. Somewhere around 200,000 had to replace the fuel pump and shortly later the idle control valve. Daughter drove off the road 3 miles from home at 265,000 and hit a box culvert sideways and rolled it several times. It was totals, she didn't get scratched.

Fuel history was here and did pretty good, but when retired that info was lost, would be nice if the site would have save it for others reference.

Was pricing tires for the Impala as as much as I'd like to have LLR great tires, at under $60 each I'll probably go Douglas Xtra II again. I have winter tires for it so summer only they'll be good enough.

I've retired close to 20 cars and bikes since joining this site and I can still see the fuel logs. Are mine visible to you?

regards
mech

BrandonMods · 02-14-2015, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roosterk0031

Hard to see 2/32 making it 40,000 more miles.

Where did I post 2/32?

roosterk0031 · 02-15-2015, 10:01 AM

If I search the garage for Fiesta's or Rangers I don't see yours. The 03 Malibu is the only one I've retired? maybe I did it wrong but I can't see it anywhere. Where do you see the retired ones?

I was thinking wear bars are at 3/32 so 5 - 3 = 2/32 useable rubber left but I could be wrong.