145/65R15 ContiEcoContact EP vs. 165/65/14 Bridgestone Potenza RE92

[fusion210]

Originally Posted by BabyDiesel

Michelin Defenders are good tires, no doubt. However they are not offered in a thin enough size (175/65R14), they cost about $20 more apiece, and are quite a bit heavier.

Tire Rack reports the 175/65R14 M.D. weighs 18 lbs.
The 165/65R14 RE92's are 13 lbs.
The 145/65R15 EP's are 12 lbs.

I'm going to stick to the 2 mentioned in the title

Thank you for your opinion anyhow, Chrysler Kid!

FWIW I weighed brand new RE92s on a postage scale, they were 12lbs 7.5oz. I also used them on a first gen dodge neon with some weight reduction, I barely got 30k miles out of them. I'm not sure what the insights usually get and they did make the car roll really easily, but that's not a good value.

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by BabyDiesel

Hmm. You do make me wonder about these newer tires. There might be another tire out there that is better than the Bridgestones.

I have a set of EcoContacts waiting to go on UFI, I'm told to expect around 8mpg vs the stock Conti's (by non-hypermilers). I'm hoping for 10mpg which would get me to 60mpg

[Joggernot]

EcoContacts - am I missing something? This is what I find online. Product no longer available.

[CapriRacer]

I did a quick look and the 145/65R15's are 72 Load Index and the 165/65R14's are 79 Load Index.

Wrong direction!! That's 180# per tire less load carrying capacity. Not only is that a safety issue, but it is also the wrong direction for fuel economy.

[Chrysler kid]

Originally Posted by BabyDiesel

ZX2's are bad for having an idle shake. It is usually a combo of the knock sensor and slack in the timing belt.

I would think I would see a greater benefit running narrower tires all around. Here is my logic - When starting out, there is less rotational mass to get up to speed, reducing fuel consumption. At speed, the narrower tire would have less of an aero penalty, helping fuel economy even more. Correct me if I am wrong!

If it affects my coasting any, I'll simply add more and better aero mods to raise my coasting distance back up

And the biggest reason we do not run spare tires is they are high RRC bias ply tires (usually). They simply kill coasting, MetroMPG did a write-up on their coastdown distance... not pretty.



Thanks Balto! I have thought this about the RE92's since I got on Ecomodder by the number of peeps running them. I might need to stick with what is tried and true...



I had not thought about running the tire's placement backwards, 2000mc

I may have flubbed a bit on my own cars weight I really should weigh this thing since I have done weight reduction. I'm soon to be removing the p/s and a/c and installing an underdrive crank pulley soon, so I will weigh it after that.

The weight distribution cuts it close, a lot closer than I realized.

The craziest thing was that if you sat in the car with both doors open the vibration would completely go away. Had the car been a manual transmission I would have kept it, really loved the moon roof but the interior wasn't holding up very well towards the end. Everything plastic was starting to crack around the bezel and handles.

I really wouldn't mind the S/C model in red or yellow, fun little cars with performance suspension

[BabyDiesel]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

I did a quick look and the 145/65R15's are 72 Load Index and the 165/65R14's are 79 Load Index.

Wrong direction!! That's 180# per tire less load carrying capacity. Not only is that a safety issue, but it is also the wrong direction for fuel economy.

Ah yes, I do remember reading your post in the past about how load rating is important to fuel economy and safety. Knowing this kinda rules out the Continentals... bummer.

[BabyDiesel]

Originally Posted by Chrysler kid

The craziest thing was that if you sat in the car with both doors open the vibration would completely go away. Had the car been a manual transmission I would have kept it, really loved the moon roof but the interior wasn't holding up very well towards the end. Everything plastic was starting to crack around the bezel and handles.

I really wouldn't mind the S/C model in red or yellow, fun little cars with performance suspension

That is weird. I have never heard of that.

And you mean S/R ZX2 they are nice. I plan on putting the PCM out of a S/R in mine eventually.