Help picking my next tires.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

The Contenders.....

Michelin Energy Saver A/S

and

Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max

I'm looking at these two tires but if anyone else has any recomendations for a set of 195/65R15 I'd be happy to hear about them.

The Goodyears as tested by Tire Rack got only slightly better mpg then my Goodyear Integrities that came with the car vs the Michelins which were more then 2 mpg better the the Goodyear Fuel Max.

However the Goodyear Fuel Max have a sidewall max of 51 psi vs 44 on the Michelin and my current Integrities. They were all tested at about 38 psi warm. If both were pumped up to sidewall max I have a feeling the Michelins would only be around one mpg better then the Fuel Max.

The Michelins have 20 higher treadwear rating then my current Integrities at 480 but the Goodyear Fuel Max have 580.

Reviews on the Michelins seem to be a bit better then on the Goodyear Fuel Max in reguards of ride quality and road noise.

Then there is the price difference. The Integrities from about $75 a piece, the Goodyear Fuel Max about $80 each, and the Michelins $112 each.

I'd really like to get the highest mpg tires I can for my car but I'm having problems thinking of spending $130 more on the Michelins to get 1mpg. Especialy when the Fuel Max will probably last a good 10k miles longer.

Any feedback would be helpfull.

Thanks in advance.

[AeroModder]

A note about Tire Rack- Make sure someone is there to pick up the delivery, otherwise you'll have to wait for the next day's deliveries. When I missed them by a half hour, I called to see if I can pick it up, and they told me the shipper (Tire Rack) doesn't allow pickups.

From those two, I'd go with the Goodyear Fuel Max. In terms of performance, it's right behind the Michelins, except the Goodyears have better wet cornering traction. You can probably get the Goodyears to match the Michelins in fuel economy when brought up to the maximum pressure.

I recently ordered and installed some Yokohama AVID TOURING-S s from Tire Rack.

[Daox]

For the $, I'd go with the FuelMax. Same reason I just went with the Ecopia EP100's on my Prius.

[PaleMelanesian]

Having replaced a set of Michelins (symmetry, decent LRR tires themselves) with a new set of Fuel Max tires, I'll say the following:

The Fuel Max are quieter and a smoother ride.
The Fuel Max at 44 psi were much softer-feeling than the Michelins. Going up to 51 psi brought back the solid feel I was expecting.
I've seen about 1 mpg improvement (23 vs 22) in the Odyssey.

You're getting 46 mpg. Just for comparison, let's say the FuelMax will match that and the Michelins will get 48 mpg. Over a 60,000 mile lifetime, that's worth about 54 gallons, or $150 at 2.75/gallon. 4 of the Michelins will cost $128 more than the FuelMax's, so you'd actually be ahead from the fuel savings.

If you count only a 1 mpg increase, it's $75 savings, or a slight loss overall. Still, I'd probably go with the Michelins.

I'd rather spend money on tires than on fuel, considering the nationalities of the two sources.

[jkp1187]

Originally Posted by AeroModder

A note about Tire Rack- Make sure someone is there to pick up the delivery, otherwise you'll have to wait for the next day's deliveries. When I missed them by a half hour, I called to see if I can pick it up, and they told me the shipper (Tire Rack) doesn't allow pickups.

Alternatively, just have Tire Rack ship the tires directly to the shop you're going to have install them.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

I wasn't necesarily going to buy through Tire Rack, I was just using their testing to compare a few tires.

But it's good to know about their pick up policy.


I was looking at the Ecopia but with a tread wear of only 400 and my 460s aren't even going to make it to 50k miles I wanted to do something equal or greater then what I currently had.
Especialy since I put on about 25k miles a year on my car.

[Nevyn]

I have 2 of the Assurance Fuel Max tires on my car. About 1500 miles on 'em. They're superbly quiet. There's some noticeable noise when cornering. Definitely good when it comes to LRR. Some things I've noticed:

• break-in period: ~1000 miles. They feel better as time goes by
• soft. I didn't feel 100% confident that they were riding properly until I got them up ABOVE sidewall PSI. Even at 51 they felt "mushy."
• traction. They grip EXTREMELY well, even/especially in the wet.