New LRRS!
 

Yay!

The OE Dunlops needed replacing a while ago- I've never rotated tires in my life, and the Fit scrubs the fronts way more than anything I've seen before. Back in late winter they passed inspection, but just barely. Now they're low enough where my wife was getting nervous- and she's never in the car. Okay, okay, I drove pretty gingerly in some recent heavy rain.

Now I've got Avid Ascends at 50 psi. I stayed with the stock size of 175/65/15 and I can't wait to see how they feel and work.

Were the OE Dunlops LRR? If not, your fuel economy may stay they same even with new tires.

Keep us informed!

My learnings of installing tires with lower rolling resistance. At first, you wont see a difference. It is when there is driven some distance with it that they get to the point where they have low rolling recistance. As long as there are those small "hairs" on. It wont have lower fuel consumption. Mine went lower after 10 000km (6200miles). But then again. Those tires should last 80 000 to 100 000km!

interesting:
"The Yokohama AVID Ascend uses orange oil technology in the tread compound for an excellent balance of tread life, all-season handling, and great fuel economy. Classified as a grand touring all-season tire, the Ascend places emphasis on handling and high-speed capabilities. Available in T, H, and V speed ratings and 45 sizes from 15 inch to 18 inch to fit a wide range of vehicles."

•85,000 mile limited tread wear warranty on T speed rating
•75,000 mile limited tread wear warranty on H speed rating
•65,000 mile limited tread wear warranty on V speed rating

hopefully you got the T rating.

My numbers are up a bit in the last couple days, yes, but slightly lower speeds and an extra 6 psi probably have more to do with that than the compound or tread pattern. And I got the 85k ones- I figured the longer mileage rating would directly correlate to a higher mileage result as well.

The Dunlops were OEM crappers but I was running them at max sidewall, 44 psi. I'm not even looking for a visible improvement from the tires- it was past time for fresh ones and I just wanted to know I got ones that aren't dragging me down more than they absolutely have to.

So are the Yoko's an LRR tire? I have been looking, with no luck, for LRR options for our Civic. The 2 I find on tirerack.com are both Michelins. I bet they are an awesome tire, but I can't justify the cost on a vehicle with 180,000 miles. I could if I was realistically planning to get another 100k out of it.

It is. If they aren't offering much for your Civic (a bit odd), play with the size a bit in a tire size calculator- one notch narrower and one notch taller can come pretty close to the same diameter. See what's offered there.

In LRRs for my Fit, Tire rack offers Ecopia EP422s, Contis (Bleah!), Avid Ascends, Dunlop SP31s, Assurance Fuel Maxes and Michelins.

I know what you mean about price- where I am, the Michelins would have cost me $26 more than the Avids. Each. I don't doubt they're better, but in the under $100 tire world nothing's that much better.

Just to reiterate a piont:

LRR is NOT an absolute term. It is a relative term. It means "better RR compared to tires with similar wear and traction characteritics".

In the OP's case, his Dunlops were LRR with a UTQG of 320AB, while his replacement Yoko's were LRR, with 800AB. These are NOT comparable in any way. All other things being equal (for example, inflation pressure), the OP should experience a drop in fuel economy.

However, the inflation pressure has been raised from 44 psi to 50 psi, so exactly what F/E effect the new tires are going to have is difficult to say - too many variables.

I am going to have to do spoke more research on this for sure. Right now it has an incorrect size prime well tire, too wide and tall, so i think just getting the correct tire will help. How are you liking your yokos thus far?

They do everything a tire should: they're round, they're black, they fit. My fronts were almost bald and the rears were getting there, so even Wal Mart tires would feel better!

How are they objectively? I don't know. I had Fuel Maxes on my Subaru and loved them so I got them for the minivan when the time came. They didn't last. I replaced them with Ascends and they're wonderful, so once the Fit needed tires it got Ascends.

I wasn't looking for an improvement in mileage. I was just looking for good, economical tires that will last a long time- and I limited my searching to what the manufacturers stated was their LRR models. Kind of like when I bought the car I limited my searching to manual transmissions. Maybe I missed out on a great car that way. I don't care. Unless you're going to do serious academic testing you're never going to get any real apples to apples data, so we're stuck with marketing materials.

All things being equal, I'll go with longer treadlife rating as an indicator that it doesn't resist rolling all that much- and looking at the Ascends on my wife's minivan and the Dunlops I just took off, I can tell you that those particular treadlife ratings are accurate!

Less than 40k miles out of a tire that costs $170 more for a set? No thank you.