Eco Tyres, do you trust them?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Eco Tyres, do you trust them?

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MikeAqua

7785 posts

Uber Geek

#1405747 14-Oct-2015 15:23

from memory steelmate, TyreHawk

Suggest you start at the the Play store and use TPMS as a search term. That will lead you to some of the producers.

pdath:

And you can get systems that work with your phone or android head unit too.

Can you tell me the brand name of some of these systems? I think I'll look into it further.

Mike

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1405754 14-Oct-2015 15:41

MikeAqua: Using EECAs own figures (https://www.energywise.govt.nz/energy-labels/energywise-approved-tyres/ accessed 14/10/15): -

Energy-wise tyres cost $25 more per tyre ($100 per set) and save $500 of fuel over 40,000km (2.85 years motoring for average kiwi car)

A net total saving of ($500 -$100)/40,000km = $0.01/km saved compared to standard budget tyre i.e. an inconsequential saving.

I also note that the math works out suspiciously neatly.

Actually the $500 saving is after the extra cost of the tyres ($516 if you work it out). But agreed it is not going to change your life.

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Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1405788 14-Oct-2015 16:27

1eStar: Silica is sand. It's hard and resists wear. It's inclusion means a stickier (and inherently faster wearing) rubber compound can be used without it wearing out so fast. There's no magic involved. There is an inverse relationship between grip and durability. Choose which one you want and purchase the tyre with that characteristic.

The silica in tyres is amorphous (non crystalline) precipitated powder - not hard at all - or it wouldn't be used in toothpaste, food etc. It's use to substitute carbon black in "green" tyres might be partly to do with mechanical properties of the rubber, but I believe a main reason is reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from carbon black production (from burning oil). That said, silica is also used in tyres with no "green" label etc, and has been for decades.

Some "green" Yokohama tyres the local tyre guy recommended for SWMBO's MX5 I believe had claim to use of high silica, low rolling resistance, and use of "orange oil" (d-limonene or similar?) to substitute some mineral oils in the compound. I was skeptical that compromises would be made in wet and dry grip, but where tested against conventional tyres they performed right at the top. The tyre shop dude assured me that the compromise was tread life - they wouldn't last as long as conventional tyres - but the car doesn't do a lot of mileage, is very light, and the tyres I was replacing (Falkens - which had been excellent) still had plenty of remaining tread, but they were old and starting to lose wet-grip.

xlinknz

1127 posts

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#1405937 14-Oct-2015 20:29

I'm not interested in performance 'tyres'... I worked out unless the eco tyre is no more than $15 ea over a similar there was no fuel efficiency benefit at least for me, that said I found the Ecopia's I tried last twice the distance of the Conti Sport Contacts the car came with [on the same wheels and car]

Personally I'd rather see better tyre recycling in NZ

richms

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#1405959 14-Oct-2015 21:08

A tiny change in diameter can have a signifigant effect on what the onboard fuel usage things display, and as it also affects the odometer you cant really calculate it yourself.

But I am sure that no eco tyre could be as bad as the supercats that the tyre shop suggested as a cheaper alternative to put on my falcon. In the wet basically have to not press the gas and coast away from traffic lights or it will spin.

Richard rich.ms

Geektastic

17943 posts

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#1405981 14-Oct-2015 21:57

Inphinity:
joker97:

Let me expand - I think dry performance is pretty close between tyres at under 120kph (I could be wrong). Hence to me the wet separates the real deals from the pretenders.

There is a huge gap in braking distance even in the dry between cheap/eco tyres and good performance tyres. The gap between Eco and budget tyres, though, is a different story - a good Eco is often better.

I had a very keen braking moment this afternoon when 3 ducks walked out in front of my car. Dry road, probably doing around 65 at the time - car stopped like it was glued to the road. No problem with eco tyres there.

Jase2985

13462 posts

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#1407048 15-Oct-2015 07:56

richms: A tiny change in diameter can have a signifigant effect on what the onboard fuel usage things display, and as it also affects the odometer you cant really calculate it yourself.

mine still has factory size tyres on it, but as you know the actual size differs between brands so my fuel usage reading are about .3L/100km different to the ones i work out based on KM and L used. But the KM driven is probably out by a little too so there is no way to know the actual.

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ilovemusic

1439 posts

Uber Geek

#1407410 15-Oct-2015 19:24

Geektastic:
Inphinity:
joker97:

Let me expand - I think dry performance is pretty close between tyres at under 120kph (I could be wrong). Hence to me the wet separates the real deals from the pretenders.

There is a huge gap in braking distance even in the dry between cheap/eco tyres and good performance tyres. The gap between Eco and budget tyres, though, is a different story - a good Eco is often better.

I had a very keen braking moment this afternoon when 3 ducks walked out in front of my car. Dry road, probably doing around 65 at the time - car stopped like it was glued to the road. No problem with eco tyres there.

haven't you seen the road safety ads with the spooky voice ?

you're not supposed to swerve or take drastic evasive action for animals.

TonyR1973

199 posts

Master Geek

#1408942 19-Oct-2015 01:13

richms: A tiny change in diameter can have a signifigant effect on what the onboard fuel usage things display, and as it also affects the odometer you cant really calculate it yourself.

Not as much as you might think - it's deceptive. For example, going from a 215/60R15 to a 215/70R15 is only 6.7% increase in rolling diameter but the 215/70R15 is a 43mm taller tyre if you put them side-by-side. Same for going from a 225/50R17 to a 225/60R17 which is 6.8%. Also for a 225/60R17 going from a full tread of 8mm to 2mm it's only a 1.7% increase in tyre rotation for the same indicated speed - less than the factory built-in error of the speedometer (odometers are usually spot on).

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