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Like others here I find it difficult to evaluate tires prior to purchase. Professional review's are sparse, and user reviews are quire subjective, and typically reflective of USA, Aust & UK tire models & driving conditions.
Tires are a bit of a saga. First time I ever brought tires (was for a P11 primea), I went to one of the discount places (one that puts a sticker on your back window without asking permission) & asked for a price new tire's price was cheap so I went ahead. Ended up with some Chinese made tires with a 3 letter brand name. I don't recall grip or feel being an issue (might just had been I was used to crap tires), but some time down the track, I took it to a mechanic due to steering shake, and it was diagnosed to be out of round tires. That was when I worked out tire shopping purely on price might not be the best idea.
Next car I had was an ex-rental 1.8L corolla. It had a different type of economy tire at every corner. Had to be extremely soft with the accelerator when starting off in the wet, of the car would give heaps of wheel spin, and barley move. I also recall having the ABS kick in when slowing for a que for a carpark exit booth in the wet...
When they were worn down, I replaced them with GT Radial Champero 228's (performance touring tire). They were the top rated tire in one of Consumer NZ's tests for wet breaking. OMG what a difference. The car no longer slid all over the place in the wet. I liked them a lot.
For the next replacement the 228's had been discontinued & the pricing of the inferior 128 was kinda high. As such I went with bridge-stone Turanza Serenity Plus, A long life touring tire. Low noise was a feature which I was keen on as the corolla hatchback is quite loud on course chip roads. Grip was acceptable, but noticeably less than the GT Radials, but the bigger issue was that it seemed to take constant effort to keep the car in a straight line on the open road. Not at all what I expected from a touring tire from a reputable brand. When I took the car back to the tire shop they recommended running them underinflated (compared to Toyota's recommendation) which I wasn't keen on. That car don't really leave the city these days, so it is a lesser issue.
We got an additional car a couple of years back. It's a heavy 200kW massively front biased AWD hybrid SUV. Has Bridgestone Ecopia EP850's on it. Actually I don't mind them, the car feels nice and planed on the open road. Pritty easy to spin the front wheels, but I think that will always be the case when you send most of the 200kW to the front. Car is a luxary model with soft suspension, so doesn't suit being pushed hard into bends anyway. The tires are now all down to 3 - 3.5mm of tread depth and are getting chewed out on the corners. They are starting to get more slippery in the wet now they are getting worn down.
I recently brought a lightly used, young set of four Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires which are sitting in the garage waiting for my current tires to reach end of life. Frankly I am quite keen to give try them on. Will be interesting to see if my economy takes much of a hit moving away from eco tires. Those tires are $563.50 each + fitting from Beaurepaires. I can't really afford to drop that sort of money on a consumable... But I snapped up the used set for $360.
Only question now is how low I run the tread of my current tires down before swapping them out.
surfisup1000:
I think they are 2016....probably fitted them 2018'ish-- so 2 years old when they were fitted.
I think there is around 10-12 months of tread left on them. Couple of photos showing tread and cracking. Car is garaged all the time too.
My suv has (what I assume are the same) Bridgestone Ecopia EP850's on it.
I have two pairs of date codes. (I will post the exact date codes tomorrow - All the tires are mounted with them on the inside, and crawling under the car in the rain & dark sucks)
The older pair of tires are still many years from the 10 year limit on bridge-stones website, but frankly the rubber degradation is getting a little concerning:
Even the younger tire pair already has substantially Pershing visable.
I note that bridgestone NZ no longer offers this tire in my size. Seems to have been replaced by the Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 001 (Higher load rating, same speed rating) and / or Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus (same load rating, but H instead of V speed rated).
Kinda overwhelming that Bridgestone NZ offers 7 different options in my SUV's tire size, All being road focused, and none being a performance tire (that said my spare is a bridge-stone potenza so it must have been offered at some point). Not a massive variation in load rating either, 5 tires at 104, and 2 at 100. This tire size is fitted to both SUV's and sedans such as the 300C.
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Got the date stamps for the tires I commented on above.
Newer pairs stamp is 4417 (manufacture date: 44th week of 2017)
Older pairs stamp is 4414
Scott3:
Even the younger tire pair already has substantially Pershing visible.
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Scott3:Got the date stamps for the tires I commented on above.
Newer pairs stamp is 4417 (manufacture date: 44th week of 2017)
Older pairs stamp is 4414Scott3:
Even the younger tire pair already has substantially Pershing visible.
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Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.
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