36
votes
Always invest in good tires
I just had two brand new tires (Michelin Defender 2) installed on my car (2022 Ford Maverick XLT, a four-door cyber-orange truck) and they have boosted my average MPG by 25, going from from 25-33 to 50-57mpg. Insane.
The ride is also so smooth it's practically ludicrous, almost feels like a brand new suspension system was installed.
Highly worth it. Always invest in good tires.
As one of the gearheads here, I must agree, but for different reasons.
Tires are the only link you have between you and the road. Poorly made tires will extend your stopping distances and hydroplane more in the rain. People will cheap out on them and scoff at the price, but tell me how much is the last 10 feet of an emergency stop worth to you? Is the price difference worth putting yourself into the back of another vehicle, the pain of the collision, and replacing your car? Is the price difference worth running over the kid that chased a ball into the street?
Buy the best tires you can afford for the vehicle you have and the way you drive.
I don't put enough mileage on any of my cars to care about economy, I notate the MPG when I fill up just as a mental measure of what it is and what it could/should be to know if there's a greater problem lurking and creating efficiency issues.
This, forget the rest.
I care about economy, as I commute ~600 miles (~970km) every week, and stupid New England includes snow as well as rain.
But economy isn't the only thing tires deal with. Your tires are your lifeline as you drive, and if you buy the right ones, they won't be loud, they'll compensate for weather, and they'll stop in time. That is, they'll get you where you want to go.
And if you live in a particularly snowy area, buy snow tires and have them changed out with your summer ones in the winter. The rubber hardness and tread patterns are very different, and it makes a major difference in traction under the two conditions.
I live in a mild climate and all season tires suffice, but winter or snow tires do in fact help with snowy conditions. They're there for the time your regular tires don't have traction because of heavy fresh snow.
I put high quality all seasons on my little 1000kg hatchback back in the day and could drive circles around everyone, even in a blizzard, but one day in a mountain pass I got humbled because the road had completely iced over and I started sliding backwards towards the edge. I did a quick 180, popped it into 1st and went back down the mountain. Imagine that Grandpa Simpson gif, except a teal hatchback.
I'm still really comfortable driving in the snow but I'm not gonna press my luck like that again.
Grew up in Massachusetts here and when we had the snow tires on it was a huge difference, of course back then I had to drive into work and visit my girlfriend even in bad weather like an idiot. No snow tires and you could feel the car about to break loose at low speeds, snow tires and you almost didn't realize you were on unplowed roads.
Real winters are likely a lot better than an all weather tire. I haven't used them so I'm not sure, but what I HAVE used are mediocre winter tires vs good winter tires and the difference is substantial.
Ya... AND good tires!
Absolutely. I bought nice tires for my Bimmer, and I continue to buy nice tires for the CR-V that replaced it. It feels better, performs better, and is safer than a cheap tire. And considering that I sort of still drive like I'm in a sport sedan, I need all the grip I can get. Zoom zoom.
I started recording fuel economy with the V and it has helped me be more aware of the car and potential issues.
Hmmmm okay you've convinced me on good tires, but twice the price for the same rating good like @preposterous ' Michelin vs Kumho, or just buy the best most expensive one one can afford?
I just got my dad's strictly city only 2013 Honda CRV that has < 38,000 km (23,600 freedom miles) with the original tires. The mechanic says they're fine but now I'm worried about how old they are.
Edit: a tow truck driver I was chatting with also said I should put undercoating on, for our salt air + winter salted roads. And buy winter tires ugh money .... Or maybe I can just....park it over winter and only drive the Chevy I like less.
For a general All Season tire, it's best to rely on the wonderful nerds that have no financial interest like the /r/Tires list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQR0MFRiOcU1JPkY-0Vex9bEQ4T5UMr1uK7QqKIrIWE5YYt6nWEHRlT1lNJnQpJQw/pubhtml (ignore the Ultra High Performance tires, those aren't for you)
Expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, which is why I said "best". Michelin and Kumho are both brand names that aren't going to make a "bad" tire even at their lowest end. Generally speaking you can be safe picking a name brand or one of their sub-brands - https://gotire.com/big-brands-producing-tires-for-less-known-brands/
Most excellent, kind one, :) thank you for the resources
You are very welcome!
Less expensive doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot worse. There are crappy cheap tires you definitely don’t want to get, but there are good midrange tires that are still performing really well. Michelin is a well known manufacturer that makes good tires, but that name recognition comes with a higher price tag. With a little research you’ll probably find an brand/model that suits your needs. Just don’t cheap out; it’s good if it hurts a little.
I don't think that expensive == good. Or at the very least, the correlation is not one-to-one; a tire that is 5 times more expensive is not usually five times as good. Doing good research and understanding the difference between the types of tires is important. The idea with tires is, like most things, simply do not cheap out on them. Plus buy the right one for the type of car you have and the conditions you will be driving in.
Exactly this. Before deciding on the Michelin Defender2 I did far too much research across the Ford (& Maverick specific) forums, general cartalk forums, etc etc , weighing the pros and cons of each, if I needed more traction, rain/snow effects (we get a lot of snow, but only in brief intervals), and finally settled on those. Do some digging, and find the tire that works best for how you drive.
Since you just did your homework, can you recommend some car forums? I'm in rural Canada so the products available might be more limited too (maybe? Not sure if it's just a matter of my mechanic ordering online)
Sell the other vehicle, buy winter tires. Depending on where you live though I guess....
Unfortunately we're pretty rural and a backup vehicle is worth way more than what it's currently worth. :<
Sorry, what?
50 MPG in a two ton pickup? I am not buying this.
The hybrid 2022 Ford Maverick's official city MPG is 42: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2022_Ford_Maverick.shtml
It's not unthinkable that @macleod could push that even higher depending on how and where they drive.
Tires also can have a significant effect on MPG, but I don't know enough about that to say whether an average increase of 25 MPG is realistic.
It’s possible the new tires had a psychological effect on their driving style. For example I recall hearing that driving angry can have a massive MPG impact.
Nah, my tires were just absolutely shot. I used to get closer to 40 when I first bought it. My front right ended up being insanely bald by the time I replaced them, had to use a spare for the past week and that by itself increased my MPG by about 7.
Was 40ish when I first got it. Lately, been closer to 25-30, thats how bad the tires were.
Driving around 45 - 60 will end up with higher MPG every time. The increase I am quoting up top is based on eight hours of regular driving, city and highway (average: 54.4mpg). Not particularly flat either, lots of hills (and mountains) up here in the Ozarks.
It's a hybrid (not plug in), and gets better in city than on highway.
My all time best was a 45 minute drive with about 1k lbs of cinder blocks in my bed driving at about 40mph, ended up at 65mpg on that trip (the system tells you on every trip)
Well, I did (-: lol
I bought the car for $26k, all included, new back in 2022, and considering its a truck that gets insane MPG, its an absolute wonder of engineering, especially at that price, drives like an SUV at that (and works as well as one since its a four door). I have never been more thankful for my sister for absolutely totaling my 2012 Ford Escape (RIP) and making me buy this one to replace it.
EDIT: Fixed words.
Were you doing burnouts trying to get going because your tires kept spinning?
Unless your tires were spinning like mad I'm genuinely confused as to how they would be impacting your mpg much
The Maverick, particularly the hybrid, has great fuel economy. People regularly get 45-55mpg if they drive carefully.
It's amazing what the difference between worn tires and good tires can be. When I first got my car in highschool, a 2001 Accord, I didn't realize how old the tires on it were. They were actually starting to dry-rot from how old they were. I'm ashamed that I didn't realize how bad they were earlier. I eventually replaced the tires 6 months later and the car felt insanely different. I could feel the difference just turning the steering wheel as I backed out of the parking spot at the tire shop. Similar to your story, the ride was instantly better, the car was slightly less noisy (it was still an 18 year old car at that point), and the car rode better too. It made the old tires feel like they were rocks.
Thanks for the reminder that I should replace the tires on my car though, I'm nearing the EoL mileage on my current set!
I could never afford good tires until a few years ago and I sure enjoy the hell out of it now. Such a boon
FWIW tires in Europe have standardized testing and ratings. So it’s easy to compare them regardless of the price. They rate fuel economy (they’re all pretty much the same, there is some variation but it’s like 2% between grades so hardly significant), stopping distance on wet road, and noise.
I researched all this because I had to change tires recently on a car I was given with 12 years old (winter) tires. The tires were Michelin but the rubber was so old that they basically stopped wearing out. And performance was crap, I did a tailspin in a roundabout on a rain day.
Michelin were double the price and I couldn’t justify it because the wet stopping grade was the same as the Kumho 4 seasons tires I ended up buying for half the price. I don’t have to deal with snow so 4 seasons is more than fine.
The same tire model are usually sold in the EU as well so it’s worth looking them up on an EU website to see those ratings and compare. It’s an easy A—E grading system.
To illustrate, this Goodyear tire is 62 eur and has D fuel economy B wet road stopping distance. That Delinte tire is 38 with the same ratings. You’re basically getting the same performance for around 40% cheaper. Maaaaaaybe the Delinte won’t last as long as the Goodyear but that’s not certain and even then I don’t think it’ll wear out 40% faster so you’re still ahead.
A very good point to make: old tires are dangerous. This why tires come with a production date on the sidewall.
See full explanation here.
Tires older than, if I recall correctly, 10 years, are due for replacement. This is regardless of how they look. A tire that’s drying out, will become harder and won’t stop you anymore, like you described. They might crack, which at least gives you some visual cue, but not all compounds do. So keep an eye on that production date. Also check the date after new ones are installed, tires can already be a year old before they get installed, but I would be annoyed if they were older than that.
Michelin X-Ice (I'm assuming thats what you had) are my FAVORITE winter tires and I will pay the extra money for them whenever I can, but GOOD winter tires are not good in summer; there are too many trade offs. If you don't have winter conditions then you would be paying a lot of extra money for a tire that's worse in summer or mild conditions.
No I had Michelin alpines that were too old but I was looking at Michelin 4 season tires vs other 4 seasons tires when comparing the prices. I don’t need winter tires where I live it hardly ever snows and I don’t have a spare set of rims.
I didn’t think much of tires until I had a performance vehicle. Then it’s apparent that no matter much power the engine puts down, it doesn’t matter if the tires are spinning. Double-ly so because if the car couldn’t safely pull out of a driveway—which involves slopes, turning and gravel—then what use is the car for daily driving?
I’ve always wanted to have a second set of winter/snow tires. Maybe one day when I’m older, but for now quality all seasons will have to do.
Going up in power does have a noticeable difference. When I got my Civic Sport Touring, I had a tendency to get wheel spin in the rain, whenever I was steering from a full stop. It took a while to get used to having to go easier on the throttle than on a car with half the horsepower.
It also does still have the tires that came with it (used) from the dealer, but I can't really justify upgrading them while they're still perfectly good in terms of tread. I'll probably pick better ones when that time comes.
You were running bald tires.
This is bad.
Keep an eye on the tread.
Or get your oil change by a place that also does tires.
I don't know much about tires, so I used an LLM to research tires for me.
It started when I got my winter tires swapped out for my All Season tires at the tire shop early this Spring. The tire shop told me that the All Season tires were looking a little worn. They gave me a quote for some new tires and I told them I would look into it.
At home I took a picture of my tires and gave some basic information about them to ChatGPT. It verified the tire shop's recommendation that I should replace them sooner rather than later because they were six years old. I uploaded a screenshot of the tire quote from the shop and it told me that it was an "okay" recommendation.
I then had it search the internet and look for tires that would fit my car and tell me the pros and cons of each of them. It gave me a table with links to a bunch of different tire vendors with different tires at different price points. I started narrowing in on a specific tire and had it search the web, car forums, reddit, etc for reviews about that tire.
Once I decided I wanted that particular tire, I asked it how I can get a deal on it. I was debating waiting for Black Friday, but it let me know that Costco generally has that brand on sale every June. So I waited until June, set up some deal alerts, and nabbed them at a discount!
Saved a couple hundred bucks from the original quote, got some quiet tires, and Costco will take care of them for years to come. Pretty happy about all that.