Tyre longevity

[RS13]

Just over 2 years ago I replaced the Ecopias on our wagon due age cracking on the sidewalls. Just noticed today that all are starting to crack again in the same places, between the tread blocks on the outer edges of the tyres. We've done just over 20,000km in that time, always been within a psi or two of factory pressure.. what could cause this? Surely you'd expect to get more life out of them than that? Looked at the warranty, only seems to apply to tyres purchased from a Bridgestone outlet rather than the Tonys I bought them from.. so I don't fancy my chances. Should point out also that it gets driven daily by my wife so sitting around or harsh driving aren't factors. Manufacture date Jun 15.

Thoughts?

[Leon]

Two years is not good, assuming the cracking is serious.

I'd be going back to the purchaser, and asking them nicely to see if they will stand behind what they sold.

[RS13]

Yeah. Spoke to Bridgestone, they reckoned it may either be high corner loads being a wagon or driving style. Their fix was to raise tyre pressures and drive slower around corners.. lol. He recommended replacing them with their new Ecopia model but I might try another brand, or try something a bit sportier. Still going to take them back but I'm picking they'll tell me their perfectly safe and there is nothing wrong with them.

[wde_bdy]

If they don't want to play nice start mentioning Consumer Guarantees Act, should not happen under normal use or they aren't fit for purpose.

Callum

[RS13]

Yeah for sure. Shouldn't have to slow down around corners just to stop the tyres cracking!

[Al]

Sounds like advice given to a mate that was having trouble with his home theatre system. Shop told him not to watch so many DVDs....

[RS13]

Yeah, pretty stupid.. although talking to a former Bridgestone employee apparently the Ecopia tyres are terrible. Won't be getting them again! Running Yokohama Bluearths on my daily, aside from the high wear rate they're great tyres so might look into replacing the Ecopias with those. Really don't know if its' worth bothering with fuel saving tyres any more though!

[Leon]

I've got Ecopia's on the Prius. Well, two of them anyway.

They are terrible in the rain.

Ended up replacing two with normal budget tyres, just because the fuel economy ones my tyre supplier could get hold of were both terrible in rating, and also expensive.

[RS13]

I've never run budget/normal tyres on the wagon, only Ecopias.. economy isn't too bad around town, seems to hover around 10l/100km. I find they "tram track" pretty noticeably on smooth road surfaces, not the greatest in the wet but I've had worse. Did you notice fuel economy change much with the budget tyres?

[Leon]

Yup, fuel economy went downhill when I had the brand new budget tyres on the front, half worn Ecopia's on the rear.

After a few tanks, I did a front/back swap, to put the new budget rubber on the back, and the half worn Ecopia's on the front.

Fuel economy immediately improved.

But, important disclaimer, I haven't then swapped them back again, to see if the tyre rotation was the variable, rather than the weather being the variable. Because colder weather really hits Prius battery life, and I was pissing about with tyre swapping during winter. So the conclusion thus far is a non scientific, that all of the worse fuel economy figures achieved by the Prius were with budget front tyres and economy rear tyres. With the Prius having a barrage of different ways of showing you fuel economy, it registered thirstier several tanks in a row.

[RAZA]

I had a company car a few years ago that the company suddenly decreed that all their cars should be switched to fuel saving tyres so mine got switched from mid range michelins to ecopias.
It was immediately much more slippery in the wet and didn't seem to be noticably more economical. I put up with them as it was a free car, but I wouldn't hurry to put ecopias on my own car.

[KinLoud]

I have had a personal policy of putting high performance tyres on my cars for the last 15 years.
The last 2 sets of tyres have been Goodyear Eagle F1 Directional.
Lots of grip and enjoyment (and safety
Both sets got more than 60,000km so the cost per km of the tyres was the same or better than lower cost tyres I've had in the past.

I figure that the possible fuel i might save with eco tyres is outweighed by the long life of the performance tyres - also the improved safety of shorter wet stopping distance and grip.

Ive seen at a Toyspeed meet (Manfield 2006?) 2 identical cars with identical tyres stopping from 60kph
The cheap and cheerful tyres took 4 or 5 metres more to stop than the performance tyres - up to then I'd never thought there could be so much difference!

[GDII]

Eco tyres are really scary in the wet. Any time you need to steer or stop to avoid a collision it's far harder to do so.

I've been running Toyo T1R on the MR2 for many years and now running Bridgestone RE003. I've never had any issues with grip in dry or wet.
The ECO cars I have owned however have run things like Firestone Supercats or Yokohama A drives. Supercats were pretty average but the car they were on was 710kg so not too much of an issue.
I had a set of BF Goodrich tyres (unknown model) on one of my cars, they were pretty good for cheap tyres.

I'd rather not drive around on rocks for tyres as I'm sure the fuel saving tyres are closer to a rock than rubber. Save money and crash or spend money and not crash. I know what I'd pick.

[GDII]

Just spoke to a Bridgestone employee. Told me Ecopia tyres are made from soft rubber to make them lighter so they wear out too fast and they chew out the edges. Interesting.

[RS13]

You'd think a softer rubber wouldn't crack that easily.

[RS13]

Ended up with a set of RE003s as my local Bridgestone didn't have EP300s in stock so cut me a deal. Really happy, had forgotten how good performance tyres can be! Fuel usage appears to be unchanged over the Ecopias as well so far.

[Boosted_162]

Going to hijack this thread as it is semi related tyre talk

Got myself a BP9 Outback (Subaru ) and need to replace the tyres. Looking at something mid range, mostly Hankooks at the moment as Hyper has them buy 3 get 1 free (plus I can pay them off) so open to suggestions for around $150-$180 a tyre. Was also looking at Toyo Proxies C1S if anyone has experience with them?

I'm running 215/55/17.

Oh yeah should probably add - I do about 80% open road driving, and do 25000-30000km a year on average.

[KinLoud]

Go Goodyear Eagle F1 directional5
My last 2 sets have lasted 60,000km each - makes cheap tyre per km cost!
Great grip wet and dry

[Boosted_162]

Go Goodyear Eagle F1 directional5
My last 2 sets have lasted 60,000km each - makes cheap tyre per km cost!
Great grip wet and dry

Unfortunately they don't do my size, but I could go to either a 215/50 or 225/55.

Also unfortunately, they are almost $300 a tyre! Which is well out of my budget. Tis a shame as I've always found the older f1s to be an awesome tyre.

[RS13]

Going to hijack this thread as it is semi related tyre talk

Fill your boots mate!

Also the Eagle F1 comes in the Directional 5 (cheap) and Asymmetric 3 (not cheap!), the directionals are the ones Ken is talking about. I still rate the RE003s, shame Hyper don't do Bridgestone! I really can't fault them.