Tyres for fuel economy

Jonny69

Jonny69

Jonny69

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Do these things exist? I know the 'hypermiling' folks use skinny tyres and pump them up to silly psi to reduce rolling resistance, was just wondering if tyres are generally available for fuel economy rather than performance.

S'cuse my ignorance. It's just that I generally only buy crossplies or funny sizes for classic cars :)
 
Yep, there are tyres out there that are supposedly better for fuel economy. My guess is that by being so, they are bobbins at providing grip though.
 
Yes you can buy hard compound tyres. Whether or not it's worth the decreased grip and increased braking distance to save 0.3mpg however I'm sure is a potential 3 page argument .. ;)
 
Any hard compound tyres are designed with this in mind. I had a set of michelin energies which lasted over 50k miles on my old Leon diesel.
 
Fair enough. Can't see why you'd need loads of grip on say an MPV though Howard. Not like handling and braking are a premium feature of that sort of car.
 
Jonny69 said:
Fair enough. Can't see why you'd need loads of grip on say an MPV though Howard. Not like handling and braking are a premium feature of that sort of car.
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Thing is, many people think this. They forget the emergency braking/maneuvure aspect though.
 
Howard said:
Thing is, many people think this. They forget the emergency braking/maneuvure aspect though.
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But ABS will optimise the stopping distance surely? Not all cars have ABS and even on crossplies I can stop mine in less distance than many people can nailing the brakes wet or dry. Surely it's more a matter of knowing your limits?
 
Yes, but these 'limits' tend to go out the window when a child runs out onto the road infront of you. Crap tyres can mean the difference between hitting, and avoiding. Surely you can see where I'm coming from? Especially on a big, heavy, potentially laden-with-people MPV.
 
Jonny69 said:
But ABS will optimise the stopping distance surely?
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It'll effect the stopping distance in diferent ways depending on the road surface - some surfaces take longer to stop, some less. AFAIK, it's purpose is to allow you to steer the car when braking hard enough to skid, it won't necessarily stop you in a shorter distance.
 
Michelin Energy Saver came out well in a comparison test I saw a while back on a Prius with some reasonable control on the test. A little more wooly to steering that other tyres but the wet and dry braking were fine.

I have some on the front of mine and they are certainly a lot better than the Ceat Spyders on the back.

The Potenza B391 are the OEM size exclusive for my car which are pretty much the best for economy but now discontinued.

Weighed over 1kg less than other tyres on 165/65/14 and really low rolling resistance. Im still trying to find something close.
 
I read a 'Which?' test years ago which had the Energys in and they came out very poorly, the best small tyre sized tyre seemed to be the Conti Ecocontact. Sisters new car has 4 Energies on it and they are not brilliant.
 
I had Energies on the 106, no confidence in the tyre to the point you'd have to slow for a corner then speed up again, with the EcoContact 3's I could maintain a constant speed, much better for fuel economy.
 
Yeah, i had a set on my ibiza ecomotive when i bought it last year. Not cheap, and imo not worth it. I how have 'normal' tyres on and i havnt seen any noticeable drop in mpg.
 
I have a set of Michelin Energy Savers on my MX-5, dont laugh, they are actually decent tyres.

I find the grip in the wet to be quite good and very predictable, as I used to use my car as a daily driver this was of high importance to me!

I have also tracked these tyres twice and they performed fine, not that I have much to compare to mind
 
paradigm said:
Says it all.
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OK,

I have driven my car on a mix of nankangs and ambassadors
I have driven another MX-5 with Pirrelli P6000's (i think...)
I have driven another MX-5 with larger 15" which I cant remember the name of the tyre....

And by driven, I mean on road and track, except the nankangs and ambaassadors :p

And the Michelins are better than all of those..........

Im not saying that they would be anywhere near R888's or T1Rs or anthing, but who wants R888s on an everyday car?
 
That's why I put 15s on my car, because most of the tyres I could get for 14s were crap for enthusiastic driving. The cheapo ones the car came with were absolutely dire. The 15" Eagle F1s (GSD3) I have now are superb. They're not as totally glued down as something like R888s would be, but that's to be expected - a little bit of slip adds to the charm/fun anyway ;) and they're better for a road environment
 
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