type of tires??

[bradford]

i read the reviews mentioning low resistance tires. anyone know how these will be in the rain (and snow of NY)? will all season radials spoil the ride/drive or become unmanageable?
will we get an option on the type of tires we'll be getting. i'm not 'due' my leaf til next summer/fall, so i'll be interested in how the early-receivers see this. thanks

 

[garygid]

It is difficult (perhaps impossible) to produce ONE tire that is "best" for every condition or use.

Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) tires often sacrifice some wet-weather performance, and some of the "soft ride" in exchange for less rolling "drag".

However, I do not know the specific characteristics of the "expected" LEAF tire.

 

[Devin]

From the pictures I've seen the Leaf has Bridgestone Ecopia tires. I have Ecopia EP100 tires on my Prius and have been very happy with them. They improved my mileage versus the stock Prius Touring tires and are significantly quieter. While we don't get a whole lot of rain in Southern California I did recently return from a 3 month stint in Northern Louisiana with the Prius and found the Ecopias to be very satisfactory in wet conditions. I wouldn't use them in the snow (at least without chains), but they actually seemed better than the stock tires in the rain.

 

[LEAFguy]

From a high-resolution photo that I saw, they are Bridgestone Ecopias, but the tread pattern is different than any Ecopia currently offered by Bridgestone. As your original question was regarding wet weather performance, here is a link showing test results of several brands of tires. You'll notice that the Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 did comparably better in wet conditions than in dry. As the LEAF tire will be different than the tested tire, it's hard to say if they will be comparable, but at least now you have a baseline.