2012 Nissan LEAF Tire Replacement Research

[essaunders]

Anyone running the Continental PureContact with Ecoplus tires on their LEAF?

At just under 18k and three years I'm wondering if I need new tires. The online chat guy from TireRack suggested these tires as a 'best non-OEM option'


Edit to add: I'm getting these put on the car. I'll try to report back

Getting these over other option as these seem to me to be a better 'snow' option.

I have them. They seem louder, especially under acceleration. It's hard to know how much of the range hit was from new tires and how much is from them being worse than OEM.

Interested to see what you think.

I've had precious few miles on road that aren't snow-covered since I got the new tires. I figure it isn't really fair to judge the tires too much for noise or efficiency until I get ~1000 miles on them. I suppose I should wait for clear roads too. that might take some time around here.

On that topic, the Continentals are behaving well in the snow

 

[kensiko]

So the best tire for the Leaf is the Michelin Saver right ? The MX4 seems to be causing drop of range from what I read, some people don't see drop but others do and F8L says too in PriusChat.

There is also the Kumbo but I don't know if I can get it in Canada.

 

[Moof]

Been very happy with my Michelin Premeir's. They grip nicely rather than badly under steer around the corners like the bald Ecopias did. I lost about 10-15% efficiency when I first put them on, but after about 4000 winter miles I am back the the same commuting efficiencies on warm days as I got with the Ecopias in similar weather last summer.

 

[dewaldviljoen]

I replaced my original tires at 53000 with Michellin Premiere A/S. I Will do the wheel alignment tomorrow and see how it affects my miles per charge

 

[sub3marathonman]

I replaced my original tires at 53000 with Michellin Premiere A/S

Wow, and you didn't go with the Ecopias again?

I got my original Ecopias to 45K miles, and was extremely happy with them, although as others have stated, had it not been for the edge wear, they probably could have gone another 5K miles. I almost wish I could have swapped them off the rims and switched sides to give the other previous inner side some wear.

Also, I went with the 205/60/R16 Ecopias instead of the 205/55/R16 ones. I never understood why people don't get the maximum diameter tire per dollar that they can. Since the slightly larger size was the same price, and 3.2% greater circumference, I'm hoping for 3.2% greater tire life.

Now, at Tire Rack, they've got what looks to be "last year's model" Ecopias for $72.25, which is a better deal than I got when I ordered mine. However the ones on sale are UTQG 600, while the ones I purchased are UTQG 640, so they may wear that slight bit quicker. Also, one thing you might not think of at Tire Rack is that they have the "Free Road Hazard Protection," which you hope you won't need, but which, yes within four months or so of getting new tires one got a nail. I checked, and I think that at the local tire store the road hazard protection was just for 30 days with new tires, or else after that it would only cover a smaller percentage of the bill to fix the tire. I didn't pay close attention because I had Tire Rack's road hazard protection.

 

[EVDRIVER]

The non-oem Ecopias are a decent tire and likely the highest range available.

 

[sandeen]

Do 205/60 R16 tires cause any clearance issue at all vs. the stock 205/55 R16s?

Diameter difference is 0.81 inches, or only 0.4 inches change in the radius, so I wouldn't expect so, but Discount Tire said their computer warned of rubbing. I can't imagine there's such tight clearance that 0.4" is going to matter, but I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with direct experience.