Ecopia EP422 tires suck

[alcalira]

Has anyone else gotten Kumho Ecowing tires as replacements? They are quiet, ride and handle great, and there is a noticeable increase in range over the stock tires.

 

[Nubo]

Has anyone else gotten Kumho Ecowing tires as replacements? They are quiet, ride and handle great, and there is a noticeable increase in range over the stock tires.

"noticeable increase" -- can you quantify that?

 

[ttweed]

Has anyone else gotten Kumho Ecowing tires as replacements? They are quiet, ride and handle great, and there is a noticeable increase in range over the stock tires.

Yes, I replaced my Ecopias with the Kumho Ecowings and posted about it in one of the other myriad tire threads. I did not, however, see an increase in range with them, but rather a very slight decline after the usual "break-in" period. My average efficiency only dropped .1 m/kWh (from 4.4 to 4.3) after a couple thousand miles of driving on them. I have 11K on them now, and am happy with their performance, especially considering their price ($467 on sale at Discount Tire for all 4 w/ tax, mounted and balanced, w/ TPMS rebuild kits installed).

TT

 

[frmercado]

I replaced mine with Continental Extreme Contact DWS. Awesome tires, didn't loose any range and they can handle any kind of weather you throw at them, even light snow! I go to the mountain quite often and I haven't had any issues with them so far.

 

[Stoaty]

After 25,000 miles my Ecopia tires tread depth has decreased from 10/32 (new) to 8/32. At this rate they should be good for 75,000 miles. Another advantage of driving very conservatively.

 

[uwskier20]

I replaced mine this week, at ~47,500 miles. Had roughly 4/32" tread remaining, but the shoulders were worn. Costco had a special on Ecopias, and I liked them the first time around, so I stuck with them.

 

[Valdemar]

I replaced mine this week, at ~47,500 miles. Had roughly 4/32" tread remaining, but the shoulders were worn. Costco had a special on Ecopias, and I liked them the first time around, so I stuck with them.

Same here, @45k miles, could probably push them past 50, probably should have considering very dry winter here. Had 0 issues with them, IMHO while mediocre they perform adequately on the Leaf, so I didn't feel like spending extra on Michelins. Energy economy dropped somewhat initially but after first 1000 miles is pretty much back where it was.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

because of muliple tire issues, I only had one OEM left when I turned in my lease at just under 45,000 miles. it was at 5 mm so close to being replaced. My Prius had them as well and those lasted 54,000 miles but keep in mind; the Prius was a vehicle with a high center of gravity (after driving the LEAF, it seems like EVERY car I drive feels that way ) so aggressive cornering was not in the play book. the thought of making it all the way across town without touching the brake pedal was a major challenge (still done several times) when it was nearly normal in a LEAF

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

These Ecopia are just absolutely the worst tire ever. Unbelievably they have a 65,000 mile (!!!!!!!!!) warranty. Mine are TRASHED at 15k. Even at my 11k service I was told I need to replace soon, though they barely passed inspection. The car is a sled in the snow.

I didn't rotate until that 11k service, so I am thinking bridgestone won't warranty them but I'm going to contact customer service anyway. Tire rotation does absolutely nothing for tread life anyway, it only evens the wear, and both front and back are trashed at the moment. Somebody else on the bridgestone.com site also reviewed about having gone through these in 15k on their leaf.

Granted, i floor this thing all the time. I mean constantly. But I still expect more.

 

[JPWhite]

These Ecopia are just absolutely the worst tire ever. Unbelievably they have a 65,000 mile (!!!!!!!!!) warranty. Mine are TRASHED at 15k. Even at my 11k service I was told I need to replace soon, though they barely passed inspection. The car is a sled in the snow.

I didn't rotate until that 11k service, so I am thinking bridgestone won't warranty them but I'm going to contact customer service anyway. Tire rotation does absolutely nothing for tread life anyway, it only evens the wear, and both front and back are trashed at the moment. Somebody else on the bridgestone.com site also reviewed about having gone through these in 15k on their leaf.

Granted, i floor this thing all the time. I mean constantly. But I still expect more.

Careful drivers have got over 70,000 miles out of the stock Ecopias. For reasons stated several times here, the high torque off the line, cornering ability etc and your self-confessed driving style result in rapid tire wear. For me 29,000 and they were done.

 

[TomT]

And yet, the MXV4s I put on some 32K ago have only 2 mm of even wear...

Careful drivers have got over 70,000 miles out of the stock Ecopias. For reasons stated several times here, the high torque off the line, cornering ability etc and your self-confessed driving style result in rapid tire wear. For me 29,000 and they were done.

 

[elmobob]

My Ecopias tires were done at 17k, got them fancy Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires people have been raving about, here is my experience with 1000 miles on them. The efficiency has definitely decreased, I'm down to 3.6 from 4.2 mi/kwh average, maybe I just have to give them some time to break in. I never had the chance to test the ecopias in the snow since driving in snow is something I try to avoid completely not because of the car's ability but because NYC is full of low IQ overconfident SUV drivers who also happen to be the ones that mostly cause accidents when it snows. Today I got caught off guard with heavy snowfall, it was 10 inches of snow. Still snowing as I write this post. The car handled very well with the MXV4 tires I never felt like I lost control of the car and I didn't feel the car struggle to keep moving even in a very moderate uphill, the traction control of the car helps too. The range because of the resistance caused by the snow however is kinda scary, I left work with 39 miles on the dash and 5 bars, got home with 1 bar and 9 miles left on the GOM after driving only 13 miles, this was with no heat averaging 2.1 m/kwh and one temp bar at 13f the whole way :roll: it was one cold ride. Here's a few video clips from my dash-cam.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG7dVCZz1C4[/youtube]

 

[cityscapex5]

My OEM Ecopias were done around 28K miles and I'm replacing them with Michelin Energys at 30K. The outside edges on all 4 tires were worn prematurely even with rotation. I could have gotten a few more thousand miles out of them if they weren't out of alignment. Perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had to have an alignment on any care I've owned in the past 20 years.

Does anyone know if any tire place (Costco, Discount Tire) can do a good job on the alignment or is there something special about the LEAF where a Nissan dealer should do it?

 

[Nubo]

My OEM Ecopias were done around 28K miles and I'm replacing them with Michelin Energys at 30K. The outside edges on all 4 tires were worn prematurely even with rotation. I could have gotten a few more thousand miles out of them if they weren't out of alignment. Perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had to have an alignment on any care I've owned in the past 20 years.

Does anyone know if any tire place (Costco, Discount Tire) can do a good job on the alignment or is there something special about the LEAF where a Nissan dealer should do it?

There's nothing special as far as I know. The alignment isn't even particularly adjustable other than toe, iirc.

The typical LEAF/Ecopia problem imho, is that Nissan's recommended psi is too low for the combination of the Ecopia's compliant sidewalls, the vehicle weight and tire size.

 

[Stanton]

My OEM Ecopias were done around 28K miles and I'm replacing them with Michelin Energys at 30K. The outside edges on all 4 tires were worn prematurely even with rotation. I could have gotten a few more thousand miles out of them if they weren't out of alignment. Perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had to have an alignment on any care I've owned in the past 20 years.

Does anyone know if any tire place (Costco, Discount Tire) can do a good job on the alignment or is there something special about the LEAF where a Nissan dealer should do it?

I think the fact that you didn't realize you were out of alignment this time has more to do with why you haven't had one in the last 20 years than whether your car actually needed it :?
Any (qualified) alignment shop can perform the Leaf alignment; we've reached the point where the specs are in the computers/machines they use to do it (I did mine @NTB when I bought my set of Michelin Defenders).

 

[lwaz12a]

Coming up on 2 years/27,000 miles, Ecopias are shot and failed inspection. My mechanic who I've gone to for years says this is pretty routine for Bridgestones. Seen many posts with most having similar experiences and a few lucky folks getting many more miles on their Ecopias. In SE Pennsylvania, not the easiest road conditions, but I'm disappointed with 27K miles. Mechanic advised that trying to get warranty from Bridgestone more trouble than it would be worth. He recommended Yokohama Avid Ascend as a first choice and Nexen (sp) as cheaper choice. Seeing lots of airplay on Michelins and range reduction. They are also pricey. The Yokohoma's he quoted me at $528 for 4 and the Nexen at $464. I had the OEMs rotated, aligned and inflated properly.
Incidently, there is a Car and Driver article posted awhile back on tires and the Ascends slightly increase road holding specs and are supposed to be low-rolling resistance as are the Ecopias. Haven't seen any posts about these tires in the multiple tire threads (maybe its there but I didn't catch them). I'm getting 4.2kw average now. Will post with results later.
Link to C&D article for those interested: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/the-nearly-10-g-nissan-leaf-getting-an-ev-to-grip-like-a-911-feature" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Very happy with Leaf overall. Good luck to all.

 

[DaveEV]

I often look over at PriusChat.com for tire recommendations - lots more people own Prius'. Looks like the AVID Ascend may be a decent choice, but perhaps not quite as LRR as the EP422.

Low Rolling Resistance replacement tires: Current List
Yokohama AVID Ascend Review

I really wish that manufacturers were required to publish accurate rolling resistance ratings on the tires here in the USA as they do in Europe.

 

[TomT]

I'd caution about extrapolating from the Prius to the Leaf... Difference cars behave differently with the same tires... Among other things, the Leaf has a more balanced F/R weight distribution and is heavier...

I often look over at PriusChat.com for tire recommendations - lots more people own Prius'. Looks like the AVID Ascend may be a decent choice, but perhaps not quite as LRR as the

 

[dgpcolorado]

...I really wish that manufacturers were required to publish accurate rolling resistance ratings on the tires here in the USA as they do in Europe.

I'll second that. Sure would make life a lot easier to have hard numbers on rolling resistance when stretching range is the most important factor in tire selection.

I'm at 17,000 miles and the tires are almost worn out; driving mountain hairpin turns and dirt roads is hard on tires! (Where I live nobody gets anything approaching the rated mileage on tires. Ever.) The right tires are more worn than the left due to the terrain I drive, so in the future I think I should do cross rotations.

I think I'll wait until this fall to replace them at about 21,000 miles so that I have new tires for next winter, although that means a range hit from the new tires (but with improved snow traction). Unless I can find some evidence that there are tires that are lower rolling resistance than the EP422s — and are readily available — I'll just go with the Bridgestones again.

To my surprise I've not had a single flat tire yet. I attribute this to the very depressed house construction market around here: less construction means fewer nails and screws on the road.

 

[mwalsh]

I'm at 17,000 miles and the tires are almost worn out; driving mountain hairpin turns and dirt roads is hard on tires! (Where I live nobody gets anything approaching the rated mileage on tires. Ever.) The right tires are more worn than the left due to the terrain I drive, so in the future I think I should do cross rotations.

Can you go down the mountains backwards to even them out?