Comments on: Michelin Continues Its Battle Against the Gas Pump

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:40:32 +0000

hopefully michlen will continue to develop the twheel to a point where it can be used for every vehicle. the twheel has the potential to be lighter and will never be under inflated. this would go a long way to increase fuel savings without compromising safety

By: LeoLeo

LeoLeo — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:58:24 +0000

Thread life and speed ratings exist on every tire to give the consumer an idea of what they are buying. It would be great to have some sort of comparative standard for rolling resistance too. Otherwise, labels like "Low resistance" doesn't mean much to compare tires between manufacturers.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:42:30 +0000

It’s where the rubber meets the road and the bumper of the car in front of you. Safety is more important than mpg’s. Especially, when you rear-end a sue happy person with dollar signs in their eyes!

By: Walter Lee

Walter Lee — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:41:23 +0000

2010 July Consumer Reports rates a group of Low Rolling Resistant Tires which are more expensive than regular tires. Michelin’s Energy Saver Tire was one of the more expensive tires but it was also recommended as one of the better overall choices in the group. From what I’ve read in other forums, LRR tires tend to have two engineering compromises – 1) they don’t grip the road as well as most tires (especially on wet payement), and 2) the tread tend to wear out faster in performance driving scenarios (fast accelerations/hard stopping). On the plus side, LRR tires can give a car a 2 mpg increase in fuel efficiency.

By: Bruno Suplina

Bruno Suplina — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 06:19:05 +0000

I fully agree. The Dunlop tires on my Honda Civic Hybrid were good for fuel mileage but weren’t very good at giving me grip on icy roads and wet surface as much as pure winter tires which I still haven’t taken off the car yet. I am willing to sacrifice a couple of miles per gallon drop for the traction I am receiving via proper tires for our climate(i.e Alberta,Canada).

By: veek

veek — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:05:07 +0000

Our hybrid Escape originally came with Continental “low rolling resistance eco tires” and they were the worst tires we can remember using recently. The Contis constantly felt like they were hydroplaning, they definitely did hydroplane in the wet, straight-line performance was dodgy in any weather, and we just never quite trusted them. Consumer Reports backed up the lack of performance and braking relative to the tires on the standard Escape, and this may help explain the higher accident rate for hybrids noted on a long-past column on HybridCars. No matter how “green” they were advertised to be, they just seemed dangerous, and their only advantage was that they encouraged us to drive more slowly. When it finally came time to replace them (at just over 30,000 miles) we chose Goodyear Triple-Treads and were amazed at the difference. We have lost about 2 mpg but the difference in performance (including braking) makes us very leery about going with a tire simply because it is marketed as “green.” If that’s what it takes to be “green,” we’ll seek some other solution. Green should not be incompatible with safety, and I sure hope the newer generation of eco-tires are significantly better.