Need new tires on a 2010 Lexus RX 450h, AWD, 235 55 19, 101h or v. Michelin Latitude Tour HP(greenx LRR), Continental true Contact or Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia? Which is the best choice?
And premium fuel, which is better for the hybrid system, 93 octane with ethanol or 91 octane, no ethanol?
What octane does your owners manual specify?
Tires have an incredibly short shelf life…Before you can wear them out, they don’t make them anymore…Tires with names like Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia come and go every 6 months…I’d pick the ones with the highest tread-wear rating for the money…The rest of it will take care of itself…Your car needs 91 octane premium fuel. If you can find and are willing to pay for 91 octane ethanol free fuel, go for it…Is it coming from a “Top Tier” gasoline retailer??
and
www.1010tires.com
both have excellent consumer feedback sites that are invaluable in selecting new tires. Yo can even buy the tires from them.
Re: the fuel, use what the owner’s manual recommends. It’s folly to try to outwit the tech writers who wrote it… who got their information directly from the design guys via the formal design package.
Every customer that I’ve sold Ecopias to has been very happy with the ride and handling of the tire.
asemaster I had far less than a satisfactory experience with the only Bridgestones I have owned. They were OEM on a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse base model so they were probably the cheapest tires available but with so many brands that I have had a good experience with I refuse to take a chance.
I hope the OP bought the Lexus hybrid to save the planet rather than save money on fuel. Many people bought Smart Cars and Minis which also require premium for their good fuel mileage numbers then realized the fuel was substantially more expensive than 87 octane regular. Kind of like diesels.
The OP’s question was which premium fuel was better, 93 with ethanol or 91 without ethanol. My 2 cts is either is fine. The car requires a minimum 91, so 93 will not hurt. And, modern cars are built to withstand the corroding effects of ethanol. I think your 2010 can handle up to 20% ethanol without long-term damage. Also, your car will probably not get any difference in mileage between ethanol vs non-ethanol laced fuel, but it may be a worth-while experiment.
I vote for Michelins and the 91 octane without ethanol (I hate ethanol). I’ve had several sets of Michelins and they are the best tires that I’ve ever owned. I can’t say anything bad about Bridgestone tires but the only set of Continental tires I’ve owned were junk.
I can essentially echo what was already stated.
If the OP is able to find ethanol-free gas (of at least 91 octane), that would be the best choice for fueling her car.
As to tires, virtually all manufacturers make tires of varying qualities, so even though I was dissatisfied with my tires from both Bridgestone and Continental, and even though I have been impressed with every Michelin tire that I have ever owned, making broad statements about tire companies is probably not appropriate or accurate.
The OP should check the ratings and consumer reviews of these tires on the tire rack and/or 1010 tires websites in order to make her decision.
I would use the less expensive of the two fuels. Either will work well as other board members said. You might get slightly better fuel economy with E0 vs E10, but the difference should be small. If you like to experiment, try a few tanks of both and see if you can see a difference. This test will only work if you drive the same route every day.
@sgtrock21 I don’t sell that many Bridgestones because generally I think the customer can get as good a tire for less money. But the Ecopia line has proven to be a very smooth, quiet, and capable tire with good traction for our climate. I think they are better than other tires in the same price range. I’ve gotten positive feedback from everyone that bought them.
I think all tire makers are trying to gain a share of the market. I think BS, GY, Firestone, Hankook, even Michelin to some degree offer a wide range of tires from the bargain basement models to top of the line premium products. You’ve just got to know which ones to buy.
I don’t know of anyone (except maybe fleet service) who specifically buys a hybrid to save money. They’re not about that. They’re about using less fuel and supporting emerging technology.
I’ve always had good luck with Bridgestones. On my Bronco I had a set of Dueler A/T Revos , which were hands down the best combination of on-road and off road performance in a tire that I’ve ever had. They were better on-road than the BFG A/T KO but didn’t give up much in comparison to in off-road performance. I have Potenza RE970AS Pole Positions on my Mustang now, and for an all-season tire, they are excellent. The don’t have quite the initial bite on turn in as the summer RE-760’s or BFG G-Force KDW 2’s I had before them, but ultimate traction is pretty close and they ride much smoother.
Firestone is a subsidiary of Bridgestone. Why do you list them separately @asemaster?
@jtsanders Yeah, they’re from the same corporate entity but they are two distinct tire lines, both the passenger and light truck tires.
I’d also still talk separately about Uniroyal, Michelin, and Goodrich.
OK, thanks.
Thank you everyone for your input. I live in a county in southern WI where our Mobil stations have 91premium without ethanol. Maybe I will experiment between the 2 premiums. And I have read all the reviews on the sites suggested and was slightly overwhelmed so I asked here for some clarification, and I think I’ll go with the Bridgestones. They have a better treadwear rating then the Michelins and I just don’t feel I know enough about the Continentals.
I bought the hybrid to get better mileage and a better ride than the Ford Explorer I sold and to be nicer to the planet (maybe to balance out my lack of helping the planet with my summer driver, a vette!?) Thanks again to all who commented!
Bring your bathroom scale with you to the tire store…Buy the tire that weighs the most, sizes being the same…With this method, you can’t go to far wrong…
What? Exactly how would that be better?
Greater rotating mass takes more energy to get rolling. Try spinning a road bike wheel by hand and then a mountain bike wheel. You’ll find the mountain bike wheel takes noticeably more effort. Thus, a heavier tire will give one worse mileage and poorer acceleration.
Greater rotating mass is harder to stop due to the greater inertia. Try stopping both the road bike wheel and the mountain bike wheel with your hand. You’ll find the mountain bike wheel significantly harder. Thus, the heavier tire will be harder on the brakes.
The “sprung to unsprung” weight ratio is an important variable in determining a smooth ride. Just as a 98lb weakling trying to push a 250lb lineman has a great deal of difficulty and a 250pound lineman can send a 98 pound weakling flying with little effort, a heavier wheel sends more energy through the suspension, creating a less smooth ride.
With tires, there are significantly more variables involved, but all else being equal buying the heaviest tires in the store is definitely not the answer for a good ride quality, economy, or longevity of the car’s brakes and even, one could argue, the drivetrain.
Allow me to second what mountainbike said about tire weight. There is really no correlation between weight and “quality” - that word meaning a lot of different things. In fact, it could be argued that manufacturers of poor quality tires have heavier tires because they don’t know how to produce lighter tires without quality issues.
I can’t wait to walk into a tire store carrying bathroom scales just to see what kind of reaction I get.