Best Year-Round Replacement Tire?

[amphibious]

In the dealership's pitch to get me to purchase the "XS Wear" extended warranty, the finance guy pointed out several times that the stock LRR tires are only good for about $20,000 miles, and the car needed to be returned with a certain about of tread left.

I understand these are "summer tires," and would really like to replace them with a standard all weather tire. I'm likely only going to put about 20,000 miles on the vehicle during the lease term, so I don't need a tired that'll last forever. I'm in Portland, so the weather is generally pretty mild, standard commuting and errand running on 100% paved roads.

I've looked through the forum and I can't find an answer to either of my two questions...

1. Is there such a thing as an all weather LRR tire?
2. Anyone know what the general loss of range is with a non-LRR all weather?

 

[Zoomit]

The Ecopia 150 is an All Season tire.

The range difference between an LRR tire and the other extreme is probably 7-10%. Replacing the OEM tire with a normal All Season tire probably has 5% difference on the top end. It's more likely 3% or so.

 

[KingUltra]

I paid $500 for XS Wear when I Leased the vehicle. If the original tires only go 20K miles, then I still need to replace them once before I hit 36K Lease limit.

 

[Zoomit]

For $500 you can buy and install TWO replacement sets of front tires.

 

[ReddyKilowatt]

We don't get much snow or ice here but it can happen - the Spark seems a little too torquey at the low end to make a good car for frosty roads, so it wouldn't be my go-to car on a frosty or snowy day (that is why the other car is an AWD RAV4 with very good all-season tires). On the other hand, it does rain quite a bit here between Nov-March, so something that handles wet roads well would be good.

Can anyone point me toward reliable data on the mileage effect between LRR tires and all-season tires?

 

[Zoomit]

Nope--check the other threads. The question has been asked but it can't be answered easily as it depends greatly on what specific tires you're comparing. Oh and it also depends on the tire size, so you need to know the measured efficiency difference between two types of tires of the same size.

Tirerack.com has examples of this kind of data in their reviews, which you can see will be a difference of a few percentage.

 

[NORTON]

Is this 'pinching it' ?

You are already paying 1/3 the costs compared to burning gas. Less if you get some free charging.
Why stress over "3-7% range penalty" ?

I went with "Ultra High Performance All-Season" , (whatever that means), Kumho ECSTA 4X II.
They were on sale and I wanted stickier tires to enjoy this car. I now wish I had bought 195's all around.
I'm not renting my car so I'll put the stock tires back on when these are done.

 

[nikwax]

For under $500, you can take off and store the original tires and buy an excellent set of tires that will make the car more fun to drive and give you better rain and cornering performance. They're small tires and inexpensive to replace.


No amount of money or range loss was going to make me keep the OEM tires, period.

 

[Carney]

I like the idea of sticker tiers giving you more exhilarating performance, but bear in mind: taking a range hit increases your risk of being stranded, which can really cost you in money, hassle, frustration, and even humiliation.

 

[NORTON]

If you're cutting it so close that a 3-7% "range hit" is going to strand you,,,, a little 'humility' will teach you a lesson.

I run my Kuhmo's at close to 51 psi and my 'Guess o meter' is always in the high 80's, sometimes when I use the back roads it will be in the low 90's.
And I'm not even trying to go easy. This is 90% interstate, although on the way home it can be slow rush hour traffic in the evenings.

The way this EV Hot Rod goes through front tires it is not a big deal to try different ones for a cycle !
Depending on how much you are enjoying the performance you could get good life or horrible life out of a set.

 

[nikwax]

Hydroplaning or running off the road would be much more humiliating to me than running out of juice and calling for a tow


Safety first. My wife's not going to be driving a car with questionable tires, ever.

 

[Zoomit]

Remember folks that different tires don't change the accuracy of any of the car's indications. The EPA range changes from 82 miles to ~79 miles. Less efficient tires only decrease the range performance of the car, not your ability to judge when it will run out of juice.

If you cut it too close and run out, it's not the car's or tire's fault. It's the nut behind the wheel, as they say.

 

[Nashco]

We don't get much snow or ice here but it can happen - the Spark seems a little too torquey at the low end to make a good car for frosty roads, so it wouldn't be my go-to car on a frosty or snowy day (that is why the other car is an AWD RAV4 with very good all-season tires). On the other hand, it does rain quite a bit here between Nov-March, so something that handles wet roads well would be good.

Can anyone point me toward reliable data on the mileage effect between LRR tires and all-season tires?

Note that this car is extremely capable in the ice and snow. Being "torquey at the low end" doesn't matter, since it has traction control and stability control that limit that torque if wheel spin is detected. Likewise for ABS on the braking side. Of course, these safety features can't change physics, but this car is just as capable (or more) as any other car wearing the same set of tires. I've driven mine in snow and ice without any issues, it's surprisingly competent and actually takes a bit of the fun away from driving in the snow if you want to go hoon around, as I do. My biggest concern was damage that might occur to the plastic belly pans in deep snow, as traction wasn't an issue.

The factory tires will offer the best range/efficiency, by far. Nothing else anybody has tested compares, which is obviously why GM chose those tires. With that said, expect less than 10% reduction in range/efficiency with most typical "all season" tires. My racing tires get almost 20% reduced range/efficiency, which is an extreme example on the low side. If you can stand up to a 10% reduction, get whatever all season tire you prefer for noise/traction/cost and keep the pressures up and enjoy. If you need > 90% of your stock range/efficiency, then I'd recommend sticking with the factory tires...which are horrible for anything except efficiency and noise!

Bryce

 

[Anonymous]

I have 36000 on my original factory tires. The front ones are in need of replacing but the back still look new. I have to admit that they didn’t get rotated as often as they should. By not getting oil changes it kinda gets frogotten about.

 

[oregonsparky]

I have 36000 on my original factory tires. The front ones are in need of replacing but the back still look new. I have to admit that they didn’t get rotated as often as they should. By not getting oil changes it kinda gets frogotten about.

I am not sure I will rotate mine at all. I am old school and do not like to change rotational direction of the tire. So without a dismount and mount I am probably not going to do rotation.

Jeff

 

[SteveC5088]

I have 36000 on my original factory tires. The front ones are in need of replacing but the back still look new. I have to admit that they didn’t get rotated as often as they should. By not getting oil changes it kinda gets frogotten about.

Good to see someone is getting realistic mileage out of their tires.

I'm such a lead-foot that I won't get 10,000 miles on mine. My next tires will have a mileage guarantee if I can find any.

 

[KingUltra]

I have 36000 on my original factory tires. The front ones are in need of replacing but the back still look new. I have to admit that they didn’t get rotated as often as they should. By not getting oil changes it kinda gets frogotten about.

I hope I can make it to 36K just in time to return my Lease . Will rotate them per manual, but I'm not sure how useful is to rotate them from left to right ...

 

[elpwr]

I have 36000 on my original factory tires. The front ones are in need of replacing but the back still look new. I have to admit that they didn’t get rotated as often as they should. By not getting oil changes it kinda gets frogotten about.

I hope I can make it to 36K just in time to return my Lease . Will rotate them per manual, but I'm not sure how useful is to rotate them from left to right ...

Left to right tire rotation is very useful to help reduce the feathering and heel/toe block wear that inevitably occurs. Once these wear patterns sent in, the tires soon become very noisy. This can be eliminated or reduced by left/right rotation.