Needing new tires! Questions after reading forums

[Flora]

It seems that the Michelin Hydroedge 185/65/R14 tires do well on the Insight with just a small loss in mpg per reading posts. Other than cost, are there any other negatives? It seems they are better handling, ride, in rain than the OEM's. Has anyone had these tires a while and could comment how they are doing?

I would like comments on the Goodyear Integrity also.


If I use tires other than the OEM's, will it put more strain on the battery and make it wear out sooner? I saw some references in the posts about having to use the battery more with some of the tires.

Thanks.

[Resist]

I highly doubt tires will make that much of difference on the battery strain. Personally I bought my Insight for great gas mileage, so I would stick with the OEM tires.

[Tim Maddux]

If you use non-OEM tires they will be grippier and heavier. This will put more drag on the car and make it a little slower to accelerate under the same load, which may result in you pushing the car harder to accelerate like it used to, which would result in more frequent / deeper IMA battery cycling.

I haven't found it to be significant. The drag is more noticeable at highway speeds where it can make lean-burn harder to maintain in a 5spd.

[Rick]

Do you have OEM's on the car currently? I got new tires a few thousand miles ago (think it was at 27K) and the ride and noise improvments were quite a bit by just getting fresh rubber.

If your looking to loose the least mpg the Integrity is probably your best bet, it is a LRR type tire. I'm personally sticking with the OEM tire, it's not perfect, but it's got it's purpose, which is LRR, and it does it's job well. At most if I lived in an area where the car wanted to drift in the grooves of the road more I might do what Willie did and run Potenza's on the front and Integrities on the rears.

Hi Flora:

___I just replaced the OEM Integrity’s on the 03 Corolla for an exact match OEM Integrity again. The Integrity’s have better traction and quieter ride on the Corolla then the RE92’s on the Insight but it is a much quieter automobile with much wider track and much larger footprint from the get go. With that, the Integrity’s are rated poorly against exact size tires by those that have A-B’ed them. That being said, the reason the Integrity’s went back on the Corolla after 67,000 miles is they were relatively inexpensive vs. the Michelin Hydro’s or Goodyear Assurance’s and they have the lowest RR of the three.

___In comparison to the Bridgestone RE92’s, I wouldn’t touch the Integrity’s or anything else on my Insight 5-speed. You may not think the hit is going to be much but when you start achieving middling Prius II and HCH type fuel economy in an Insight, why are you driving an Insight in the first place?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:2li8dfce]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:2li8dfce]

[figgy]

Let us know your final decision and be sure to post details if you decide to switch from the OEMs.

I lose about 10% give or take with the super sticky tires vs the OEMs. The key benefit is that I haven't ended up in the Pacific while driving on HWY 1 in the rain. It's apples and oranges.

You'll still love your Insight whatever shoes she wears.

If you drive for mpg with non-OEMs you will still get much better mpg than any other car and you will still be driving an Insight.

If you drive like a maniac in OEMs, you won't get good mileage anyway, so just do what you think suits your personality best.

[Gary Lively]

I replaced the OEM tires at 28k with Yokohama ES-100 185/60/R14's and noted MUCH better wear and handling. I have 22k on them now.
I drive thru a long contruction zone frequently with a very rough surface and the ES-100's are vastly superior, no problem with longitudinal cracks and such. I can drive it with a two fingers on bad surfaces.
The MPG is about 5mpg less at highway speed, but I place great value on my well being, especially in a weight challenged car. The handling in crosswinds and wet surfaces is also vastly better, the speedo is more accurate and they were only $7 more than the OEM's.
Not sure about snow, not much of that here in Central Florida.
If you are a performance dirver, I would heartily recommend them.
Wish I could have gotten the same tire in the stock size, bet the RR would be as good or better than stock.

Safety 1st,
Gary