Tire Life

[darrelld]

Are yours the same as I linked to in my post?

I'll find out if I like them in about 3 hours.

 

Yes, the exact same tire purchased from Discount Tire.

[Waldo]

Depending upon how you drive I would think the Fusion Hybrid would wear tires faster due to the available torque from 0 RPM. Tire stress due to rotational forces would be greater when attempting to inititate the 3600 lbs of mass into motion with the electric motors 177lbs of torque. No gas engine aside from a manual equipped car revving and dumping the clutch would produce those type of forces from a complete stop.

 

Tesla and high torque diesel equipped cars have the problem of faster tire wear due to this.

 

That doesn't really make sense. The torque at the wheels is how much you put there, not how much the power system has available. If you use that additional available torque to accelerate faster, then yes, I could see more tire wear, but how often do people accelerate at full throttle from a stop in a hybrid? It takes the same amount of torque to accelerate a car at the same rate with the same mass no matter what kind of powertrain it has.

 

 

Also keep in mind that all conventional automatic transmission have a torque converter, which provides torque multiplication when accelerating, sometimes as much as double or triple from a stop. They also have gears that multiply the torque.

 

According to autoblog, the new Corvette ZO6 makes 457ft-lbs at idle. Put that through a torque converter then multiply by the 1st gear ratio (4.56) and the final drive ratio (2.41) and you've got about 10,000ft-lbs at the wheels when leaving from a stop. Good thing they have big tires!!

Edited August 21, 2014 by Waldo

[hybridbear]

 

That doesn't really make sense. The torque at the wheels is how much you put there, not how much the power system has available. If you use that additional available torque to accelerate faster, then yes, I could see more tire wear, but how often do people accelerate at full throttle from a stop in a hybrid? It takes the same amount of torque to accelerate a car at the same rate with the same mass no matter what kind of powertrain it has.

 

Also keep in mind that all conventional automatic transmission have a torque converter, which provides torque multiplication when accelerating, sometimes as much as double or triple from a stop.

 

According to autoblog, the new Corvette makes 457ft-lbs at idle. Put that through a torque converter and you've got about 900ft-lbs at the wheels when leaving from a stop. Good thing they have big tires!!

Right! There was a recent article on Green Car Reports talking about why the Spark EV advertises a much higher Torque number than other EVs but is very slow to accelerate compared to other EVs which touches on this subject.

 

Edit: here's the link: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093464_fiat-500e-vs-chevy-spark-ev-how-electric-car-torque-figures-can-be-deceptive

Edited August 21, 2014 by hybridbear

[GrySql]

I bought Continental's PureContact with EcoPlus Technology, it is a LRR Grand Touring All-Season tire.

My Ford check pays for the whole thing.

 

Let us know how they perform. I think several folks here are looking at those for a replacement.

Just returned home from having them installed.

They are a 51psi rated tire and I had 40psi put in them.

 

I like 'em.

My first impression is that they provide good stability, handling and a nice quiet ride. Much nicer than the GY Eagle LS2's.

What was really surprising was when driving on the highway coming home I was approaching a stop sign and like a good hybrid driver I anticipated the distance and let off the gas when I usually would with the old tires.

This time the car didn't slow down as fast and just kept rolling, I had to hit the brakes. These tires roll farther, and seem to be easier to accelerate with.

Time will tell if any mpg difference is shown.

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Speaking of brakes, I inspected my brake pads for wear when the car was on the lift.

What wear, what brake pad dust? The entire assembly is still very clean and the pads looked almost new at 30k miles.

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BTW, my friend also sells tires at his shop and he said he cannot buy certain tires as cheaply as Tire Rack sells them.

He sells lots of tires and I value his opinion so I asked him what he thought of my GY LS2 take-off tires.

He said they are typical OEM spec tires and are made for Ford especially for different applications.

In this case they have a good initial ride and grip but are only a 35-40k mile tire, at the low end in quality.

[acdii]

Awesome, these are the same tires I spec'd out for my replacements, glad to hear they are holding up the rep I read in the reviews. Mine are about show and make thumping noises, especially when the whole family is in the car. They will get replaced before winter.

[GrySql]

Awesome, these are the same tires I spec'd out for my replacements, glad to hear they are holding up the rep I read in the reviews. Mine are about show and make thumping noises, especially when the whole family is in the car. They will get replaced before winter.

Maybe 'darrelld' can tell us about the set he bought and add to the info pool.

-

When we were looking at the LS2 take-off's my friend said he thought they had about 5k safe miles left in them

That would make the tires as worn out at 35k miles, pretty low.

The LS2's Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) Rating is 400 and like the EPA MPG ratings there is a YMMV factor.

I'd say these tires wore out ahead of schedule, especially since they didn't suffer the abuse of the winters like you have.

 

The Conti's UTQG is 700 so I have some hopes they will wear much longer.

I will observe and report... :)

[darrelld]

I had the same Continental PureContact with EcoPlus on my previous Passat TDI and had about 15k when I traded. At that time they had no signs of wear. I currently have about 3000 miles on the Fusion so at this point its too early to form any opinion.

 

The Continentals were on the fuel economy record setting Passat TDI in this article;

http://www.continental-tires.com/www/tires_de_en/themes/news/meldungen/pr_2013_07_09_record_en.html

[acdii]

With the way I drive, mine will be bald soon. :) Now that Ford paid up, I have some cash for new rubber, now if only I can find a good deal on 4 of those black chrome rims.

[hybridbear]

For anyone who's interested, the 18-inch Goodyears are currently on sale at Tire Rack, $84 per tire instead of $199!

 

 

[TonyHzNV]

For anyone who's interested, the 18-inch Goodyears are currently on sale at Tire Rack, $84 per tire instead of $199!

 

For anyone who's STILL interested, the 18-inch Goodyears are now $86 per tire instead of $199 at Tire Rack! They must really be flying off the racks! :)