I found my tires half price which should run $0.007 per mile. The way I am approaching this my goal is to be 1 cent/mi for maintenance, 1 cent/mi for power (hourly pricing with solar), 8 cent/mi for insurance to reach my goal of $0.10 per mile. Insurance costs lessen with more mileage driven annually (still a huge pain in my eyes). $2500 / year is higher than I like with most of the cost being insurance.

 

Got them installed today and they are definitely much better than the oem bridgestone turanzas that came with the vehicle. I think my biggest problem with the OEM turanzas were they wore unevenly so road felt more rough both smooth pavement and rough. Even hurt my back with all the swaying going across town.

Officially this is the absolute BEST upgrade one can make to bz4x. Totally changes character, ride, abilities of the vehicle. There are pluses and minuses.

Pros:
Ride is very smooth
Confidence inspiring
Much more traction dry/wet/snow
100k mile Tread life with no noticeable loss in traction/capabilities
Quiet Tire
Able to do high speed maneuvers easier (not a race car) as it hugs the road on curves

Negatives:
Not being Low Rolling Resistance means before when I drive 70mph it feels like how it felt doing 100mph in oem tire. Now at 50mph it feels like 70mph old tire even though there is no noticeable audible difference to our ears (it is quieter than when the bridgestones got some miles on them).

I only notice 1% drop in first 50 miles on energy meter. I am posting this for anyone else like me who was confused why they are driving a highly capable vehicle but not getting proper performance. I was confused and spent alot of unnecessary time trying to figure this out. For others it was probably a very simple conclusion. For me, I wish I had dumped the original tires first day and not wasted my time with them at all, it is a small regret for me.


There was another choice that I am very curious about called Michelin Primacy Tour AS. I didn't mind paying more for it and getting half the tread life BUT I need much more than 10% ride improvement. Especially at 80mph its closer to 5%.

 

I dumped my Turanzas at 31K even though they still had 7/32 tread left. They were getting noisy, and water traction had degraded. I decided to go with the Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra which have an 80K warranty. Not designed specifically for EVs but I figured a harder tire (indicative of the higher mileage warranty) would have less rolling resistance than a lower tread warranty soft tire. I have not noticed any degradation in range.

 

Did you lose any feeling when driving fast but feeling car moving slow? Like rubber rolling super smooth so 100mph feels like you are driving 50mph. That's my only gripe with non EV tires, super excellent traction and tread life but giving up that awesome feeling of gliding on the road. I don't want 20k miles out of tires but love that feeling. I might go to 50k to get it but hate the hassle of mounting and buying tires and more importantly the feeling when I run over some rough terrain that I chewed up my tires.

 

Did not notice any reduction in ride quality.

 

Still breaking them in so its early to tell. First 1000 miles are different than the rest supposedly. But overall ride quality is really good, only main notable difference is the lack of low rolling resistance. It is something I do miss but initially was in the impression that long life low rolling resistance tires don't exist. I think Pirelli makes something with a long warranty (in past pirellis were very famous for not lasting). In some ways removing low rolling resistance has helped me stop flying 30-50 mph over the speed limit everywhere but car does feel much more planted now. Tires do feel heavier too, but they have the most durable tread ever. Makes it like butter running over obstacles/pot holes which is common in chicago. I do have the psi 5 psi higher as winter is coming soon and expect air to leak out. Ride was extra jarring first night but it is settling as each day continues because of the extra firm rubber. It does change the character of the car moving from low rolling resistance to regular tires. It feels like an awesome winter tire how heavy/planted it feels. I also like not sweating running over bumps/rough terrain. It reminds me of my first car 1993 BMW 3 series with 16" michelin sport tires.

 

You might consider nitrogen as opposed to oxygen in the tires - far less PSI variation between seasons.

 

Unfortunately my Toyota dealer didn't have this. 10 years ago they would charge $100 for this at a Mercedes Dealer.

 

If you are a member at Costco, they can probably do it for far less. In, they provide free nitrogen in the parking lot for "top-offs."

 

Nitrogen is a joke. Regular air is over 70% nitrogen as it is. Any mechanic or honest tire shop will tell you it's waste. Fine in aircraft tires or race tires. In a passenger car all it gives you is fancy green valve stem caps and a royal PIA anytime you want to add air

 

To each his own, but I would imagine it operates inefficiently up north; works just fine in the Midatlantic.

 

FYI 5 psi is very noticable ride quality difference on this tire. I think the very high rubber wear rating affects it more than my softer Michelin tires in past.

I had nitrogen on Mercedes with super low profile tires which helped. Not sure if it will be as needed on this but will try to find nitrogen if air leaks out. What I notice is air pressure changes as tires warm up.

 

After 1 week tires feel very nice especially on the construction and uneven pavement. Highly recommended soo far. It did take a week or so to break in. Don't bother over inflating tires. For me defender 2 shine on roads with high friction, sound does get into cabin slightly but when you are driving over super rough surfaces you want to know the damage your tires are taking. I think thats why I went through oem tires extra fast as all the major highways near me are under heavy 5 year construction. But even if it weren't after seeing how LRR tires get chewed up I wouldn't want them. I love how they glide like a condor but it's a very weak rubber, not a super rubber designed for beatings. I don't see the formula working to have no friction and tires handling abuse and longevity along with poor weather handling.

We had heavy rain for short moments yesterday and tire didn't lift at all, very planted. I am a Michelin fan so I am slightly biased. In the end I seek the ultimate tires regardless of brand but each person has different needs and driving styles. I don't like having to worry about the abuse my tires take.

 

I must be a completely unobservant person. I can never notice much difference at all when switching tires on any cars I've had, EV or not!

 

After having 10-15 high end germans my butt is like niki lauda, I can sense the car underneath me. I was even debating today whether I would have been happier in mercedes eqs vs bz4x as they are the same price. I like toyota engineering but miss mercedes suspensions, mostly for my back. I don't like my elderly parents feeling any potholes on the road as they get easily affected. Chicago has been terrible, potholes are getting bigger and we are heading to winter season. Traffic seems to be coming down with the whole attack on civilians, no one feels like going out and being harassed by military police.
It's really a catch 22, a quality tire will not give the uber soft cushy ride that LRR tires give. One is better for offroading and the other for perfectly flat roads. Normally highway tires are the best when highways are like the autobahn but chicago's potholes are infamous, second to NYC. I once lost an entire car in a sinkhole.

 

I can. When I switched the ones on our RAV from the factory rubber at 26k (which sounded like a set of garbage truck tires) to the Michelin Cross Climate 2. The difference was night and day. the CC2 was nearly silent, road outstanding, steering response is incredible with them. There is everything to like except one glaring issue for an electrified vehicle. They REALLY hurt the economy and the range. Turned a 50+ mpg vehicle to an upper 30s to low 40s. They REALLY suck for economy. I'd never recommend to anyone with a full electric.

 

Yeah CC2s are not as good on electric vehicles as they have too much traction and a different sidewall pattern that isnt tuned for evs. Defender 2s are better from what I understood. I put Michelin cross climate aigilis on my ford etransit van, different than CC2. Both tires lost less than 5-10 miles of range from OEM but much, much better traction and ride feel. The aigils tires were exceptional on the ford but I haul 3000lbs + tow.

I have been paying closer attention on my bz4x and I haven't seen a massive hit in energy consumption but there are days I drive hard and fast. Other days slow and easy. Based on driving style my consumption has been commiserate. I did see much higher numbers in beginning which made no sense to me, when I had overfilled the tires. But it made ride bumpy and I think was more breaking in than higher pressure. Even when I am racing 90 mph I haven't seen anything less than 2.7kw on trip meter but tires seem harder to spin out because of more friction. Cold nights has just started so I will know more soon as I run heater. My range figures still show 232 miles which is same after 2 weeks of owning bz4x at 100%. Driven 600 miles on michelins so far.