[telveer]

So, with a state inspection looming close, we finally bit the bullet and had all 4 tires on our 2013 Volt replaced

After 40,000 miles, the OEM tires still had deep treads left in the main section but the edges had more or less worn off, I believe, partly because of my aggressive driving style and partly because of the weak sidewalls. The edges wore off disproportionately in spite of regularly rotating the tires, maintaining 42PSI (cold) and getting at least one wheel alignment (which was probably not required because the wheels were mostly to spec).

We decided to go with Michelin Premier A/S 215/55R17 94V tires, from COSTCO. After discounts and cash back, final price came to about $670 for all 4 tires, installed. COSTCO has some nice perks like nitrogen fill ( I will take it if it is free, even if the advantages are debatable), life time wheel rotation/balancing/patching, road hazard coverage, better warranty, etc

After the tires were replaced, the car felt a whole lot more taut, especially around corners. Handling was very firm and road noise was significantly reduced. My AER came down by about 10%, but part of it could be because temperatures soared to mid 90s, and I never skimp on AC (comfort mode, for the most part). I expect AER to recover partially (if not completely) as the tires get "broken in" and temperatures get back to normal. I pumped the new tires to 42PSI (cold). I will probably take it for another alignment, just in case. Sears owes me a free alignment anyway.

Will post an update in a month or two.

 

[Barry]

I had the same wear pattern on my original tires.

I am sure you will love your new tires. A great upgrade to a great car. I run 44 PSI cold, and would go higher if my Continental's max would allow it.

[edit: my original tires were replaced at almost exactly 40,000 miles also]

 

[SirSpammenot]

Same thing! My 2013MY had uneven wear as you describe and I switched to Premiers at only 37K. I just recently put on a second set of Premiers at 97K! I keep them at 38 cold, they usually run at 41-42psi.

FWIW the big deal about nitrogen is that it went through a purifier which removed all the moisture, which is the component of the gas that expands and contracts with temp fluctuations. If you have a drier on your air compressor, you get the same benefit from plain air. But both costs extra and only nitrogen has that extra little marketing oomph!

 

[TheBlueFlash]

The Premier is a fine overall tire, but it is not a good LRR tire. The Michelin Energy Saver A/S would have been a better option if you wanted to maximize your EV range.

 

[caronjeff]

Looking up the specs for that tire on tirerack.com the listing shows 6.4" tread width. Wow! Is that accurate? If so as heavy a car the Volt is I'd be concerned about accelerated wear. OEM Goodyears are 6.9". My Michelin Primacy MXV4's are 7.3"

 

[24521]

I changed to Michelin Premier A/S on my 2013 Volt tires late in 2016 after the death of my left front original tire at 36,000 miles
due to a nail in the sidewall.

Also the edge of the original tire were all rounded off.
I am a very easy driver and the tire were at 42 PSI at all times.

What an improvement over the original tires !!!!

Basically no loss of EV mileage at 40 PSI

The big difference is grip in rain. The original tires felt like driving a skate board when changing
lanes at 60 MPH on the freeway in rain. These Michelin Premier A/S stick like they are glued to the road
in the rain

 

[telveer]

The Premier is a fine overall tire, but it is not a good LRR tire. The Michelin Energy Saver A/S would have been a better option if you wanted to maximize your EV range.

Agree .. If max range is the goal, one should go for LRR. But I want a good mix of range, performance and low noise. I find that Michelin Premier A/S fits the bill. I haven't personally experienced Michelin Energy Saver A/S but online reviews show it has considerable road noise.

I am enjoying the reduction in tire-road noise, which has been dramatic (and I can verify objectively before/after because I have a dashcam that records audio as well). I am told that road noise (and AER) improve as the new tires settle down .. so it can only get better from here, and I am already enjoying it now

 

[telveer]

Looking up the specs for that tire on tirerack.com the listing shows 6.4" tread width. Wow! Is that accurate? If so as heavy a car the Volt is I'd be concerned about accelerated wear. OEM Goodyears are 6.9". My Michelin Primacy MXV4's are 7.3"

Looks like even the tire manufacturers are not listing Tread Width because it is quite tricky to measure, especially on rounded tires. Tirerack does list Tread Width (and a nice explanation of how they measure it) for this tire as 6.4", which appears to be lower compared to some other tires. But my OEM tires with larger tread width wore off very fast (especially the edges) .. so having larger tread width did not help in that case. Reviews of Michelin Premier A/S new tires generally report very good tire life. Some users on this forum also reported getting ~60K miles on this tire .. so I am not overly worried about accelerated wear.

 

[TheBlueFlash]

Agree .. If max range is the goal, one should go for LRR. But I want a good mix of range, performance and low noise. I find that Michelin Premier A/S fits the bill. I haven't personally experienced Michelin Energy Saver A/S but online reviews show it has considerable road noise.

I am enjoying the reduction in tire-road noise, which has been dramatic (and I can verify objectively before/after because I have a dashcam that records audio as well). I am told that road noise (and AER) improve as the new tires settle down .. so it can only get better from here, and I am already enjoying it now

Sure, that's understandable, you gotta go with what's most important to you. For some it is EV range, others it is comfort/noise. For future reference though, if EV range ever becomes a priority for you, I can recommend the Michelin Energy Saver A/S and the Bridgestone Ecopia. I've rode on both tires on various cars (Mazda CX-5, Nissan Leaf, Volt) and I found both to make low noise, handle road bumps well, slow wearing, and maximized efficiency.

 

[an_outsider]

The big difference is grip in rain. The original tires felt like driving a skate board when changing
lanes at 60 MPH on the freeway in rain. These Michelin Premier A/S stick like they are glued to the road
in the rain

I was looking for replacement and those Michelin Premier A/S were first on my short list but as you mentioned it, the grip in rain is for me the deciding factor. Thanks comforting me into my selection.

 

[baragona]

I just replaced my OEM tires with Michelin Premier A/S as well.

I can't believe the difference!!! I could tell the difference even while still in the parking lot!!!

I haven't driven enough to see what the range difference is but I don't care. After 5 years of Volt driving, I can count on one hand the number of time 2-3 miles of range made a difference. But even if that happens, the increase in performance will be more than worth it.

 

[benthere]

Sure, that's understandable, you gotta go with what's most important to you. For some it is EV range, others it is comfort/noise. For future reference though, if EV range ever becomes a priority for you, I can recommend the Michelin Energy Saver A/S and the Bridgestone Ecopia. I've rode on both tires on various cars (Mazda CX-5, Nissan Leaf, Volt) and I found both to make low noise, handle road bumps well, slow wearing, and maximized efficiency.

Those Michelin Energy Savers are not easily found in the 215/55r17 size.

 

[Prohidium]

I went with Pirelli P7's and am starting to notice they are getting a bit noisy but also am getting normal range from them too. They are still handling well and still not as noisy as the oem's were although it has been about a year now on the new tires. Strangely, the Michelin x-ice 2's I had on over the winter were very quiet (more so than the summer tires) except when going very low speed and hearing the sipes gripping!

 

[obermd]

Same thing! My 2013MY had uneven wear as you describe and I switched to Premiers at only 37K. I just recently put on a second set of Premiers at 97K! I keep them at 38 cold, they usually run at 41-42psi.

FWIW the big deal about nitrogen is that it went through a purifier which removed all the moisture, which is the component of the gas that expands and contracts with temp fluctuations. If you have a drier on your air compressor, you get the same benefit from plain air. But both costs extra and only nitrogen has that extra little marketing oomph!

Boyle's law applies to pure Nitrogen so as the temperature varies your tire pressure varies by a proportional amount. Water vapor only adds a small amount to this variation. Nitrogen in passenger car tires is a marketing scheme designed to lighten your wallet.

 

[obermd]

I went with Pirelli P7's and am starting to notice they are getting a bit noisy but also am getting normal range from them too. They are still handling well and still not as noisy as the oem's were although it has been about a year now on the new tires. Strangely, the Michelin x-ice 2's I had on over the winter were very quiet (more so than the summer tires) except when going very low speed and hearing the sipes gripping!

Keep a close eye on your P7 tread depth. Once they start to get noisy they're really at 80% or so of their tread life.

 

[peevee]

One of our cars has the premier as and one has the p7s. I prefer the p7s so far with 5k miles or so on each. At just over 400 a set I can replace the p7s twoce as often as the Michelin

 

[Prohidium]

Update on my P7's. A while back I made the decision to set the tires to factory pressure (38psi) and had been driving around like that since the snow tires came off. Last week, I decided to go back up to 40psi cold. Interestingly, the tires got a little quieter again and my mileage when up about 5% immediately. I know when I first got them I tried various pressures and found that above 40 the tires got a little "harsh" when going over bumps so I think that is why I did the 38psi thing. Now that they have some mileage on them, 40psi is not an issue at all, not harsh and the car handles well.

I think the sweet spot for these P7's is 40psi and maybe a bit more unless of course you don't want a harsh ride.

As far as wear is concerned, they look fine at this point. I am going to check the wear as I noted the beginning depth when they where put on. I am aware some of the P7's had wear issues but I think my set is fine so far.

Regarding the noise level, when the tires are at 38psi, there is a bit of a "hiss" or "dry bearing" sound that seems to rise up from under the car into the cabin area. At 40psi, that hiss seems to go away and the "road noise" seems to stay under the car where it belongs and is less noticeable. The hiss I am referring to was really prominent in the OEM Goodyears and no matter what you did, it did not go away or diminish.

Amazing what a 2 psi change can do.

 

[newrollo]

General tires

Buying tires is, I think, kinda like buying carpeting. I've been happy with these.
General Altimax RT43 in 225-55-17. Wanted as much height as possible for snow.
Bought the 13' Volt last November 42,000 miles original tires.
The general's did well in our Michigan rain, freezing rain,
sleet, wet snow, dry snow, black ice (repeat three or four times). Very impressed
with them. E-mileage when I bought it was 40/41. This summer it has hung in at 39.
I love the car, tires and this forum. Thanks to all that make it happen and contribute so much
to the information shared. Now back to the Dodge Durango forum.

 

[JC Volt]

I replaced my original tires at 42,500 mile with another set of the Goodyear FuelMax Assurance. As noted on other threads, Goodyear actually has 3 versions of these tires. The G1 Volt OEM tires weighed 20 pounds each and are no longer available. There is also a version with deeper tread that weighs 22 pounds per tire and a wide version that weighs 25 pounds per tire. I went with the 22 pound version from Discount Tire (Goodyear # 738548571). I have 3000 miles on them already and am seeing no loss in range based on casual observation of the GOM. I was also surprised to see that the new tires were made in the US, whereas the original Volt tires were made in Canada.

 

[Bill Allen]

I have 20,000 miles on my Premier A/S 94V over an 18 month period, they still look new & handle perfectly, yes with a small all around improvement over the stock FuelMax Assurance. If one truly took the time to compare both sets of "new" tire's ... there's really little difference on a daily commute. Only with extreme driving conditions and perhaps longevity would I give the nod to the Premier's.

My main complaint with the Premier AV is the 10% loss of EV range, more during the first 5000 miles. However that 10% loss continues to nag me as I mainly use the Volt as a commuter vehicle. Its especially noticeable as I have a 2011 Volt that barely hit 44 miles EV range on the best winter days here in Phoenix, 40 EV on a hot summer commute. Now-day's slowly my commute to 65mph and throwing every trick in the book, including a daily battery bump, I'm lucky to hit 37 EV summer & 40 winter.

I drove a friends 2012 Volt who just installed a new set of FuelMax and he drove my 2011 Volt. We both noticed very little handling difference, both sets of tires still exhibiting that annoying ping driving over highway expansion joints. I easily hit 41 EV with his 2012, he was surprised as he couldn't make 40 with the new FuelMax's. Using my techniques he's now averaging 42 EV, me I'm still suck with 37 EV ... bummer!

In hindsight I would have installed another set of the FuelMax, yes it bothers me that much!

YMMV