Flat-out down Mid-Ohio's long back straight – not really straight because it has a fast dog-leg kink – braking hard into the tricky right-left combination that follows, I was having a great time. For a former racer, any time spent on a wonderful road course like Mid-Ohio, even in a middling, front-drive, four-cylinder compact car, is quality time.
Tires get overlooked in the headlines about fuel economy and CAFE standards, which is a little odd. After all, a car's tires are the only contact it has with the road, so more efficient rubber means more efficient use of fuel, and even tiny gains spread over the huge number of road-going vehicles can translate into remarkable overall gains.
Bridgestone has announced the expansion of its fuel-saving Ecopia EP422 low-rolling resistance tire lineup from five to 29 sizes, ranging from 15- to 18-inch tires sized specifically for vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Chevy Malibu, Nissan Altima and Honda Odyssey.
Recently, Consumer Reports conducted a survey of car tire buyers and discovered that a remarkable 95 percent of consumers were satisfied with their shopping experience. CR also found, though, that less than half of tire buyers researched before purchasing. When "so much is riding on your tires" you'd think that a few minutes devoted to investigating the proper running gear would be time well spent but, according to the Consumer Reports' survey, buyers often decided to skip the
Porsche Panamera 4S – Click above for high-res image gallery
Of all the tips and tricks that are known to save fuel on modern-day cars and trucks, one that often gets overlooked is getting the right set of tires mounted up. Of course, nobody wants to use an inferior set of tires in the hopes of saving just a wee bit of gas, so Consumer Reports decided it was high time to line two of the biggest players in the rubber industry, Coope
Low rolling resistance tires have been increasingly used to help manufacturers improve EPA efficiency ratings. While the specialty rubber used to be found mostly on hybrids, it is starting to find its way onto other vehicles as well, like gas-engined Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs.
Low rolling resistance tires aren't just for hybrids anymore. In search of every improvement to fuel consumption figures they can find, FoMoCo is shoeing its entire 2009 compact SUV line up in eco-rubber. They expect the 16-inch Michelin Latitude Tour tires, like the one pictured to our right, to net an extra one mpg on its 4-cylinder Escape. While that may not sound like a lot, it should dozens of gallons of fuel over the tires'lifetime.
Michelin has created a new tire as part of the development of the Peugeot 308. The Energy Saver uses a specially-developed rubber composite, and Michelin claims the tire reduces rolling resistance by 20% in both 15- and 16-inch sizes. Tire testing was carried out by TÜV SÜD Automotive, which measured the Michelin's performance to that of the top six compet
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Hankook Tire Co. has developed
an “ultra fuel efficient tire” called the fx-Optimo. Their definition of drastically improving fuel
efficiency boils down to a savings of up to 3%. As is the case with many incremental improvements, they might sound
small, but when one considers the bigger picture, every little bit helps. If everyone in the US was able to
