Visited the tirerack website looking at replacement tires for the Escape with a higher UTQG rating. Looked at the Continental tires (520 AB) versus the Goodyear tires (720 AB).

Has anyone tried these tires yet?

On a vehicle with only 12K miles?

The stock tires are not that bad, certainly not as bad as the Bridgestone RE92s on the classic Prius! I figure the stock Escape tires should be good for 40K miles or so.

My wife had an 03 Escape with the Continental tires and they were horrible in the rain and snow. We replaced her tires with Yokahama (sp?) Geolanders and it was a totally different vehicle after that. We kept those tires when we traded in for the 06's so we'll be switching back to them this winter. I did the same swap on my 04 Chevy Colorado and again it made a world of difference. The Generals that were on my truck were so bad that I put it in 4WD whenever it rained!

I swear by the Geolanders. I think the tread wear rating was pretty good too.

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

If you can get past the Firestone/Ford tread separation snafu a few years back, I would recommend the Firestoine Destination LE. We put a set on my '01 Escape last year. Good grip, great price(sine Firestone is still fighting the PR battle), and has low rolling resistance(for FE). They handled winter in upstate NY fairly well.

I guess it's all about if you can feel comfortable given Firestone's history. I don't they're any more prone to issues than other new tires...IMHO.

BTW, they were ranked reasonably well by Consumer reports.

Nate

Here is the information about the Firestone tires. They have a rating of 480 AB. This is a lower level than the current tires.

Am looking to see what tires (with lower rolling resistance) does to the fuel economy.

The Destination LE's were rated #4 on tirerack.com online survey. The Geolanders were #2. Both great choices according to the survey.

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

There are many Escapees on other boards who swear by Goodyear Forteras or Michelin Cross Terrains. On a previous '01 Escape I owned I finally got rid of the noisy Firestone Wilderness HT originals and replaced them with the Michelins at 50k. When I sold the truck at 55k the dealer said the new rubber added much to the trade-in value.

FYI the Contis on the Hybrid are not the same as the ones used on the conventional Escape.

Absolutely correct. I just looked at mine and they use the Ecoplus version of the Contitrac tires. Anyone know where we can get more info on those tires?

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

The FEH tire specification is: Continental ContiTrac EcoPlus 235/70R16 104T M+S
I searched in June for more information, but even Continental does not list them on website (listed below) and they did not respond to several email inquiries.
http://www.conti-online.com/generato.../index_en.html

These tires are low rolling resistant tires to maximize FEH fuel economy (EcoPlus), where Ford dealer quoted special order $125/ea, but Big Brand Tires could get and quoted $92.31/ea.

Low rolling resistant tires are made of harder rubber, so should have longer wear life but also lower performance ratings. They seem noisier than other tires to me, especially since the wide tread gaps keep trapping gravel that makes clicking noise.

-Dan