An interesting article appears in the Sun Sentinel today, regarding tire rolling resistance and the effects on fuel economy:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...,7641450.story
It is by an author who works for the L.A. Times, so the same article probably appears in other papers also.

The take-away lessons are:
1. Tire rolling resistance matters;
2. Do not trust the tire salesman;
3. Starting 2 or 3 years from now, tires might be labeled for rolling resistance;
4. Until then, it's hard to find information about rolling resistance.

 

... and much of it is outdated. Both Michelin and Bridgestone have come out with new tires that offer significant improvements in rolling resistance since the old Green Seal report.

The only reliable source of data I know of is Consumer Reports if they have data on the tire you are considering. Hopefully, California will fix that in the near future by requiring the label standards mentioned.

 

...And they won't be updating the report either...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Green Seal <greenseal@greenseal.org>
Date: Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Subject: RE: Green Seal Contact form
To: Tracy Ball <tsball@gmail.com>


Tracy,
We have not updated any of our Choose Green Reports, and do not intend
to do so in the near future.

Cheers,
Patrick Aberg
Executive Assistant
Green Seal, Inc.
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 827
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 872-6400
Fax: (202) 872-4324
paberg@greenseal.org
www.greenseal.org