Hi all:

At 85,000 miles (on my 2003 Civic Hybrid) I replaced the original Dunlop tires with Michelin equivalent (approved in owner's manual). My MPG immediately dropped 8-9 MPG. I religiously have the 10,000 mile maintenance performed as I live on the road in this car and need it to be reliable transportation.

After contacting several Honda dealerships, none provided an answer / solution? Have any of you had similar problems? Anny ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

There is a lot of info on this board about this subject - search on "tires" and you will become super-informed quickly !!

Here's a quick 411:
Well, for one thing, the OEM tires are rated "Low Rolling Resistance" and your new tires probably are not. This means that the tires are engineered to "roll farther" when coasting, and are "easier for the engine to push down the road" which means they require less gas to move down then road than tires with a higher rolling resistance.

Secondly, new tires are "softer" because of the extra rubber on them, so until that rubber wears down a little bit, they "resist" getting pushed along the road even more and again, the car's engine is forced to work harder for the same result.

And if you are REALLY concerned about reversing that 8-9 MPG loss, you should at least inflate the new tires up to the MAX PSI listed on the tire. Forget the 32 that Honda lists as optimal, at least for now. You risk very little of anything by inflating them to the max, really, and you will immediately help reduce the effects of the higher rolling resistance tires and the new rubber.

Good Luck !!!

 

I agree with Larry. New tires will always result in an MPG hit until they are broken. Even if you replaced your tires with the exact same model you would have taken a hit.

 

Lee - I'm about ready to find out the same thing this week. My new tires should be here Tues or Wed (Continental ContiTouringContact CV95). These are LRR tires, but I went up to a 195/60R15 (new wheels too). I'll be back to comment toward the end of the week (hopefully)! I have an 03 as well.

I've observed (and experienced myself) that many new hybrid owners comment on how they can't get EPA MPG with their new cars (usuall ~1500 miles into owning them). My initial MPG was 39-42 for the first 3K miles in owning the car. It's been speculated that the car needed to "break in". I think it's the tires that needed break in as Lars-ss has indicated. I'll be a second data point in a few days...