Time to change tires?

[OM605]

Tires are Michelin Energy Saver, one year and a half old, 42k kms (26k miles). Plenty of tread left but maybe they start to harden, i start to feel the difference in handling and they seem to loose traction easier on a wet road, especially going over the annoying plastic speed bumps they put everywhere, they also seem noisier at high speed. I am picky when it comes to road feel and how safe the car feels, especially after a serious accident where i lost traction on ice four years ago. Winter is mild here but it can freeze during the night in january/february and it rains most of the time. Energy savers seem to last a long time but are made of a pretty hard rubber therefore loosing grip as they age. Would you replace them now or wait until later? Maybe i'm just too paranoid.

PS : Or grab another set of wheels and put winter tires just for january and february...

 

[MrPlow]

If they are slipping in the rain, then maybe it would be worth swapping them out for a more well-balanced all-season that has excellent wet traction and good enough winter traction. I also assume that tire chains are allowed in France, n'est-ce pas? If you get new all-season tires now, then they will be fresh for the entire winter this year and have maximum winter traction allowed from the tires you choose.

 

[skyactiv]

Your picky and sensitive to tire feel. One thing most won’t believe is that a tire that performs better on snow usually does so at the expense of wet traction. People might think snow is wet, how is that possible... . Look it up in the Tire Rack.

 

[Egg_Head]

What is the manufacture date of all 4 tyres?

 

[MParr]

I had a 2017 Ford Escape. The Michelin Energy Savers were the original equipment tires. I was never happy with them. I experienced the same problem that you are having. At 38,000 miles, they were down to 4/32” of tread. I got rid of them. I replaced them with Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2. Big improvement!

 

[Lubener]

Tires are Michelin Energy Saver, one year and a half old, 42k kms (26k miles). Plenty of tread left but maybe they start to harden, i start to feel the difference in handling and they seem to loose traction easier on a wet road, especially going over the annoying plastic speed bumps they put everywhere, they also seem noisier at high speed. I am picky when it comes to road feel and how safe the car feels, especially after a serious accident where i lost traction on ice four years ago. Winter is mild here but it can freeze during the night in january/february and it rains most of the time. Energy savers seem to last a long time but are made of a pretty hard rubber therefore loosing grip as they age. Would you replace them now or wait until later? Maybe i'm just too paranoid.

PS : Or grab another set of wheels and put winter tires just for january and february...

How old are the tires? How much tread is left? No tire is going to be "slip free" over ice if one is going too fast.

 

[benjy]

energy saver tyres sacrifice traction for lower lower rolling resistance!! that said the OE Mich MXV 4 on a new Jetta i had were POOR in the rain from NEW!!! just get a regular all season or better yet if you see snow look for snow rated all season but winter tyres, for BEST snow traction a dedicated set of SNOW tyres are best NARROWER sizes are better + cheeper. downsizing on smaller diameter wheels using tyres with taller sidewalls to keep the same OD is recommended. Mich makes better tyres but many are overrated + OVERPRICED IMO!!

 

[krzyss]

I am afraid that no tires are good on ice, especially if one drives too fast.
Performance winter or as they are called in Europe : Central European Winter tires are probably better than all seasons but would you feel the difference even at moderate speeds - I am not sure.
Studless winters or Nordic friction winters are probably overkill for Brittany, unless you drive to Pyrenees or Alps regularly.

Best of luck,

Krzyś

 

[gfh77665]

If they are getting hard, you can experiment with slightly reducing air pressure. That may compensate enough. I would try that first.

 

[OM605]

My tires were made in December 2018 and mounted in July 2019 with an alignment and i'd say there's 60% of the tread left at the front and 40% at the rear (should rotate them). After all they're good tires and i can't say i wasn't happy with them, the ride was excellent and quiet and the car really felt like it should. Road noise has increased over that period of time and now that the rain is really starting to pour as i said i can feel some weirdness going on at the rear wheels if i give it some gas on speed bumps or crosswalks. Most of my driving is highway and i don't want to sacrifice safety. Snow isn't an issue, haven't seen any in 10 years, only a few flakes (i miss snow...).

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Are you saying you use summer tires in the winter? They can actually crack when used in cold temps! Someone here contacted Michelin, their reply was that the glass transition for their summer tires is 20F/-7C. You should probably use winter tires in the winter.

Winter tires aren't just for snow.

Alternatively, you might like Michelin's CrossClimate, an all-season tire. It should cover you for the times when it's cold but doesn't get cold often enough to justify a second set of tires for the winter.

And like others said, the Energy Saver is mostly just for fuel economy at the expense of everything else.

 

[OM605]

Yes and i almost never see winter tires on cars, the coldest we have is maybe -5c for a few nights, the coldest days are between 0 and 5c. Michelin CrossClimate is quite common however and i'm really interested in them actually. I'd say 95% of the cars are on summer tires year round, the other 5% are all season tires.

 

[krzyss]

As far as I know climates in France Brittany is not Côte d'Azur (that will be like Florida minus Hurricanes but they have their own winds like Mistral and Sirocco) but their winters are mild and rather wet than snowy. IMHO winter tire will be overkill for most of the winter except the ice the OP hit literally, I presume.
In US that will be Mid Atlantic minus periodical snow storms that make their way from Canada. I think.

Krzyś

PS What does Michelin sell in Brittany for winter? It is French company I bet they have something suitable.

PSS Maybe having two sets of wheels or tires (depending on your storage) is not that crazy, especially if you have winter/ice driving PTSD (I am afraid :-( ). All weather (Cross Climate seems to be decent in the wet with this wedge shaped tread) or another winter focused but good in the wet tire will be your winter setup, energy saving for the other 3 seasons. When winter setup gets below winter tread depth you may wear it off in summer before buying new winter set.

 

[OM605]

Yes i believe the closest weather in north America will be in the Seattle area. Apart from the few CrossClimate i see, the Energy Saver is probably the most popular tire as well as the Primacy. Actually i think that the Energy Savers make a lot of sense for me since i do a lot of highway driving and want a silent ride and good gas mileage. Honestly i thought about buying a front wheel drive car after my accident but a nice thick ice patch after of night of freezing rain was the cause of several accidents on that morning even though is was sunny and 11c but the rear wheel drive + crappy tires didn't help and i learned it the hard way. Maybe my old habit of manually shifting and locking the trans in 3rd instead of letting it in D didn't help either...

 

[bonjo]

to start with, what is the tread depth. It was most probably >8mm.
From my eaperience, once it gets below 3mm, aquaplaning become pronounced, this gets worse if the tyres are wide. For any tyre, as tread deapth decreases so does the tyre's wet performance.
Regarding noise, as the rubber wear out you get more road noise; you can escape that.

On the plus side, the steering becomes more direct and the brakes sharper

I think below 5deg, normal tyre rubber starts to get rigid hence the grip and handling suffers. Winter tyres rubber compount remains flexible in colder weather and give you better traction.
Winter tyres are not necessary M+S rated

I would say if youtr driving style is on the sporty side, get new tyres if you have reached 3mm tyre depth & can afford to

 

[SeaJay]

I would only change them if the tread was below the acceptable depth. Otherwise they are likely performing as intended by the manufacturer.

 

[MattPersman]

Stated at 40%. If we went by 10/32 new that would be 4/32. Definitely not what I want in wet or snow

replace at least those 2 for now and the other 2 in some more miles

 

[OM605]

Thanks everyone, i've decided not to change them as they can still serve me for a while and i almost only drive the car on the weekends now. It won't see much driving until a few months, i think i can keep them until the end of the next summer.

 

[Jetronic]

Tires are Michelin Energy Saver, one year and a half old, 42k kms (26k miles). Plenty of tread left but maybe they start to harden, i start to feel the difference in handling and they seem to loose traction easier on a wet road, especially going over the annoying plastic speed bumps they put everywhere, they also seem noisier at high speed. I am picky when it comes to road feel and how safe the car feels, especially after a serious accident where i lost traction on ice four years ago. Winter is mild here but it can freeze during the night in january/february and it rains most of the time. Energy savers seem to last a long time but are made of a pretty hard rubber therefore loosing grip as they age. Would you replace them now or wait until later? Maybe i'm just too paranoid.

PS : Or grab another set of wheels and put winter tires just for january and february...

all eco tyres suffer in cold and wet. The Michelin Energy saver isn't the worst of the bunch though. Maybe get something like a crossclimate or Bridgestone A005 and then switch back to the current tyres when it gets warmer.

Winter tyres aren't the best either if you're not likely to drive in snow now and again.

 

[SWS]

Check the depth of your sipes.
10 years ago, I had Michelin tires (specific type unknown) with half-depth sipes. When the tires wore down past the sipes, then wet performance / handling changed greatly for the worse.
Since then, I have purchased only full-depth sipes.
I researched Energy Saver in this respect, but no success thus far.