Honestly, I never thought I'd hear something soooooooo ridiculous, and it irritates me every time I see/hear the commerical. I understand the marketing tactic, but really...how difficult is it for the consumer to realize different tread patterns and compounds makes a difference. And now Michelin (as well as Bridgestone) is preying off that ignorance. That would be like me swapping from Boggers to M/T's and saying the M/T's are a fuel efficient tire. Another thing to note...a quick search showed these tires ranging anywhere from $135-170 in various sizes, about $20-40 more expensive in the same sizes, than their direct competition at Bridgestone. Not to mention the fact, you can go to Wal-Mart and pick up tires in the same sizes with the same life time for $40-80 a tire. Now break this down, they claim to save 109 gallons of gas over 55k against the Bridgestone brand...so that's $327 in savings...which is pretty good but then subtract the prices for substitute products: $80-160 for the Bridgestone, or $360-380 for WalMart stuff (or local tire shops)...not so good.


Anyway, I just can't believe there are people out there that buy into the hype of "fuel efficient tires". I guess there's a sucker born every minute, right?

Bet the main buyers will be hybrid car drivers or other green(AKA Stupid gullible types)
They need to fill them with Helium to make the car lighter so it will get better mileage.

Wonder if I can get them in 33's?

i kno ...it frustrates me every time i see it too.....heck...any tire is a fuel efficient tire as long as its kept at a good pressure and has decent tread left.......ugh thats like......power boostin windo stickers........the peole that buy these tires should save their money and go get a gallon jug of blinker fluid haha n check their hubcap pressure ......

CaFordDude said:

Wonder if I can get them in 33's?

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Would 33's fit on a Yaris???????????????????

I'm probably going to get burned on this, but oh well...I'm in the tire business and have had some people be very happy with these, but here are some things to understand....

The whole concept of fuel-efficient tires was designed mainly on using them for hybrid applications. Low torque/power engines need as much weight loss and rolling resistance as they don't perform as well as they should. You put a tire on that weighs 13 lbs and a sticky all-season tread compound/tread it really sucks the power down like you're driving through sand, but take the same vehicle and put some of these (we sell the Bridgestones) that weigh around 7-9 lbs (could be a 20lb loss in rolling weight) and a low-rolling resistance tread compound, and now your little hybrid scoots down the road like its sitting on bearings.

BUT!

For anything else that is not a Prius, Yaris, Accord Hybrid, Civic Hybrid, etc., etc. and actually has enough power to carry its own weight, these are a complete waste of money.

For the rest of us, they're just one more thing for the hippies to help them feel like they're doing something.

^^^No flaming here...that's the point I was trying to make. Currently on my Red truck, the 37" Boggers are weighing in a tad over 75lbs...they're a heavy tire with a soft compund...like the difference you stated. Well, I could easily swap to a 37" BFG A/T which I believe weighs in right around 53lbs and is a harder compound radial. Well I just dropped 22lbs per corner on a tire that's gonna roll easier...so does that mean BFG is making a fuel efficient tire as well. Not no, but hell no. So I won't flame you, and I get the theory behind why they're fuel efficient, and I have to say the marketing department is frickin genius.

Yes I agree, its the marketing department that is able to convince people that something that was made for a specific purpose to get a result can work in all cases.......but of course now we get into the marketing departments of people like K&N and so-and-so exhaust.....who say that putting on their product is going to give you 20-50 extra horsepower and save 25% on your gas mileage.

It all boils down to the facts that the general public does what its told because they can't understand the concept of how/why it works, so they'll believe anything they see that promises them high output at low input.

BTW, love the message under your name....I love setting off car alarms with my exhaust

I don't see the issue.. they aren't lying?? Different compounds, weights, tread patterns, etc make the vehicle more efficient at going down the road.. On some of the newer trucks/cars out there they have fuel efficiency packages, for FORD they're SFE, that include aero tweaks and these types of tires and some other small things and at a minimum the EPA rating goes up 1 mpg. It's not huge, but it makes a difference over the lifetime of a vehicle.

Captain p4 said:

that include aero tweaks and these types of tires and some other small things and at a minimum the EPA rating goes up 1 mpg. It's not huge, but it makes a difference over the lifetime of a vehicle.

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yes and thats the whole idea....its not that they're lying that I was talking about, its that general consumers see this and want to see the results right away, they don't realize that its going to take a while to start seeing a payback, so they throw it out the door as bogus

nighthawk285 said:

I'm probably going to get burned on this, but oh well...I'm in the tire business and have had some people be very happy with these, but here are some things to understand....

The whole concept of fuel-efficient tires was designed mainly on using them for hybrid applications. Low torque/power engines need as much weight loss and rolling resistance as they don't perform as well as they should. You put a tire on that weighs 13 lbs and a sticky all-season tread compound/tread it really sucks the power down like you're driving through sand, but take the same vehicle and put some of these (we sell the Bridgestones) that weigh around 7-9 lbs (could be a 20lb loss in rolling weight) and a low-rolling resistance tread compound, and now your little hybrid scoots down the road like its sitting on bearings.

BUT!

For anything else that is not a Prius, Yaris, Accord Hybrid, Civic Hybrid, etc., etc. and actually has enough power to carry its own weight, these are a complete waste of money.

For the rest of us, they're just one more thing for the hippies to help them feel like they're doing something.

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Welcome to FTF.

Good post. I don't think anyone would flame you for this. What you posted makes a lot of sense. They would be pretty much a waste on anything other than a hybrid like you said. But there will be those people that are gullible to think they are saving a bunch of money on gas by putting these tires on bigger cars where it won't really help. Great marketing idea, IMO if you sell tires. However you still need to check your tire pressure, etc for any tire to be effective and people often forget this so it will negate any savings they may or may not get from paying more for these tires.

Thanks Sean, I've gotten burned a couple times on other sites from people telling me I was full of it and that the whole idea is a snake oil hype up type of thing, but if I can at least get through to some people who can understand some things, its still worth it.

Yeah, Ben is just a big dummy that thinks they're snake oil

nighthawk285 said:

Thanks Sean, I've gotten burned a couple times on other sites from people telling me I was full of it and that the whole idea is a snake oil hype up type of thing, but if I can at least get through to some people who can understand some things, its still worth it.

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We tend not to flame around here...too hard anyway. We do have a couple flamers...Austin and Chris, but you'll meet them some other time.

Captain p4 said:

Yeah, Ben is just a big dummy that thinks they're snake oil

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Yeah...but if they're getting power from a 460, all other problems go away, right Paul?

lol, if you're talking about Skandocious Chris, I've known him for a few years from FTE (BTW Paul the D60 swap looked awesome)....Austin however I do not know.

oh bullchit!!!! they are talking bout me... they are the flamers... they just wont come out of the closet!!!!

nighthawk285 said:

lol, if you're talking about Skandocious Chris, I've known him for a few years from FTE (BTW Paul the D60 swap looked awesome)....Austin however I do not know.

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HAHA...no I wasn't talking about Skank, but as long as you know about it you're safe...haha. I was talking about this Chris:

nflfreak43 said:

oh bullchit!!!! they are talking bout me... they are the flamers... they just wont come out of the closet!!!!

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So you're not denying it, just wanting the rest of us to join you?????????????

UTfball68 said:

Yeah...but if they're getting power from a 460, all other problems go away, right Paul?

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So you're FINALLY starting to learn

Captain p4 said:

So you're FINALLY starting to learn

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I tell ya, I'm giving the 400 in the Bronco one more chance, then it's 460 swap time. The 400 block in Red will stay for 'originality'...but when I get 10k to blow, TMI or Barnett will be getting a call from me for a 400 stroker.