Advice needed for new tires

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Anonymous

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Hi All,

I need new tires for my 15 Spark EV that I've had for 6 months. Looks like the OEM tires have been on it for the first 10K miles when I bought it. Since then I put another 6K (1K/month) daily commuting between Santa Cruz and Los Gatos, CA in Hwy 17. For those not familiar with Hwy 17, think Laguna Seca (which is ~30 miles to the south) stretched out over 40 miles and going over a 1,800 ft pass. It has corkscrew corners and high speed straights. I get 10% of my battery back on the downhill side or the route. With a 90% charge, I have somewhere around 45%-50% of my battery left when I get to my destination. This means I can sacrifice some battery for better high speed (50-70mph) cornering and braking perform.

Oh…, also, it rains here. Being and Oregonian, I can tell you it can really pour in the Santa Cruz Mountains, so the new tires need to work in the wet too.

With all this in mind; I need you all’s advice on some new tires (and sizes).
Can I go 195/55R15 for all four tires, and should I?
Will it help me in the high speed corkscrews and wet?

Thanks All in advance for the advice.

Also, to the moderator. This topic (Tires and wheels) would be in a section of it’s own.
 
Sorry for the late response. I changed all 4 of my eco tires. the rear had plenty left but I wanted all new ultra high performance tires. the fronts had about 4 months left. I put all Kumho ecsta 4 ii tires. the difference has been huge on the interstate and at higher speeds. much safer. i lost about 5 miles of range which isnt bad for the extra safety. stick with oem sizes. these tires happen to come in the 185 and 195 specs which most performance tires dont. bought them at sams club. had to wait 3 days for them to come in
 
I've been happy with the Kumho Ectsa 4X 15/55 R15 85V. There are some topics on this site that talk about tires and wheels, and the Kumhos were recommended in several posts. The tires are not real expensive, have decent low rolling resistance, not quite as good as stock, but they are lots better in rain and snow. It rains a lot here in MD, and the difference is very welcome with the Kumhos.

I also bought some used wheels of the same style and width as the rear ones on the Spark EV - I found them on eBay for around $75 since they are used on ICE Sparks. To run the wider rims on the front, it requires 5mm aluminum spacer discs under each wheel. Some posts talked about putting the larger tire on the stock front rim. I don''t know if that works without the spacers, but you can probably find the answer searching posts on this forum. The spacers were about $20 a pair delivered.

The sightly larger tires on the front only give it maybe a quarter inch of more ground clearance, but it all helps when the roads aren't plowed! The larger tire also changes the speedometer indication slightly - seems like it reads 1 mph low at around 50 mph - in oth4r words you're really going 51, when it reads 50 mph.

Any, after about 15,000 miles on the Kumhos, the fronts still have most of the tread, unlike the original tires which most report being worn out by that mileage. I put the Kumhos on when the car was purchased new. I'll probably put the original "new" tires back on when I sell it, as the spacer discs may not pass the safety inspection. Seems like plenty of thread on the wheel studs engaging the lug nuts, though.
 
P.S. Must have dropped a 9 in the tire size in my previous post. What I'd put on were Kumho Ectsa 4X ii 195/55 R15 85V tires - just went out to look at the sidewall to make sure.
 
I put Kumho Solus TA31 tires on mine. I stuck with the original sizes. Excellent tire for the car. Rides and handles great, and it's LRR. I found my miles per KWH remained at 4.4 with these tires.
 
I take that road all the time as I live off the Summit exit, green Spark EV with "Corgifornia" sticker on the back.

I've been satisfied with the Ecopia 422+
 
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