Count me among the many people who are very disappointed in the Bridgestone Ecopia tires that come with the 2014 Nissan LEAF, and, presumably, other years of the LEAF as well. [See this long MyNissanLeaf.Com forum thread for evidence of how many people are unhappy with the LEAF’s OEM tires.]
The tires are wearing at a rate I’ve never seen any other tire wear — and I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles in other cars in my 32 years of driving!
At 18,000 miles the Bridgestones on the LEAF look like they’ve been driven twice that far. In fact, due to a flat tire — which the guys at Discount Tire said was not repairable, I had to replace the rear two tires on my LEAF! This,with six months to go on my two-year, 24,000-mile lease.
LEAF a heavy car
I have a strong feeling that the premature tire wear is due to the LEAF’s extra weight. At 3,300 or so pounds, my LEAF is nearly 1,000 pounds heavier than the 1992 Acura Integra I drove for 21 years before I leased my LEAF.
It could have something to do with the Ecopia tires too: The sales guy at Discount Tire said he never recommends Bridgestones. But the Ecopia’s are rated to 65,000 miles, and they should not, absolutely should not!, be going already at just 18,000 miles.
Also, I know it’s due to the desire to reduce weight, but two big thumbs down to Nissan for not including a spare for the LEAF. I had to have my LEAF towed to Discount Tire because of the lack of a spare — though, lucky for me, my LEAF was in my garage, not on the side of the road.
Yes, there is a tire repair kit in the trunk. But I’m not going to fool around with that, sorry. And the guy at Discount said using the kit voids any tire warranty, though, he also said that tire manufacturers typically don’t honor tire warranties on OEM tires anyway.
In any case, while electric cars produce fewer maintenance costs than gasoline cars — up to this point, I had invested in only wiper blades and windshield fluid — if my experience and that of others is any indication, you can count on having to replace your tires more often in an EV than in a gas car.