Bridgestone Quiettrac 19" tire

[Nakk]

I finally got my Martian 19x8.5" wheels to replace my 21s. Today, I had the Bridgestone Quiettrack 255/45-19 104V tires installed. Is it just me, or do these tires suck? I bought them for their quiet ride and low rolling resistance. I accepted that the wet handling would suffer, as per reviews. These tires are louder at every speed and on every surface compared to the 21s. Annoyingly loud. That's the very first thing I noticed. So I thought, maybe they're quiet on the freeway. Nope. Not only are they loud in general, but at certain times at around 65 mph you get a whine with them. So I thought, "Hey, at least I'll get an improvement in range." Nope. How about a range penalty. I drove a loop that I've measured efficiency on multiple times. Traffic was heavier than I'd accept for a completely reliable test, and the first half of the loop the road is damp. The first should actually increase range as I was averaging 62 instead of the 65 I use to test range on this loop. Plus, I was behind a van which would normally increase range due to the drafting effect. On this loop I've averaged anywhere from about 261 wh/mi to 278 wh/mi. with the Bridgestones I averaged 290 wh/mi. My worst run ever. I'll run it again in the morning when it should be dry and light traffic, but still.

As the reviews told, wet traction was significantly worse than with the stock 21s. I expected that. It was acceptable I think if you will be running winter tires for the winter. For an all year tire I'd have to say absolutely not. The grip wasn't horrible, and it was predictable with no surprises, but not something I'd accept for winter driving. The tire is rated "Very Good" for rolling resistance, so I thought it would be worth the trade off. Like I said, I'll run my test loop in the morning, but if I don't see a max of 250 wh/mi, they're going back to Bridgestone.

Has anyone else tried these? Do I just need to break them in for a few days? Or are they as bad as what I'm seeing now?

 

[BDC62]

Hi Nakk, how many miles do you have on your 21s? I also have 21s, and the wh/mi continues to drop. After 3500 miles, my average for the life of the car is now 263 wh/mi, but it was much higher than that new. A lot of what you could be seeing is you are comparing a brand new set of tires with all of their new "sticky" with a pair that has quite a few miles on them.

Unfortunately, when we get a new set of tires or read where someone else has replaced their (often heavily worn) stock tires with new ones, said to have impressive rolling resistance, more times than not they are disappointed by a 10% or more hit to their wh/mi numbers. Several magazine articles I've read comment on sizeable efficiency hits with new, different tires; however, to do a real comparison, they should have put on brand new "stock" tires, and then made the efficiency comparison. I think your Bridgestones are likely excellent tires, but until you get coomparable miles on them (matching the effective used life), it will be difficult to do an apples to apples comparison.

Another part of the difference could be the aero performance of the Uber vs. the Martian wheels, but you have a smaller diameter and thinner wheels, so that should be a considerable plus for you.

I'd hate to see you change tires and then see high wh/mi numbers with different tires, as well. Through way to much time and research, I have come up with a list of rolling resistances for most major tires, from efficiency tires up to summer tires, and I think your Bridgestones are about the best out there for combining rolling resistance and traction. I'm leaning towards the Michelin A/S 4, but that's only because I'm in N. Fl. where we have mostly dry weather with only the occasional temperature drops into the 30s in the winter. I narrowly chose (51/49) Michelin/ Bridgestones, but with the treadlife of those Bridgestones, i could easily change my mind! BTW, the rolling resistance of the A/S 4 is about 10% higher than your Bridgestones (the A/S 4s are classified as having "Good" rolling resistance,) and the A/S 4 rolling resistance is supposedly 13% less than the "Fair" rolling resistance of the Michelin A/S 3s.

 

[Nakk]

@BDC62, thanks for the excellent reply. You gave me a lot to think about.

Like most I guess, I've got trip odometer "B" left to day one. I've got 6500 miles on the car. I get your point about the tires being effectively "vulcanized" and getting harder with time. I've never thought about it but it makes sense that range should go up over time. However, I'm not seeing it. Maybe a little. early on my lifetime wh/mi sat just under 300, like around 298. It's dropped to 296 over time. Trip odometer "B" is showing 296, and interestingly so is trip odometer "A." A has 1000 miles on it; I set it when I put on the MPP lift kit. (All indications so far are that the lift kit has not affected range, though that seems wrong.) BTW, I'm pretty impressed with your 263! My right foot is way too heavy for that! LOL

Yeah, I've read that the Quiettracks are supposed to be "Very Good" for rolling resistance, but I did find a post in the S forum that at least one guy saw a significant range hit with them. I'm going to put some miles on them tomorrow and see if that helps at all. I ran my test loop twice more today after the road dried off and traffic lightened up. 292 and 298.Same temp, winds and SOC as all my other tests. (within 5 degrees of 65, light to no winds.) I've run this loop many times, including when the car was new. the worst I've ever done with the 21s was 278 and I average just about 270. (I've seen 262...) You're right that part of that might be the wheels, but I've seen tests where range improved with the Martians. Who knows though. My wife's 3 saw an immediate, but slight, improvement when we took off the aero wheels and switched to Tsportline wheels and Michelin Cross Climate tires. Those are great tires and I'd put them on the Y in a second if they came in the right size. Anyways, Tire rack tested the Vredestein Quatrac Pro in the same test as the Quiettrack and the Vred only came out 2% worse in range. It also bested the Quiettrack in noise and slaughtered it in wet weather. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so wet handling is important. I was willing to give some of that up for excellent range...

You're right in that I might do even worse. Given how loud the Quiettracks are though, that might be OK.

It's not all bad. The Bridgestones do handle great on dry roads. (Not so good in the wet, but liveable.) Given dry roads they soften bumps but have precise and quick steering. Very sure grip; they feel almost as good as the 21s. Excellent. Even in the wet, when they lose traction they do so in a very linear way with no surprises. But I tested the sound level this afternoon and they are a good 8 db louder than the 21s. They are loud. What's worse is the tire whine you get at right around 65. The Discount Tire guy said it was because of no foam in the tires, but our 3 got quieter--slightly--when we switched to no-foam cross-climates. That was also tested with a meter so it's not just subjective.

 

[heyou]

We also went from the stock 21s to a set of Bridgestone Quiettracks for out 19x9.5 martian wheels. We have about 1.5k miles on the new wheels now and we are having the opposite reaction you are having.

My wife sits in the backseat with out baby most of the time and hated the stock 21s with a passion. She would get car sick or just be annoyed with the ride all the time but now that we are one the 19s she loves how the car feels and sounds. There is less noise in the cabin due to less jitters and jolts. We do not really notice that big of a difference in rolling noise. My commute is 50mi one way on 95% freeway driving, the noise seems the same all speeds and sections without the loud rumble.

As for efficiency, we have gone from an ave of 310 wh/mi (stock 21in in 3k miles) to about 290 wh/mi (in about 1.5k)
I don't think you are going to find that big of a range gain from the tire switch. Yes the wheels are lite but they are less aero compared to the ubers.

 

[Nakk]

@heyou, thanks for the response. I would be thrilled with the improvement you've seen; 20 wh/mi would be great. It's so weird that I'm having such a different experience with an almost identical setup. I agree that the ride is improved, but I didn't mind the 21s. I actually loved them, but need more sidewall. What tire pressure do you run? Did you notice if your tires needed to break in at all to be quieter or achieve the range improvement you got? TIA...

 

[heyou]

@heyou, thanks for the response. I would be thrilled with the improvement you've seen; 20 wh/mi would be great. It's so weird that I'm having such a different experience with an almost identical setup. I agree that the ride is improved, but I didn't mind the 21s. I actually loved them, but need more sidewall. What tire pressure do you run? Did you notice if your tires needed to break in at all to be quieter or achieve the range improvement you got? TIA...

Cold tire pressure of 42psi on all four.
the tires seem the same on mile 0 and now after the break in.

We are on Nor Cal freeways for 90% of the cars life, so that means an ave of 75mph. In all honesty I think the wh/mi will end up being about the same if I drove without looking at the numbers all the time. I think it easier to get a better wh/mi with the new setup but if I just drove it normal I think I would end up at 300wh/mi average if that makes sense.

I believe the Bridgestone have a trial period where if you don't like them you can get your money back. (they are quite expensive tires)
Maybe try to get the stock OEM tires that eh gemini uses?

 

[Nakk]

Thanks Heyou. Yep, I'm aware of the return policy; it's a great thing. I'm going to try 42 psi, maybe that's a big deal. I know on the 21s 45 psi worked out much better than 42 psi, but perhaps these tires want 42. It's worth trying anyway.

If I do decide to return the Bridgestones, I'm considering Cross Climates in a 235/50-19. If not those then Quatrac Pros. Like I said though, I'm going to give these a few days and run the test loop again. Maybe at the lower pressure they'll quiet down.

 

[Nakk]

Good news and bad news this morning. I tried lowering the air pressure to 42 psi. It definitely helped a lot with the noise. With a meter, the Quiettracks are now only showing about 2-3 db louder than the stock 21s. It's a big improvement from yesterday and 45 psi. BUT. I ran two more laps of my test loop. Bear in mind again that the worst I ever saw with the 21s was 278 wh/mi with an average of 271. Two laps this morning. traffic was not an issue. Calm winds, 61 degrees. 65 mph. The first lap was 307 wh/mi the second was 304.

The tire handles exceptionally well at this psi. Road imperfections were muted nicely. Steering was quick and precise, but still a noticeable degradation from the stock 21s, especially in quick reversals. I will guess though that most folks won't feel the difference.

I'm still not loving these tires. If you're OK with the ride of the 21s and you don't need more sidewall I see no reason to switch to these--other than tread life--and several reasons not to. I'll give it at least another day, but I'm not optimistic.

EDITED TO ADD: Even with the lower air pressure, I still got a slight "hum" from the tread at 65.

 

[BDC62]

Hi Nakk,

You might have already seen this before, but I had not. I'm familiar with the roughly 4% improvement in wh/mi the 18" aero covers provide, but I was not aware of the 7%+ improvement the 19" Gemini covers provide to the Y.

That makes me wonder how much efficiency our 21" Uber might have. I'm wondering how much difference this could possibly be contributing to your recent results. In the attached article, the Gemini covers provided up an improvement of 29 wh/mi.

How Much Do Aerodynamic Tires Influence the Efficiency of the Tesla Model Y? - The Next Avenue

 

[Nakk]

Good points BDC62. That article doesn't list any of the test conditions, so I'd take it with a grain of salt. Regardless, 5% would be a reasonable assumption so it's probably not too far off.

If the efficiency had remained unchanged I could have blamed it just on the wheels. But even if the ubertines give a 7% advantage, tires rated "Very good" for rolling resistance should see around a 10% improvement over performance tires; that should at least cancel out the aerodynamics. I was hoping for an improvement, I did not expect a penalty.

Putting a few miles on the Quiettracks has helped considerably with the noise. They are now no louder than the stock 21s as measured with a meter over specific sections of road at identical speeds with the HVAC off. I've been able to raise the pressure back to 45 psi without raising the sound level which brought the efficiency back to the low 290s on my test loop.

I'm returning the Quiettracks and have ordered Vredestein Quatrac Pros. Hopefully the range won't take a hit. The Vredesteins are rated as MUCH better in the wet, a big deal here in the Pacific Northwest. They are also reported to be quieter, although after breaking in the Quiettacks I no longer have an issue with noise. The Bridgestones did better in the snow than the Vredesteins in the TireRack test, but I'll be using winter tires in the snow so not a big deal. If I'm not happy with the Quatracs, at least they are a lot cheaper than the Quiettracks and should wear out sooner.

 

[BDC62]

Thanks for the update, and good luck!

BTW, do you notice much difference on handling going from the wide 21s down to the 8.5" wheels? Of course based on the difference tires, it would be difficult to necessarily account for the effects of each of the two variables.

I'm strongly leaning to dropping down to an 8.5" wheel, as well. Had the 21s been a square setup, I'd probably have just kept them considering how well they are doing efficiency-wise.

I'm likely going to go with the 19x8.5" Fast Wheels EV1 since they supposesly have very similar performance as the 18" aero wheels.

Please keep us updated!

 

[jelloslug]

I have 19" Quiettrac tires on my Model S. They are at least as good (noise and grip) as the Serenity Plus tires that they replaced. You have to get at least 1000 miles or so on them before the efficiency will settle down. This has been the case with every set of tires that I have replaced on a variety of EVs that I own or have owned.

 

[Nakk]

BTW, do you notice much difference on handling going from the wide 21s down to the 8.5" wheels? Of course based on the difference tires, it would be difficult to necessarily account for the effects of each of the two variables.

On dry roads the Bridgestones are excellent. There is some small degradation in handling compared to the 21s, most noticeable when making quick turn reversals. I'm going to guess that most won't notice the difference and fewer will care. Some people will care though. On wet roads, the Tire Rack test noted the Quiettracks were lacking and my experience verifies that. Decent enough for most, but there is an obvious loss of traction compared to the stock 21s.

 

[BDC62]

Nakk,

Thanks again for the information.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Vredestein Quatrac Pros.

I dropped by the Jacksonville SC today and ordered 4 tire pressure monitors; they said the lead time is running about a week.

 

[Nakk]

I just had the Quatrac Pros installed. 255/45-19 I'm not done testing them, but I do have some initial results. I put a bit over 700 miles on the Bridgestones. They did get quieter over time, so they weren't annoyingly loud like when they were new. I did test this with a sound meter so it wasn't just subjective. On my test loop they continued to run at about 292 - 295 wh/mi, compared to around 272 I got with the stock 21's. I did find out they weren't responsible for the slight hum at 65 mph as it is still there with the Quatracs. I'm guessing that it's the airflow over the Martian rims at fault here.

The Quatrac pros are brand spanking new on my car and the comparisons are to the Bridgestones with about 700 miles on them. Of course, brand new the Bridgestones were way worse... The Quatrac Pros run 3 to 4 db quieter than the Bridgestones on the same stretch of road at 45 mph. Both tests run this morning. At 65 mph on the same stretch of road the Quatracs ran about 4 to 5 db quieter than the Quiettracks. So, unless the quatracs get louder after breaking in, a clear win for the Quatracs. Efficiency. I did two runs on my test loop and got 285 wh/mi on the first run and 281 wh/mi on the second. The tires may have been breaking in as they only had about 3 miles on them starting the first lap, so it's hard to say at this point if these results will hold. Regardless, a clear win for the Quatracs. Wet handling: Night and day difference, the Quatracs win this hands down. I haven't had a chance yet to push the Quatracs in the dry. Ride comfort: The Bridgestones were nice, but again the Quatrac Pros are the clear winner. Small bumps that were nicely muted--but noticeable--with the Quiettracks are barely even felt with the Quatracs. I wouldn't complain about the ride with the Quiettracks, I was quite pleased with it actually. But the Quatracs feel more refined, closer to a luxury car feel. Not all the way there, the car still feels sporty.

The Quiettracks are rated at twice the mileage lifespan as the Quatracs, but the Quatracs were less than 2/3 the price of the Bridgestones.

My efficiency tests surprise me a lot. The Quiettrack's rolling resistance was rated "Very Good" by Consumer Reports and the Quatrac Pros were rated "Fair." I do not know if it's this particular tire size, or a defect I had in the Quietracks or what. Regardless, I'll start a thread on the Quatrac Pros and report more on them as I gather data. I'm happy with them, but would have preferred to see range in the 250s. I guess that is a wheel issue. Maybe a narrower tire would do better.

 

[Tyler34]

I just had the Quatrac Pros installed. 255/45-19 I'm not done testing them, but I do have some initial results. I put a bit over 700 miles on the Bridgestones. They did get quieter over time, so they weren't annoyingly loud like when they were new. I did test this with a sound meter so it wasn't just subjective. On my test loop they continued to run at about 292 - 295 wh/mi, compared to around 272 I got with the stock 21's. I did find out they weren't responsible for the slight hum at 65 mph as it is still there with the Quatracs. I'm guessing that it's the airflow over the Martian rims at fault here.

The Quatrac pros are brand spanking new on my car and the comparisons are to the Bridgestones with about 700 miles on them. Of course, brand new the Bridgestones were way worse... The Quatrac Pros run 3 to 4 db quieter than the Bridgestones on the same stretch of road at 45 mph. Both tests run this morning. At 65 mph on the same stretch of road the Quatracs ran about 4 to 5 db quieter than the Quiettracks. So, unless the quatracs get louder after breaking in, a clear win for the Quatracs. Efficiency. I did two runs on my test loop and got 285 wh/mi on the first run and 281 wh/mi on the second. The tires may have been breaking in as they only had about 3 miles on them starting the first lap, so it's hard to say at this point if these results will hold. Regardless, a clear win for the Quatracs. Wet handling: Night and day difference, the Quatracs win this hands down. I haven't had a chance yet to push the Quatracs in the dry. Ride comfort: The Bridgestones were nice, but again the Quatrac Pros are the clear winner. Small bumps that were nicely muted--but noticeable--with the Quiettracks are barely even felt with the Quatracs. I wouldn't complain about the ride with the Quiettracks, I was quite pleased with it actually. But the Quatracs feel more refined, closer to a luxury car feel. Not all the way there, the car still feels sporty.

The Quiettracks are rated at twice the mileage lifespan as the Quatracs, but the Quatracs were less than 2/3 the price of the Bridgestones.

My efficiency tests surprise me a lot. The Quiettrack's rolling resistance was rated "Very Good" by Consumer Reports and the Quatrac Pros were rated "Fair." I do not know if it's this particular tire size, or a defect I had in the Quietracks or what. Regardless, I'll start a thread on the Quatrac Pros and report more on them as I gather data. I'm happy with them, but would have preferred to see range in the 250s. I guess that is a wheel issue. Maybe a narrower tire would do better.

I ordered the 18" martians and am putting some 235 quattracs on them, and also live near Portland. I'll report back on my wh/mi once I receive them and install them so you can judge if width helps.

 

[Nakk]

I ordered the 18" martians and am putting some 235 quattracs on them, and also live near Portland. I'll report back on my wh/mi once I receive them and install them so you can judge if width helps.

Cool! We should do some side by side testing. Almost identical setups side by side would reveal some pretty darn useful information. What size tires?

 

[Jacko]

Cool! We should do some side by side testing. Almost identical setups side by side would reveal some pretty darn useful information. What size tires?

Nakk,
Glad to hear you are happy with the Vredesteins and thanks for the detailed notes.
And for another iteration - I've got 20x8.5 Martian rims on the way and plan to mount 255/40/R20 Quatrac pros - as soon as I can get the TPMS. I've left messages for 3 straight days at the Portland SC and no return call yet. _Anyone know of another way to get Tesla parts to respond?

 

[BDC62]

Nakk,

Thanks for the update; it sounds like you have found a winner with the Vredesteins! I think you will be seeing even better numbers after a couple of thousand miles.

Looking forward to your updates!

 

[BDC62]

Jacko,

I went through the same thing trying to get the SC in Jacksonville to pick up or return my call to order the TPMS. I dropped by in person, went inside to an empty lobby, and checked in on a tablet. In less than 10 minutes a Tesla service person had come out to the parking lot and asked how he could help me. I ordered the TPMS and said it should only take about a week. This was on the 3rd and they have not arrived yet, but I do get email updates from Tesla twice per week.

If your SC is nearby, you might want to give them a visit.