The tire’s steel belts, polyester cord body, and the MaxTouch construction ensured that the overall driving experience was noticeably better when compared with the Ecopia.įor daily use, both these products gave the premium performance you’d expect them to and the slight difference that comes out with rigorous testing has more to do with side by side comparisons than with any deficiency in either of the tires. The Defenders, however, gave better comfort results by a margin of at least 8%. The Ecopia’s use of two steel belts with the additional reinforcement of nylon made for some comfortable driving even when potholes and bumps were encountered. With the premium price tag, you’d again expect premium performance in the comfort category and according to our tests, neither of these tires failed to meet our expectations. Both tires utilized circumferential grooves in their designs which served as effective water evacuating mechanisms.Īs would be expected, however, the Defenders gave slightly better hydroplaning resistance and traction control through their use of hundreds of lateral grooves.īoth tires performed admirably though and we are of the opinion that both of them can be safe to drive on wet/flooded roads. With the premium water evacuation mechanisms these tires had to offer, both the Ecopia and Defender gave impressive hydroplaning resistance especially under heavy rain. However, with minimal snow and maximum caution, we deemed both these tires to be usable on an average snowy day. This was more impressive when compared with the Defenders which seemed to be more prone to slipping and losing control. The tire, owing to the use of Bridgestone’s Nano-Tech silica tread compound, gave usable traction and handling results in light snow. This is one category where the Ecopia surprisingly came out on top. If you’re looking for tires that perform significantly better under both light and heavy snow, specialized snow tires are the ones for you. Most of the testing we did was under light snow with no more than two inches of snow on the road. The performance under snowy conditions was decent at best- as would be expected from a set of all-season tires. Though both the tires had comparable performances under light rain, the Ecopia lagged substantially (even more so than the Defender) in both braking and turning corners under heavy rain. The Ecopia fell short of the Defender’s performance by at least 10%, however, the grip and handling on wet surfaces were still impressive, as it would be for a tire in this price range.Ĭircumferential grooves were again a feature of this tire, which helped evacuate any water away from the tire. The braking distances for the Defender and Ecopia came out to be 28 and 31m respectively. In this category, we tested the traction on a wet road with 2mm of water with a standard speed of 60 mph. The tires did suffer slightly, however, when braking corners. The end result is better handling under both light and torrential rain. Michelin’s better performance came due in part to the tire’s design. The four circumferential grooves and multiple lateral grooves work together to substantially enhance the tire’s grip on wet surfaces. However, Michelin’s Defender once again came out on top. Wet traction comparisonīoth the tires were again neck and neck in this category and delivered excellent results. However, after running them for about 21,000 miles, they suffered from progressively worse traction control which is why Michelin’s Defender wins this category.Īlso Check out Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 tire. The Ecopia results were impressive as well and for the most part, the grip and handling on dry surfaces were on par with if not better than the Defender. The braking distance, when tested on a dry surface at a speed of 60mph, came out to be 24m for the Defender and 27m for Ecopia.
To cut down on different variables, we chose the 215/60R17 96T BSW size variants of both these tires and tested them on Toyota Camry 2019 model. The grip and handling remained exceptional even after running these tires for over 20,000 miles. Michelin’s IntelliSipe technology and the increased number of sipes on the wheel ensured that braking, accelerating, and turning corners on dry surfaces were smooth and effortless.
With a hefty price tag and the good repute that these two companies enjoy, you’d expect them to ace the dry traction tests and that’s just what they did!īoth the Bridgestone Ecopia and Michelin Defender proved to be excellent performers in this category with the Michelin tire taking the edge over the Ecopia ever so slightly.
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