Gravity Tire Replacement Comparison

[borski]

I'm surprised they haven't planned for an East Bay SC. The distance to the SC is a big deterrant for me for Rivians. It's not as if there's a shortage of their cars in the East Bay. Even putting one in Dublin like where the Tesla SC is would be prefereable than San Rafael.

Between Millbrae and San Jose, I suspect East Bay should be well covered for a while. There’s also Rocklin in a pinch.

 

[hmp10]

CrossClimate2 has performed quite well for me on my current vehicle.

Have you seen this?

 

[TahoeMichael]

Have you seen this?

No I hadn't! I hope that one of these will turn out to be one of the Lucid optimized winter focused tires for Gravity said to be coming out later this year! The July release date of the tire would explain why Lucid doesn't currently have a winter tire option.

 

[037]

No I hadn't! I hope that one of these will turn out to be one of the Lucid optimized winter focused tires for Gravity said to be coming out later this year! The July release date of the tire would explain why Lucid doesn't currently have a winter tire option.

Nokian is the selected winter brand.

 

[hmp10]

No I hadn't! I hope that one of these will turn out to be one of the Lucid optimized winter focused tires for Gravity said to be coming out later this year! The July release date of the tire would explain why Lucid doesn't currently have a winter tire option.

Nokian is the selected winter brand.

Hmmm . . . with 23" inchers being one of the first sizes they rolled out, I had wondered whether that meant the Cross Climate 3 or 3 Sport was being developed for Lucid.

 

[TahoeMichael]

Nokian is the selected winter brand.

This is the first I've heard about Nokian being selected. Where does that info come from? I hadn't picked up on that in any of the press coverage or YouTub videos. Not that I'm sad about it, Nokian has some great winter tires.

 

[037]

This is the first I've heard about Nokian being selected. Where does that info come from? I hadn't picked up on that in any of the press coverage or YouTub videos. Not that I'm sad about it, Nokian has some great winter tires.

Nick Twork

 

[hmp10]

Nick Twork

The Cross Climate 3 and 3 Sport is new to the market. They're not yet listed on Tire Rack, for instance. I wonder if they were available when Lucid was testing winter tires for the Gravity?

 

[TahoeMichael]

The Cross Climate 3 and 3 Sport is new to the market. They're not yet listed on Tire Rack, for instance. I wonder if they were available when Lucid was testing winter tires for the Gravity?

Nick Twork's message referenced a single winter tire, while David Lickfold said "We will offer two dedicated winter tires, both of which are for the 20”/21” configuration." I hope that actually means one pure winter tire, and one all season tire specifically optimized for excellent winter performance. Where I live by Lake Tahoe, it's easy to have a single drive that's in the snow at one end, and warm temperatures at the other (down by Sacramento). So I never put pure winter tires on my vehicle.

 

[Greghad]

Has anyone explored using the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 in 285/40 R23. Granted, the sidewall will be 5% higher. Y speed rating. Just wondering, that little bit of extra height would be a show stopper when the gravity was at its lowest point. From what I can discern, it adds about 1" diameter to tire. America's tire

 

[037]

Has anyone explored using the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 in 285/40 R23. Granted, the sidewall will be 5% higher. Y speed rating. Just wondering, that little bit of extra height would be a show stopper when the gravity was at its lowest point. From what I can discern, it adds about 1" diameter to tire. America's tire

Considering all the issues of first year models I wouldn’t add the wrong diameter into the mix.

I am personally going to be testing Michelin AS4s on 22s front and back in the stock diameter but more sidewall in the rear than prescribed. Might impact handling but shouldn’t trigger any dealer warranty rejection claims.

 

[Smorgasbord]

We had a very lengthy discussion on another thread about Lucid's tire choices for each of the wheel options -- a discussion that was especially enlightened by @PetevB who is an engineer and a car technical writer.

Lucid did not make the tire choices randomly for the Gravity. Each tire/wheel combo was chosen to accomplish specific purposes. The Hankooks on the smallest wheels were clearly chosen to optimize range, as the wide gap between their EPA rating and the other wheel options indicates. The Hankooks consistently show themselves across controlled tire tests by professional reviewers as the most range-efficient tires . . . but it comes at the cost of wet handling and braking, where they consistently test at or near the bottom.

At the other end, the P Zero PZ5 Pirellis on the largest wheels are Pirelli's newest performance tire, and Lucid worked with Pirelli to tune the LM1 version of the tire specifically to Lucid's specs. As far as I know, Lucid is the first manufacturer to mount them as OEM tires. The early reviews of this tire are placing it at the pinnacle of wet and dry handling and braking for road cars outside the realm of specialized race and track tires.

A good bit of the astonishing handling people are reporting for the Gravity comes from the cars mounted with these tires. One element of why may be the unusually square shoulders of this tire. Although the rear tires across all three wheel options have the same nominal width -- 285mm -- the tread patch at the pavement is considerably wider with the Pirellis: 10" vs. 8.9" for the mid-size Michelins and 8.6" for the Hankooks.

At the middle wheel option, the Michelins seem to be a choice driven by the desire to provide an all-season option that leans toward the performance rather than the efficiency end of the spectrum. While the EPA range of this mid-size combo is given to be the same as the large wheel option, tests of the Michelins have shown them to be among the best all-seasons in terms of traction, especially in wet and dry braking.

You might find some cheaper tires to put on your Gravity, but you'll very likely be giving up something Lucid strove to give you in terms of range and/or driving performance.

Great information, thanks.

I have the smaller wheels with the Hankooks on order due to range and occasional snow trips to Tahoe, but now worried about performance in the rain, which here in NorCal is Nov thru April. And we live on curvy mountain roads.

My test drive to home was with wet pavement and the middle wheels - and the car did great: better than our Model X LR with small wheels and OEM all season tires.

Should I upgrade to middle wheels, or would that hurt ride quality as well? Tough choice here

 

[hmp10]

Great information, thanks.

I have the smaller wheels with the Hankooks on order due to range and occasional snow trips to Tahoe, but now worried about performance in the rain, which here in NorCal is Nov thru April. And we live on curvy mountain roads.

My test drive to home was with wet pavement and the middle wheels - and the car did great: better than our Model X LR with small wheels and OEM all season tires.

Should I upgrade to middle wheels, or would that hurt ride quality as well? Tough choice here

We have the mid-size wheels on one of our Gravities, and they are very capable tires in the wet and dry. (No cold or snow here in south Florida, though.)

When our second Gravity with the largest wheels was delivered three months later, I was surprised at how little difference in ride quality I could detect, even in the Sprint drive mode which I usually use for local driving. I don't know for sure, but I suspect you won't pay much of a ride penalty with whichever size you choose. Personally I would focus more on the tire traction characteristics most relevant to my use case.

 

[Smorgasbord]

Personally I would focus more on the tire traction characteristics most relevant to my use case.

My Use Cases, in order, are:
1) Dry roads. Around town and on road trips, where efficiency matters.
2) Wet roads, mostly around home (up curvy mountain roads), but might get caught in downpour on a road trip.
3) Once to twice a year to snow in Tahoe.

The small wheels do #1 and #3, but not so well on #2. The middle wheels do some of #1 (not the efficiency part), all of #2, and none of #3.

Makes it hard to choose.

 

[TahoeMichael]

My Use Cases, in order, are:
1) Dry roads. Around town and on road trips, where efficiency matters.
2) Wet roads, mostly around home (up curvy mountain roads), but might get caught in downpour on a road trip.
3) Once to twice a year to snow in Tahoe.

The small wheels do #1 and #3, but not so well on #2. The middle wheels do some of #1 (not the efficiency part), all of #2, and none of #3.

Makes it hard to choose.

My use cases in order are 1, 3, 2. I'm relying on the Hankook's to be bad in the wet compared to tires that are good in the wet, but still better than many tires used to be. Look at the Tirerack.com test results: The Ion EVO is at the bottom for wet braking distance, but the distance is less than 10' more than all but the best tire in test.

 

[Smorgasbord]

My use cases in order are 1, 3, 2. I'm relying on the Hankook's to be bad in the wet compared to tires that are good in the wet, but still better than many tires used to be. Look at the Tirerack.com test results: The Ion EVO is at the bottom for wet braking distance, but the distance is less than 10' more than all but the best tire in test.

Here's the summary:

In wet testing, the steering felt lighter, with less weight behind it than on-road, though it remained accurate and precise. Properly separating inputs and not trying to force braking or throttle during turns was important to keep it from drifting away or stepping out, which could be a concern for unprepared drivers during emergency situations. The lower overall traction also required a bit more lead time for braking, leaving little margin for error anywhere.

With comments in the overall summary:

The Hankook iON evo AS sips power, and can be handled moderately well, but its struggles in the wet and adequate road comfort offer its rivals room to overtake. Its ability to handle in the snow makes it a complicated, but compelling all-season choice.

Weird that it handles snow better than wet/rain.

The test drive Gravity I got to ride home on wet pavement did really well - better than our Model X LR with either the OEM or Bridgeston Turanza tires. But that Gravity has the mid sized wheels. So, ugh, trade-offs.

 

[Pragmatic]

Snow tires generally suck in the rain.

 

[jbrichgels]

My Use Cases, in order, are:
1) Dry roads. Around town and on road trips, where efficiency matters.
2) Wet roads, mostly around home (up curvy mountain roads), but might get caught in downpour on a road trip.
3) Once to twice a year to snow in Tahoe.

The small wheels do #1 and #3, but not so well on #2. The middle wheels do some of #1 (not the efficiency part), all of #2, and none of #3.

Makes it hard to choose.

This is a helpful comparison. How do the 22/23 do for each of those cases? I know terrible for #3 but how about wet roads? In DC we get #3 a few times a year (but they can be blizzards), but lots more rain in winter than snow anymore.

 

[ilyabu]

Nick Twork

I gave up waiting for this, winter is coming too quickly to wait for their package

 

[borski]

I gave up waiting for this, winter is coming too quickly to wait for their package

Nick said at the San Jose service center opening that this exists now, and to ask your service center.