Bridgestone R213 Ecopia

This is a steer tire for tractors that live on the highway. Bridgestone’s own application field on every R213 Ecopia SKU reads truckload, long haul, super-regional, and its data book calls it a directional all-position tire recommended for steer service in long haul and regional haul. The application matrix marks the steer axle Recommended and the drive and trailer axles only Suitable. Buy it for the front axle and treat the all-position rating as a fallback. It launched June 1, 2021 as the successor to the R284 Ecopia.

Two mechanisms do the work, and Bridgestone credits them separately. Wear: directional edge sipes resist scrub, which Bridgestone rates at up to 15% longer removal mileage than the R284 Ecopia. Fuel: a redesigned tread pattern and a new compound take weight out of the tire, worth 6% better rolling resistance than the R284 and, by Bridgestone’s measure, 20% better than the EPA SmartWay threshold. The EPA lists the R213 Ecopia by name on its SmartWay verified list under Bridgestone steer tires, and Bridgestone adds CARB compliance. Underneath it is a tubeless four-rib radial carrying 17/32 inch of tread in every size and load range, speed symbol L, 75 mph.

It is the wrong tire for severe service. Bridgestone voids the Enhanced Casing Credit outright on mining, logging, waste and refuse, and on/off-highway work: the casing has to spend its whole life in long-haul, regional, or pickup-and-delivery highway service, and only retreads by an authorized Bandag dealer keep the coverage alive. It is directional, so it mounts to the rotation arrow, and Bridgestone footnotes its own claims as directional tire for first half of life. It carries no 3PMSF and no M+S marking, so it is not a winter tire. There is no mileage or treadwear warranty on this line at all. Bridgestone builds it in four sizes only, 11R22.5, 11R24.5, 285/75R24.5 and 295/75R22.5, each in load range G and H, so 19.5s and 275/80R22.5 have to be a different tire. One inflation note for whoever writes the spec: 295/75R22.5 load range H only reaches its 149/146 rating at 123 psi, where the other H sizes run 120.

In the same steer position we also sell the Invovic FM303, our own factory-direct import, molded in Cambodia — but in one size, 295/75R22.5, where the R213 is built in all four. Five continuous ribs on an all-rib highway tread, 14/32 deep against the R213’s 17/32, doing the same axle job. What differs is the paper. The R213 is on the EPA’s SmartWay verified list and CARB compliant per Bridgestone; it carries Bridgestone’s 6-year limited warranty against defects in workmanship and materials down to 2/32 inch; and its casing feeds the Enhanced Casing Credit table for seven years from manufacture, on the conditions above — highway service only, retreads by an authorized Bandag dealer, under the named Bandag FuelTech program. Bridgestone also publishes full dimensional data on it, down to the 8.25 inch measuring rim on all four sizes. Invovic publishes no SmartWay verification, no casing-credit program and no dimensional data. If the buy is governed by paper — a CARB-regulated tractor lane, a fuel-economy contract, or a Bandag retread cycle — only the Bridgestone carries the documentation. Put both on one quote and compare the two all-in delivered numbers side by side.