Cool tires, lame fuel economy

[MTB-BRUH]

Welllll... it was fun while it lasted. I put LT265/75r/16 Cooper ST Maxx tires on my Ranger. Looks awesome, tows great. But my power and fuel economy took a pretty solid ding. About 3-4mpg. So back to stock Bridgestone duelers and not be so cool.. Tires for sale if anybody is interested. local pickup only Redding California

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[Langwilliams]

I'm probably gonna run the stock tires until they get close to needing replaced. When I pick replacements I'll be looking at tire weight to try to keep it down as close to stock as possible. I'm leaning towards the 265/70/17's. I also looked at the 255/75/17's an they were pretty heavy.

 

[RoadBoss]

I think the lift and low offset wheels that stick out past the fenders have more effect on mpg than the actual size of the tire.

also the light bar above the roof probably doesn't help at all

 

[AzScorpion]

I think the lift and low offset wheels that stick out past the fenders have more effect on mpg than the actual size of the tire.

also the light bar above the roof probably doesn't help at all

The LT tires are a lot heavier and have more rotating mass which = poor gas mileage. I put the 265/70/17 on mine but they're not LT's and I'm still averaging 21 mpg's. You're right the other stuff does have an effect too but those LT tires are really heavy.

Edit: Your truck looks really good with those on Tyler but I'm sure just pulling the camper hits the mags pretty good. You could always get another set of wheels and switch them out before towing or was it bad (mpg) with just regular driving?

 

[THLONE]

Plowing snow and cold weather will lower MPG some.

 

[Zaph]

I'm probably gonna run the stock tires until they get close to needing replaced. When I pick replacements I'll be looking at tire weight to try to keep it down as close to stock as possible. I'm leaning towards the 265/70/17's. I also looked at the 255/75/17's an they were pretty heavy.

Yeah. That's the way to do it. Tire weight and diameter are the most important thing. Everyone wants bigger and more aggressive. A lot of people do it just for looks and never even go off roading. And everything takes a hit - gas mileage, acceleration, road noise, handling and ride quality.

At the minimum, for the very little off roading I do, when it's time for new tires I'm staying the same size as stock and looking seriously at tire weight. I just wish more information was available about tire weight. Someone should start a thread compiling info.

 

[RedlandRanger]

Yeah. That's the way to do it. Tire weight and diameter are the most important thing. Everyone wants bigger and more aggressive. A lot of people do it just for looks and never even go off roading. And everything takes a hit - gas mileage, acceleration, road noise, handling and ride quality.

At the minimum, for the very little off roading I do, when it's time for new tires I'm staying the same size as stock and looking seriously at tire weight. I just wish more information was available about tire weight. Someone should start a thread compiling info.

After popping a tire on a gravel road several years ago (granite gravel produces some very sharp edges sometimes I guess), I will be looking at a minimum 6 ply tire. I agree about the size. When the time comes to replace these tires, I will be looking at something of the same size, just more plies with a decent compromise between on and off road for the tread.

 

[MTB-BRUH]

Yes totally agree with you all! I did everything in stages one at a time.. the lightbar although does push a little bit a of wind (barely noticeable inside the cab) didn’t seem to hurt fuel economy. As well as the 0 offset wheels. I had the aftermarket wheels with stock tires for a few thousand miles and still got 24-26mpg on the freeway. I really want some nice oem Wheels now though. Currently put back on the steelies but fuel economy is back up so I’m happy.

I concluded three major factors with the beefy tires. Weight, rolling resistance, and larger diameter (essentially like changing the gear ratio a bit) all those played a big factor in killing power and fuel economy.

 

[Zaph]

Good write up of where you are losing your miles per gallon. I like that since you did it all in stages you got to report the effects of each stage.

 

[deeve]

After having owned and wheeled Jeeps both lifted with 35's and "stock" tires...For what I will do with the Ranger I do not need to go much (if it all) bigger than stock 265/65/17's. Other than looks, I have found the tire more than the size makes the biggest difference offroad. I bought my Ranger to be a good all-arounder. I do agree that lifts and big MT tires look awesome on this vehicle though.

 

[RoadBoss]

The LT tires are a lot heavier and have more rotating mass which = poor gas mileage. I put the 265/70/17 on mine but they're not LT's and I'm still averaging 21 mpg's. You're right the other stuff does have an effect too but those LT tires are really heavy.

interesting.

so I have the same tire on my truck, just in a 235/85r16 size (just 4 lbs lighter than 265/75), also on steel wheels which are likely much heavier than the 16" alloys. diameter is the same at 32", though they are 30mm more narrow, which should mean less rolling resistance.
Regardless of the tire weight and diameter I was still seeing 27mpg on the highway until I added the front level, took off the air damn, and most recently and significantly have been adding a bunch of weight in the form of rock sliders, winch, and a bunch of camping gear in the back.
Also like someone else mentioned, the cold weather has made a huge difference in mpg, so I'm waiting for summer to make a full assessment on my current fuel economy...
but with my experience I have a hard time believing that tire weight and diameter are more to blame than a lot of the other factors, especially when it comes to just highway mpg.

I guess if you're doing mostly suburban driving in traffic (like constantly up to 45mpg and back to stop) I'm sure that would have a bigger impact than stop and go city driving or purely highway driving.

 

[Langwilliams]

When I had my old wrangler the weak rear axle couldn't handle big heavy tires without being beefed up. A common swap is an explorer 8.8. My son in law's brother bought a new wrangler an said he was going to put 35's on it an I asked if the axles could handle it stock. He said if you get 20" wheels it can so I assume the tall sidewalls add a lot of weight to the tire.

 

[fusseli]

I think the lift and low offset wheels that stick out past the fenders have more effect on mpg than the actual size of the tire.

also the light bar above the roof probably doesn't help at all

That was the philosophy I used on my Jeep, one size up in an aggressive tire and it was outstanding off road. It took a ~10% mpg hit. The ranger I also have noticed an mpg hit, even just from one size up in tire, maybe more than 10%. For the first few thousand I could get 25-26 on the highway, but even on just 265/70/17 I can't get over about 22 anymore. No other mods of note besides a tonneau that should increase mpg if anything at all. My daily commute is a lot of 45-65 mph and I have only been getting 18 mpg per tank.

 

[rojizostang]

how are you guys checking fuel mileage after a tire swap? Did you use a hypertech programmer of forscan to correct the speedometer so mileage is accurate? If one has considerably increased tire size without correcting the speedometer, are you making mileage corrections to account for the reduced mileage readings? I've started multiplying my mileage by 1.033 percent to make the mileage reading more accurate so the fuel mileage calculations aren't as out of line I first thought. I went from the stock 255/65/17's to 275/65/17's and it helped to make the actual mileage corrections in order to figure actual fuel mileage. There's 22 revolutions per mile difference between the two tires, so I add that back in to the mileage calculation, other wise the calculations will always be off. Multiplying the mileage by 1.033 (that's the amount i figured for an increase of 1'' in diameter) makes about .6 difference per gallon to the positive. While it's not huge on my truck, it's only a difference of 1" diameter for my tire size. For those who are running significantly taller than stock tires, perhaps accurately adjusting your mileage may help you to see what your actual mileage is. It seems I lost about 1 mpg more or less on the highway mileage, and maybe 2 in town, but I haven't had the tires on the truck for long so it's hard to say for sure.

 

[Alex Bedrosian]

Welllll... it was fun while it lasted. I put LT265/75r/16 Cooper ST Maxx tires on my Ranger. Looks awesome, tows great. But my power and fuel economy took a pretty solid ding. About 3-4mpg. So back to stock Bridgestone duelers and not be so cool.. Tires for sale if anybody is interested. local pickup only Redding California

Sorry to be off topic but what brand/where did you get that headache rack and side rails? I am having trouble find ones that mount the way it looks like yours do. Very cool and useful looking!

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