venturer
03-15-2012, 11:57 PM
Gas mileage is becoming a HUGE topic among the off road crowd these days. I've read about a bunch of people switching to smaller tires or less aggressive tread to increase gas mileage. But.... people may be missing the single most important factor. WEIGHT!
I've been very curious about the affect of tire weight on gas mileage and recently got the chance to test my theory. I've driven 28" hwy tires, 30" BFG ATs, 32" BFG KM2 and 33" BFG KM2 tires on my pickup. Sure...driving style absolutely plays the largest factor in gas mileage but so does armor weight, lift (wind resistance) and tires. I track my mileage on every tank. My best mpg ever was 21.9 mpg when the truck was stock. My average dropped to 17-18 mpg with the 32" KM2s. It then dropped further to 15-16 mpg with the exo rack. My best tank with the exo rack was 17.5 mpg.
I just recently installed some 33x10.5x15" BFG KM2 tires. They are 4lbs lighter per tire than the 265/75/16 (32") KM2s and the replacement 15" alloy wheels are 1 lb lighter each. The entire set weighs 20lbs less. Last weekend I took the truck to Tacoma, Washington and it hit 19.5 mpg. On the return tank which also included 60 miles in town still yielded an impressive 19mpg. That's with making no changes to driving style or other modifications. That's incredible!
My recommendation would be to seriously consider the tire weight of equal importance to tread design or size if gas mileage is important. I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback too!
I've been very curious about the affect of tire weight on gas mileage and recently got the chance to test my theory. I've driven 28" hwy tires, 30" BFG ATs, 32" BFG KM2 and 33" BFG KM2 tires on my pickup. Sure...driving style absolutely plays the largest factor in gas mileage but so does armor weight, lift (wind resistance) and tires. I track my mileage on every tank. My best mpg ever was 21.9 mpg when the truck was stock. My average dropped to 17-18 mpg with the 32" KM2s. It then dropped further to 15-16 mpg with the exo rack. My best tank with the exo rack was 17.5 mpg.
I just recently installed some 33x10.5x15" BFG KM2 tires. They are 4lbs lighter per tire than the 265/75/16 (32") KM2s and the replacement 15" alloy wheels are 1 lb lighter each. The entire set weighs 20lbs less. Last weekend I took the truck to Tacoma, Washington and it hit 19.5 mpg. On the return tank which also included 60 miles in town still yielded an impressive 19mpg. That's with making no changes to driving style or other modifications. That's incredible!
My recommendation would be to seriously consider the tire weight of equal importance to tread design or size if gas mileage is important. I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback too!