MPG decrease with new tire purchase???
- Thread starter T4RT
- Start date
Jhalko
New member
Personally I thought that was a big drop as well. Having had the pizza cutter bridgestones with 20's, then GY silent armors, and now duratracs. But for one road trip who knows. The worst mileage I've gotten was driving to and from the east coast from Colorado not around town and up and down our mtns here.
Jetboy
New member
Oddly a lot lately. I live close enough to work that during about 8 months I ride my bike. But I still managed to put 13,000 miles on my 4runner this year. About 7000 were road trip miles going back and forth from Utah to Montana. Next week I'm headed to Phoenix and back, so that's another 1500 miles in a weekend. Maybe I have the wrong car.... but this way I get to go through Moab and have some fun on the way!
If I went back to a stock size tire, I'd get a set of dedicated offroad tires. I have a set of FJcruiser wheels sitting in my garage that I need to use or get rid of. That might be a better *fit* to have some street tires for highway cruising and some offroad tires for offroading rather than AT's for everything. The other part of the equation is that it was quieter and smoother ride on the AT/S tires and better on icy roads. And the gearing felt better too. I'm not super excited about 4.56 gears. If I could get 4.10's or maybe even 4.30's I'd probably spend the $ to re-gear instead.
BobsTrail
Senior Member
My OEM Dunlops gave 21 to 22 on trips. When I checked the model number I noticed Toyota used a different version with a lower tread wear rating. I think it was only 400 compared to 600 for what looked like the same tire at local shops. I think it was to squeeze out a little more mpg for the government tests. The traction rating was B instead of A also.
I put on a set of Toyo At2s two weeks ago and I don't think I will check the mileage. They did very well on a recent snow trip and that's what I was looking for.
If I wanted mileage, I would get a Prius.
I put on a set of Toyo At2s two weeks ago and I don't think I will check the mileage. They did very well on a recent snow trip and that's what I was looking for.
If I wanted mileage, I would get a Prius.
littlezavasaurus
New member
lol nyc didn't get that memo
Remember that your rollout is a little bigger with the 285 tires (3.5% assuming you went 285/70-17). That would put you at 18.1 real mpg if you are now averaging 17.5 calculated. Still a drop but not as bad.
Jetboy
New member
That's part of it. The other issue is that it spends a lot more time in 4th gear. 80mph in 4th is pretty high into the rpm range. On my last road trip - 16mpg. Same trip 5 times before - 21-23mpg. Now I'm getting the best mileage in town, which is pretty close to before. Highway mpg is worse by far.
T4RT
New member
Thank you! I am curious to see what [MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION] thinks about this article.
When I accelerate I doesn't seem to have the same pep it use to have.
When I got home from the Tire shop, they had only put 32psi in each tire per the door jam recommendation. The truck felt very sloppy at higher speeds at 32psi, so I increased the tire to 38psi.
They should be P. I will double check again when I get home.
1engineer
Moderator
The article was fine. What it didn't discuss was how much of the 182 mile loop was city traffic. Also, unless you have some pretty good measuring equipment (which they didn't) 182 miles is not far enough to determine much of anything especially just using the pump to add fuel. Now if they had gone 18,000 miles then that would be a much better test. In such a short distance, just idling a few more minutes or stopping and slowing down a few more times will skew the data.
They also didn't mention the tire weight that I could see. The DC's weigh around 60 lbs and the Michelin's weigh around 52 lbs. That's a big difference when accelerating from a stop multiple times in city traffic. The rotational mass difference is not so important on the interstate but in the city it can kill mpg's.
They were spot on when talking about the loss due to tread design but they failed to mention the additional parasitic losses due to the additional aerodynamic drag caused by the mildly aggressive tread design.
Going from an all season to an all terrain tire, as long as they are about the same weight, should net you less than 1/2 mpg loss on the 4Runner. I have done comparisons between the stock Dunlops and the Cooper AT3's and the OEM Bridgestone's and the Nitto Terragrappler G2 over several thousand miles and the difference is well within rounding errors, not 10-20%.
radicalwillie
New member
Also, you have to factor in that most places are selling winter blend fuel now, that will reduce mileage. At least they do here in Colorado.