Can a different set of tires really add to your MPG?

Jbird

Jbird

Kick Henry Jackassowski
My Chevy Cruze LTZ had the original tires, Michelin somethingorothers, on the car until last week, when I bought a set of Kelly Eagle All-Season for it.

The Michelin's were a 40k tire, and I had 55k on them, with still an 'ok' amount of tread life on them. I certainly wanted new tires on the car by the time snow starts flying, so I bought the Kelly tires. Researching them there was an online review from Autoweek? or some similar 'name' auto page, where they liked the tire, said it actually did really well on ice, had very good cornering grip, etc.

Anyways, with the old OEM Michelin's, I was getting 34, maybe 35 highway (usually closer to 34).

With these new Kelly tires, I just took a trip to St. Louis, since I have this week off. I filled up my tank in the town where I work (about 13 miles on my way to St. Louis) as their gas is cheaper there than in my town.

Anyways, 372 miles after filling up, at exit 30 outside St. Louis, my fuel needle was a bit under half-way, so I decided to stop and fill up, not wanting to be low on gas while driving around a big city. It took 9.799 gallons to fill back up. So 38 MPG !!! 3 to 4 mpg better than what I have been getting.

The Cruze has a 15 gallon tank, so I drove from south and west of Battle Creek, MI to St. Louis, MO on 2/3 of a tank of gas, basically :cool:
 
Oh, I'd post pics from St. Louis, but I still haven't registered to a different image hosting site since the photobucket meltdown. Hosting site recommendations?

And doesn't Brocktoon post here under a different user name? He's from St. Louis, isn't he?
 
They can, the primary factor being weight...a lighter tire requires less energy to move, thus better mileage...tread design also affects rotational resistance...

...but it's more likely that the percentage of highway mikes you drove on this trip is a lot higher than you usually drive, giving you the skewed numbers...don't expect the same efficiency when you're back to your regular driving routine...
 
Yeah, I mostly drive city miles. I get about 19 mpg (6 cyl Dodge Journey).
On the rare occasion I take a road trip my mileage jumps to about 24-ish mpg.
 
jelloman said:
They can, the primary factor being weight...a lighter tire requires less energy to move, thus better mileage...tread design also affects rotational resistance...

...but it's more likely that the percentage of highway mikes you drove on this trip is a lot higher than you usually drive, giving you the skewed numbers...don't expect the same efficiency when you're back to your regular driving routine...
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All of this.
 
Rolling resistance varies from one tire design to the next. Of course the tire's air pressure, weather, and road conditions factor in, too.

YMMV :rim:
 
I guess that depends...

square-tire-Autoline.jpg
 
On my wife's old VW TDI we replaced the worn out OEM tires with a set of Bridgestone Ecopia tires. They were on sale at Costco, so we bought them, as they were in stock and the cheapest 'good brand' tire option. I was curious about the mpg claims so I keep track of the mileage and it seems the new tires were around 2 mpg better than the old. Of course, the car was a 45 mpg efficient highway machine, so it was a small difference overall. Those tires were on the car when it was bought back and they had run 50K miles and still looked great. I'm sure over the life of the tire there would be some good cost savings for someone who puts on a lot of highway miles.
 
It might just be that the sidewalls aren't broken down and firmly supporting the tire thus reducing the contact patch. There is mpg differences between brands though.
 
I can tell you that moving from a C rated 31.5" diameter tire to an E rated 33" diameter tire (going from about 60 lbs wheel/tire weight to about 95 lbs wheel tire weight) definitely kills gas mileage. My Jeep has gone from about 20 mpg stock to about 16 mpg now. I've added a lift, a bunch of weight, and the larger, heavier tires). The tires made the biggest difference in fuel economy.
 
jelloman said:
They can, the primary factor being weight...a lighter tire requires less energy to move, thus better mileage...tread design also affects rotational resistance...

...but it's more likely that the percentage of highway mikes you drove on this trip is a lot higher than you usually drive, giving you the skewed numbers...don't expect the same efficiency when you're back to your regular driving routine...
Click to expand...

Exactly

....And don't forget driving style; that has an even bigger impact on your mileage than tires could provide
 
You paid about $0.25 more per gallon of gas in IL than in MO. Maybe $0.15/gallon more if you were just going inside the MO border. Only people from IL buy their gas in MO near the border between the two. IL gas taxes are a bitch.

Most of your fuel economy came from the fact that you drove mostly/only highway miles during your test. Would be curious how much after you get back to your usual driving routine.
 
Dudeman1967 said:
You paid about $0.25 more per gallon of gas in IL than in MO. Maybe $0.15/gallon more if you were just going inside the MO border. Only people from IL buy their gas in MO near the border between the two. IL gas taxes are a bitch.

Most of your fuel economy came from the fact that you drove mostly/only highway miles during your test. Would be curious how much after you get back to your usual driving routine.
Click to expand...
I paid $2.29/gal. in Michigan. When I filled back up outside St. Louis it was $2.09/gal.

I DID notice at some places in St. Louis it was $2.02/gal. at the time, but I also saw gas stations where it was $2.09/gal. just like the place I filled up at idn_smilie
 
Low rolling resistance tires are designed to help increase gas mileage, but say they also decrease traction. :shrug:
 
Jbird said:
I paid $2.29/gal. in Michigan. When I filled back up outside St. Louis it was $2.09/gal.

I DID notice at some places in St. Louis it was $2.02/gal. at the time, but I also saw gas stations where it was $2.09/gal. just like the place I filled up at idn_smilie
Click to expand...

The prices jump $0.20 within hours. I hate when I put off getting gas in the morning before work only to find the price shot up $0.20-2.30 by the time I get off work.

Every person I know who lives in IL just across the MO/IL border buys their gas in MO.

From this web site. http://www.missourigasprices.com/Prices_Nationally.aspx

Missouri $2.127
Illinois $2.395

There are other market considerations again, like the proximity to MO must cause IL stations to lower their prices a bit. In MO near the IL border they raise theirs just high enough to hopefully lure the IL drivers but still catch some of the MO drivers. Also there are two huge refineries just outside of St Louis in IL that may or may no refine the "recipes" required by either state or EPA.

On a side note, IL people come into MO to buy their cigarettes because MO has one of, if not the lowest tobacco taxes in the country.
 
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