How much does tire weight matter???

I had a 2013 DCSB 2.7 auto, and going from OEM alloys and OEM P245 highway treads to aftermarket alloys (same weight) and P265 Hankook Dynapro AT, later to a P265 Cooper AT.. I lost about 25% of my fuel economy.

Went from averaging 22/23 a tank to 17/18 and stayed there until the truck met an early fate a couple years later.

2.7s have a much harder time with larger tires, even a small increase in size and weight. I think my ATs were less than 10 lbs heavier per tire compared to OEM.

 

I think tire size doesn't matter as much as tire weight, correct? So i think people use them interchangeably. But for example, the stock GY tires weight around 44lbs, you can buy SL load Wildpeaks around 44lbs in the 265/75 size, so techincally larger, but same weight vs. E load Wildpeaks that come in closer to 56lbs in the 265/75.

I've seen no change in MPG in my short sample size going from 265/70 to 265/75. BUT i went with SL load wildpeaks which are same weight and Ray10s, which are actually 3lbs lighter per wheel than the OEM wheels. So maybe the offset (which i would think would create more wind drag) is counteracted by the 3lbs lighter wheel.

Who knows! I guess in short, if someone is really worried about MPGs, bigger/heavier tires aren't the play, get a highway tire and keep it close to stock lol.

 

Size is what killed my mpg's. My 17 had 245/75R16 stock (34lbs tires and 28lbs wheels, about 62lbs total) and replaced it with lighter wheel (19lbs) but bigger and heavier tires (42lbs, about 61lbs total). As you can see, newer set up is actually lighter than stock yet my mpgs went from 20/24 to 18/21. I thought that was significant by going up a tire size.

 

Well i guess my assumption was wrong, i would have thought weight would have been deciding factor. I've only had my setup for about a week, so very small sample size, i'll keep an eye out on MPGs and see how it looks because i'm in a similar boat as you with saving a bit of weight, but bigger size tire.

 

There was another thread where some other guy was getting 26+ mpg but with the smaller 235 tires.

 

My experience too.

When I bought my 4Runner, this actually made me go with a P255 tire, which had no noticeable change in driveability or MPG.

 

Depends on the kind of driving you tend to do.

Heavier tires have more rotational inertia. If you use your brakes a lot all the extra energy you spend spinning up heavier tires is lost to brake dust and heat. If you do lots of highway driving and tend to coast down to a stop you'll get that energy back as distance traveled.

 

I know this thread is old and maybe beaten to death but does anyone know the precise weight of the stock TRD OR Goodyear AT territory w/ Kevlar tires? My recent experience is they suck — had a flat in the middle of my rural property doing some medium level off-roading. I’m going to E rated but I want to minimize weight gain. One way I can do this is to stick with stock size and resist the urge to bump up to the 75s. I’ve found some good Coopers that weigh in at 47lb each in E rating. But I cannot do an apples to apples if I have no idea what the stock tires weigh. Just cannot find the numbers. Thanks!!

 

I'm interested too. All else being equal what will be better for 'feel' and 'responsiveness' (which economy will follow) a K02 E Rated stock 265 70 16 or a Michelin Defender LTX 265 75 16?