Ditching front steel bumper and tires for better mpg

Hey everyone. Sorry another poor fuel mileage post coming in.

I'm on a mission to get better mpg. Currently I have 255 80 r17's on. They are Toyo open country at2's. I'm looking to swap them out with 265 70 r17. I drive almost all city. Not looking for aesthetics just function. Would anyone be able to recommend a good city tire that I could keep on all year and would possibly cut it during the winter. I live in south central British Columbia so we get moderate winters here with a decent amount of snow. The snow doesn't last long though. I'd say there's a total of a month where you actually need good tires. Not sure if I should put on winters and possibly run them all year, all terrain tires or all season tires. I have a 2" lift also.

The truck came with a fairly heavy duty front winch bumper that I don't need at all. How much is this contributing to bad fuel economy? If I have zero use for it should I just dump it for stock? I'm perfectly ok with the stock bumper. How easy is it to do yourself or roughly how much would it cost to get a shop to do it? Where's the best place to find one? I used to work in oil and gas so I'm not terrible with wrenches.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

Michelin Defender for tires. Their rubber compound is magic.

 

This or Continentials H/T


The bumper there isnt any different aerodynamically than stock. leave it

 

Since your speedo is currently wrong with the tires you have be sure you are calculating your MPG correctly.

 

Plus 10,000x for Defenders...best all around tire period ;-p

 

Are you trying to spend less money? Because maybe it's just easier to not buy new tires.

Are your existing tires E load?

Do you drive a lot of miles? Is your traffic hard acceleration - braking or is it more chill?

In the winter month, how cold does it get, and how early do you get to driving?

 

I'm from the same area. +++++ for Michelin Defenders in an OEM size. Ran them for 20 years on both my 1992 up to 2006 Toyota 4x4 truck, then a 2003 Pathfinder up until 2020. Just Switched to Toyo Open country AT/III's P/metric a year after I bought my new 2020 Tacoma one size up from stock, 265/70/R17's. Lost 1 MPG.

Besides the front bumper does the truck have any further mods of any kind? What was the MPG's supposed to be off the assembly line?

Replacing the front bumper may be tricky. Salvage yard, 4x4 shop may come across one. I can think of 3 in the Lowermainland you could canvas. Other than that FB marketplace or Craig's list?

 

Attempting to trade the bumper with another white 2nd gen might be your best bet.

 

Aerodynamic changes will have almost no effect on your "city" mileage. Lower rolling resistance tires will have minimal effect. Changes to your driving habits will have the most effect.

 

Yes current tires are E load.

I bought the truck at the end of August. So far my I'm getting anywhere from 400-425km per tank so 250-265 miles. However this current tank I think I'll barely get 218 miles from it. Mind you this last tank has largely been multiple very short trips but I haven't been heavy on the gas either. Could a whole lot of really short trips make that much of a difference? It's this last tank of gas that's made me think I have to do something about this. No alarms have come up on the display so I don't think there's anything mechanically wrong or at least I don't want to spend more money to find out. I did come from a four cylinder ranger with a manual trans. Aside from that it's almost all city very little highway. Driving style is a mix of harder accelerations and grandpa driving.

Where I live it will be anywhere from -7 degrees celsius (19 degrees F) to a few degrees above freezing, however we get a least two or three weeks of very frigid weather down to around -20 (-4F). I start driving anytime from 6am-8am.

 

It has a k and n cold air intake. I think it has bilstein shocks as well, I'll have to double check. And then the bumper and I think that's it.

Do the tires rub at 265 70 r17? Do you think I'd see an improvement in fuel economy coming down from 255 80 r17 with the tires you're recommending? The tires I have on now are e load.

 

As mentioned, driving habits have a huge impact. Short trips really suck the gas. Our trucks do better on longer road trips with light throttle and sticking to the speed limit.

Best MPG’s I ever got was the wife driving with the truck completely stock. Including the lighter factory Firestone Destination LE2’s highway tires 265/65R17’s. She managed 9.1L/100KM. I’m currently averaging about 13.8L/100KM’s as mixed driving. The average is boosted due to better MPG’s in the warmer summer weather, the switch to Summer gas and longer highway road trips. Winter it gets noticeably worse due to winter gas, more short trips, colder weather with longer warm-up times.

Our truck is a daily driver and grocery getter as we currently only have one vehicle.

Yes E load tires add more unsprung weight. That’s why we recommend the Michelins in P-metric. Lots here call them Grandpa tires but they’re awesome, well made tire that can handle a variety of weather conditions. Plus they should help MPG’s and wear very well.

Also, the switch to colder winter conditions and the change over to winter gas decreases MPG’s.

Be sure to check to see if there may be a spacer lift as well.

Best chance for better MPG’s is returning to a completely stock configuration. Observe your driving habits and run as light as tire as you can.

Having said that, if you want to go one size up from stock like I did, it’s the biggest you can go without any rubbing with the factory wheels. Aftermarket wheels with an extreme offset may cause issues. No rub anywhere with my stock TRD Sport wheels and 265/70R17 Toyo Open Country AT3’s. Even have the air damn and factory mud guards on.

Ultimately, these trucks were never know for being good at MPG’s They are non-aerodynamic bricks driving down the road. If you are looking for good MPG’s this truck may not be a good fit for you.

 

How fast can you Canadians go on your highways? Down here in the US I've found that keeping the truck below 70 MPH has a huge impact on MPG. I'll sometimes even do 65-67 so that I rarely have to pass others. On a long enough trip I can get 20MPG.

 

Officially - 50 km/hr (30 mph) in built up areas. 80 km/hr (50 mph) along rural roads. 110-120 km/hr (70-75 mph) along major highways and expressways.

Congested highways 100 km/hr-62.14 mph. Folks will routinely do 110-120 km/hr 68.3-74.5 mph. I tend to fluctuate between 68-75 MPH depending on conditions. Fastest I had my truck up to was 140 km/hr 86.9 mph

I find Truck does best MPG's at 50-60 mph on a rural flat road with RPMs constantly around 1100 rpm's. We also live in a very hilly region.

 

Miles per tank is guesswork. Do the math for a more accurate answer

And again, the math needs to compensate for the speedo/odo error caused by your large tires.

While you may not like the correct answer either, it's always better to work with accurate numbers.

BTW, these trucks are not MPG heros. Regardless of what you do.

 

A less aggressive tire will help a little, no more than 2 mpg, probably less than 1, but it doesn't cost anything if you already need tires. Plus less aggressive tires usually cost less.

I wouldn't spend money swapping out other parts. You'd be spending money to see a tiny fraction of 1 mpg improvement. You'll never save enough on gas to make up the difference.

Conservative driving is the most cost effective way to save on fuel.

 

Short cold trips are the worst. I get 23mpg all day anywhere except when I start up. My run to my kid's school is 0.9 miles so I get like 11mpg on that trip. These engines are cold blooded and need to warm up to get the emissions systems running so they burn more fuel for the first little bit. I doubt the tires or weight loss would help too much. Short of getting a plug in hybrid the only advice I have is combine your trips as much as possible so when you've warmed up, do all your other errands as well before the engine cools off.

BTW Marshall is right, any money spent chasing mpg is likely not worth it. I figured if I got 5 extra mpg I might save $300 a year... so I stopped chasing passenger tires and under body aero etc. as it's just not worth it. Just enjoy and drive it.

 

Lose the E-rated tires and keep it below 65 on the highway

 

I get 420 miles per tank
drive 35-45 on back roads and keep throttle steady or use CC
Larger tires than stock add more weight and rotational mass that drop MPGs fast
worn ujoints, sticking brakes and exhaust leaks before cats (runs rich wasting fuel) can make MGP drop fast

 

For better milage, do the SFP* mod
(*swap for prius)




Kidding, kind of.
Your first stated goal is better milage, so I'm curious, why a tacoma at all? They were Never known for their mpg.

You are paying a premium (in buying a Tacoma) for a very capable off-roader, that never sees dirt?
Does it haul or tow regularly? If so, milage will suffer, regardless.

You did say aesthetics were not an important consideration.
But any 4x4 6-lugger is a terrible city commuter car.
So what is your attraction for a truck, when you want good milage?

But to answer your question, yes, you get mpg gains from weight saving. But the weight difference between the 2 bumpers is not likely going to make a noticeable difference at the pump.
If you are determined to drive a truck, your best hope of saving gas is to accelerate as slowly and as little as possible.
Next, run the smallest, lightest tires you can find.
Lastly, walk or bike if less traveling than ~5 miles.
That's how you save gas in a Tacoma.