What is the lightest AT or mild AT tires? Need to get a set to save gas.

I know this might be contrary to popular opinion, but what about getting a yaris for errands that don't require any hauling? Even a used yaris to save on cost.

 

I did consider that but with the current situation, we can't really take on another vehicle in my family, and also if we are getting a "new" vehicle it will be for my wife now since I picked every vehicles in my household up until now.

 

I still have my stock TRD Off Road wheels with the 275/65R18 Michelins on them. Currently on the truck are a set of TRD BBS wheels with 285/75R18 Duratracs (+8.4% circumference). All MPG and MPH numbers I will cite are corrected for the size discrepancy. All mpg numbers are averages of at least one full tank of gas. Here is my experience:

Before changing my driving habits, I decided to put my stock wheels/tires back on. I went from 14mpg combined to 14.3mpg combined. Lol. I put the Duratracs back on.

Then, I decided to change my driving habits. I stay ≤65mph on the highway. I stay right except to pass (novel concept!!). I coast when I can. I keep my truck in S4 when in town. This prevents unnecessary shifting. With these habits, I’m now sitting at 16mpg combined when I hit E instead of 14. That’s with the excess 20-lb weight per corner of the Duratracs (+24lb) and the TRD BBS wheels (-4lbs).

TL;DR: even though I might be able to do a bit better still with stock tires and changed driving habits, in my experience it’s much more about how you drive.

 

Agree, in my own experience, I was not caring about driving habit when I was on stock tires and was still getting 4-5mpgs more than what I get now being extremely cautious in rpms/mpgs LOL
Nowadays, I always keep my truck below 65mph and light on the paddle.

with this calculation, you gained about 7.8% in circumference and 3.6% on the width. My gain was around 7.2% in circumference and 24% in width.

I have also read somewhere the weight savings in tires affects mpg much more in weight savings in wheels due to the resistance is much further away from the rotational axis. I see what you mean tho, hopefully with the stock size tire and weight I will be gaining 3-4mpg back, I will be reporting back when I get the tires in.

 

Not quite. Your %s are different. In order to compare our percentages, you need to have the stock tire in the Tire 1 slot for both. The first pic you posted of my tire sizes should have the sizes reversed, like this:

I did not gain 7.8% circumference; I gained 8.4% circumference going to my Duratracs. The base of your % calculation needs to be the stock tire. Especially because that is what the speedometer is calibrated to. In your first pic with my tire sizes, you are taking percentages based on the aftermarket tire size.What I gained by going to 285/75s is an 8.4% longer travel per rotation of the tire. So when I see 15.1 on the dash, the truck (which thinks I'm still on 275/65s) is showing me 16.4 in reality.

 

i see now, thanks!

 

haha I bought a cheap MR2 to set up as a track car and ended up driving it to work because it gets like 30mpg

 

What? No noo, this is wrong please don't do that!! If she upshfted, just go easy and she will prevail. No need to keep rpm unnecessarily high and do power speeding. Even when she shifts into 5th at thirty, there's plenty of power to do easy acceleration. Please keep her in drive, gang.

 

Completely disagree. When tooling around town in D, especially if you’re gentle on the throttle, the truck tries to dump down to 6th gear too quickly. Then, when hitting a gentle hill at say 30mph, there is a lag until it upshifts. During that lag, you’re dumping unnecessary fuel. Keep it in S4, maybe S5 @45mph, prevents unnecessarily shifting into and out of overdrive gears.

My takeaway is that I really don’t need to be in overdrive gears (5th and 6th) at city speeds, especially with hills everywhere. Maybe your mileage varies (literally), but this has made a significant difference for me.

 

Agree, I have found that in city/county driving, 25-45 mph roads, tow haul can also bump up MPG a bit, less shifting maybe...but it does help a little just like s4 would in that MPH range.

 

I am sorry gang, please don't be mad, but I will have to politely disagree.

 

Interesting. I'll need to test this out when I get my new SG dialed in.

 

Yes, I believe T/H holds gears longer. Seems like the same principle that works well for me.

All good. I don’t think anyone is mad. I can very much handle disagreement lol. Next time you’re driving in town, try it out. You can still lockup the TC in S4, and no more bogging down when in too low of a gear followed by delayed upshift (which is not good for fuel economy). Again, measurably significant difference over here in hilly middle Tennessee.

 

Thank you, I am glad we are all still friends!

For @king.cong.1119 , if you are interested in super effective, but indirect savings, try taking lukewarm showers! I converted about a week ago and haven't looked back. If you can convince everyone(or not) to try it, savings will outweigh mpg tires by maximum margin! Hot water tank will not need to work as hard!

Also, washing hands in cold water is another great way to save energy. If the faucet is far away from water heater, by the time hot water gets to you, you'd be done washing anyways. No need to warm up pipes buried in concrete(or crawlspace). Use soap though, don't want germs. Very bad.

Also, this one is not for everyone, but disconnecting internet will net you a healthy amount back into your wallet. I haven't had internet service for about 4 years! Its miserable, but doable. You can have one phone with unl. data and tether to it whenever you need to use internet. Wireless provider will likely start throttling you like crazy, but it is on the table if you're right on the budget!

 

I just did something similar; it didn’t make sense to buy a second set of tires in order to save money but I did ditch my 35x12.5 km3s for Toyo at3 in the 35x11.5 size. It’s 12 pounds per corner and it’s noticeable from my seat of the pants. Not sure what the mpg difference is as I’ve never calculated it but I’d imagine it’s something worthwhile. Rides better, coasts a lot better, and still has a good look to my truck. The bfgs were e rated and the toyos are c but are well within the capacity of rhe truck.

 

I'm *still* shopping for tires and noticed those Goodyear Territory tires that come on some of the new Broncos and Ram trucks are now available in 275/70R18 in load range C. It doesn't look like a bad option for a smooth ride with the look of an all terrain in a light tire:
Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT | LT275/70R18 (tirerack.com)

 

To the OP, the 2 tires I was looking at for the same reasons as you were Nokian outpost AT and the nitto recon grapplers. No experience with them but the specs and initial reviews look good. Neither available right now in Canada so ended up with cooper at3 xlt. Was really jazzed about the recon grapplers especially

 

Cooper AT3 XLT. Look at the weight versus other tires.