Tires

[DarkKnight]

Ok, usualy i dont care about this Subject but im makking a DD so i do need to get some info on this..




What type tires are better for MPG Skiny Fat Med? High Walls Low Walls.
Traction?

What ever it is is what im going to go with. And Sizes would help as well. So if you just say Stock LOL, what is Stock? ;-)



Thanks mang's


, Dark

[Tiggie]

The skinniest tire with the least aggressive tread pattern will give you the best MPG (lets say a P195/75-R15 to keep it safe and not too skinny). But tire width doesn't really make much of a difference in MPG.

The low-profile (short sidewall) versus regular-profile (taller sidewall) doesn't really make a difference in MPG, either. If you go to the extreme ends of the spectrum, a really short tire (P195/50-R15) versus a really tall tire (P235/75-R15) will mess with your MPG due to the extreme rolling diameter difference. Depending on your rear axle, one or the other might affect MPG by 0.3.

Generally for street use the wider the tire, the more dry traction. But wet traction, from my experience, is usually worse with a wider tire.

The sidewall size generally doesn't make much of a difference in traction for street tires. A sticker compound tire will give you slightly more traction (usually those without treadware warranties, or low treadware warranties). Race cars and tires are different.

Factory turbine wheels take a P235/60-R15 tire quite well for best traction and fit.

[DarkKnight]

So P195/75-R15 or P235/60-R15 will be a preety decent mpg? and the 195's more so? :-D just to sum it up?

[Nathan in MI]

What it boils down to is that it's not going to make a whole heck of a lot of difference. If you want my advice, don't go with anything too skinny...if you do, crosswinds tend to be a lot more noticeable. Just put on whatever the door sticker says is the right size and drive in peace.

[85crownHPP]

no!

to sum up, tires size doesnt make any signifigant difference as long as they have the right amount of air they will have close to the same rolling resistance.

if you want the low profile look, the most reccomended on our size wheels is 235/60/15 - this will be slightly shorter and much wider than stock
or if you want the taller fatter look go for 225/70 or even 235/70/15.
I had 255/70/15 on the rear I thought that was a little over kill.

If you get wider aftermarket wheels you can go even wider tires.

[Tiggie]

If you are looking for the best MPG, I'd stick with a P215/70-R15, stock for most boxes. That is what the car was designed for.

But it really doesn't make that much of a difference in MPG. Now if you wanted to up some 38in mud tires... then yah it'd probably kill MPG.

[DuceAnAHalf]

no!

to sum up, tires size doesnt make any signifigant difference as long as they have the right amount of air they will have close to the same rolling resistance.

if you want the low profile look, the most reccomended on our size wheels is 235/60/15 - this will be slightly shorter and much wider than stock
or if you want the taller fatter look go for 225/70 or even 235/70/15.
I had 255/70/15 on the rear I thought that was a little over kill.

If you get wider aftermarket wheels you can go even wider tires.

325/50R15's FTW.

I actually liked the 165/15s on the front of the 85. even with no front sway bay, a big rear bar, and 90/10 shocks the car drives highway speeds better than stock.

[turbo2256b]

Wide tires on the rear dont make much differance. Tall ones on the rear can help with economy because they decrease the gear ratio. Too tall can hurt if the gear ratio falls short of the torq curve.

Wide tires on the front can cause a big reduction in economy. 275 50s on the front of my 6cyl Mustang cost me 10 MPG.

V8s are a bit different because of there power modest increases in front tire size dosent make quite the differance. They waist a lot of fuel there BSFC is genenerly higher. A bit more load with all that power dosent show much change.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Wide tires on the rear dont make much differance. Tall ones on the rear can help with economy because they decrease the gear ratio. Too tall can hurt if the gear ratio falls short of the torq curve.

Wide tires on the front can cause a big reduction in economy. 275 50s on the front of my 6cyl Mustang cost me 10 MPG.

V8s are a bit different because of there power modest increases in front tire size dosent make quite the differance. They waist a lot of fuel there BSFC is genenerly higher. A bit more load with all that power dosent show much change.

I wonder how much the 255/50R17s all around are gonna cost me on the 97

[turbo2256b]

I wonder how much the 255/50R17s all around are gonna cost me on the 97

If your front end is alligned properly as I said not much if any. V8s are over powered compaired to 6s. I dont think my 275 50s onn the front of my box make much differance. The 6 I had was tunned to the max. Got 45 MPG hiway 35 city with stock tires onn the front and 295 50s on the rear. With 275s on the front it dropped to 35 / 25. It was totally unreal around a corner though. So fast around a corner I lost the first engine because all the oil left the pan and starved the pump. I had to make my own T pan with trap doors and such.

[boXman]

225/70/15 if your sticking with 15s.

Mods/Admins are slacking, wtf does this have to do with engine tech...

[Archangel]

Gas mileage and tire size... well I did once get 28mpg (absolute best record for a box on this site I think) with worn out (read lots of contact surface) 245/60-15 tires. Handling with those was great too, scared the hell of many drivers in the morning when change lanes in split-second. Here are my recomendation, depending on the type of driving you're about to do:

- lots of dirt roads and bad pavement - 235/70-15 light truck tires (215/70-15 is as small as they go), they are much stronger than stock tires and also can be had in variety of treat designs depending on what you want. I have them in the offroad version, great for driving through rain and other crap, decent handling too, but stiffer ride (of which I don't really care). Here are some pics of my car with my current tires:



(the spare tire on the last pic is 255/60-15 so don't wonder why it looks so damn wide, it's now replaced by a light truck tire that matches the 4 rolling ones)


- lots of freeway driving - 215/70-15 or 225/70-15 tires in the highest speed rating you can afford ("H" is perfect), will give you some killer mileage.

- mixed city/freeway driving - 235/60-15s all around will give you much improved handling while still retaining the good gas mileage on the freeway, and if you up the rears to 255/60-15s you get some increase in payload too. Here are some pics of my car with 255/60-15 rear tires and stock-sized fronts:




- mostly city driving - 245/60-15s in 6-ply H-rated desing will give you darn good handling, may slightly hurt mileage on the freeway, not good for bad roads. Here are some pics of my car with Cordovan Grand Prix 245/60-15 tires mounted on wheels like yours:

[DuceAnAHalf]

225/70/15 if your sticking with 15s.

Mods/Admins are slacking, wtf does this have to do with engine tech...

Fixed