[BOB1942]

We own a 2003 ODY ...WE have 91000 miles on it the tires that came with it were worn down to the "wear indicators" these were michelin Symmetry tires ...I don't know if these were original tires we bought the ODY with 40,000 miles on it in 2006 and these were on the car ... The wife Diane and I both check our gas milage with every fillup ...The very best gas milage we EVER got was 22.4 mpg even with our driving 55 on the freeway trying to get better MPG ...Last week we bought new Michelin "hydro edge " tires at Discount tire because of their 800 wear rating and water safety tread we also got the them computer balanced because I know the ODY needs very well balanced wheels and tires to eliminate the shudder or vibration when driving and SO we set off on a trip to Columbus Ohio about 250 miles away driving at 70 mph on the Indy toll road and down freeway 69 ....

Well The new tires are GREAT ! the ride is very good with no annoying wiggle or vibration very smooth and comfortable but the gas milage ! it went from our very best in 4 years of driving to 26.5 MPG ! ! on the first fillup with the new tires...OH well a fluke or we made a mistake when we filled the tank ...Then at the next fillup Diane remarked "Well we won't get that good of milage this time with all the driving we did around Columbus " Well the next tank of gas we got 24.5 MPG ! with all that city driving ! WOW !

Now my question for all of you out there is ...

IS it possible for tires to make such a difference in the gas milage ? Has anyone else experienced this ?

THANKS EVERYONE ! BOB

 

[back3earth]

Higher wear ratings are often associated with harder rubber compounds which could contribute to better MPG.

Even with the same model tire, new tread can produce better MPG than worn tread.

Tire installers could have put higher air pressure in the new tires. Did you regularly check pressure on your old tires?

I've seen my Ody range 22 - 26 MPG highway on the same trip. Was it gas, weather, roads...???

Regardless, +4MPG is a very nice change. Since you track MPG, it would be interesting to see how this goes over the life of these tires.

 

[0dyfamily]

Better MPG, quiet, great grip, all in one tire? All possible. I had the Michelin HydroEdges for a couple weeks, and they were great. Solid MPG, grippy, smooth, good ride.

The ONLY reason I swapped to the Michelin Primacy MXV4's is due to my unique commute situation. There is an odd 1/2-mile stretch of road I transit every day to work (mix of concrete, asphalt, security barriers, etc.), and the tread made a strange sound that is amplified by my 2003 EX. After two straight weeks, I had to swap. The HydroEdge tires were very quiet everywhere else (highways, asphalt roads, concrete roads, roads repaird with chip-and-seal, grooved concrete, etc.). The funny thing is, nobody outside the car could hear it. Neither could my passengers. I'm hoping it wasn't just me, because they were awesome tires.

Tires are just that way. Oh, I've seen short sections of I-40 on our annual ski trips where the Michelin Primacy's can get really noisy. Same with the very good Yokohama YK520's we had before. Each tread pattern has a "noise personality", if I may term it that way.

BTW, the Michelin Primacy's are doing great, too.

OF

 

[baseball]

Tire Rack states new tires may get lower mpg than worn out tires.

New, Full-Treaded Tires Generate More Rolling Resistance Than Shallow-Treaded, Worn Tires.

Tire rolling resistance gradually drops by about 20% during the life of a tire as the tread wears from its original molded depth to worn out.
Since the automotive industry estimates a 10% increase in tire rolling resistance will result in a 1% to 2% decrease in vehicle fuel economy, drivers should expect to experience a potential 2% to 4% decrease in mpg.

New, Full-Treaded Tires Travel Farther per Tire Revolution Than Shallow-Treaded, Worn Tires

The diameter and circumference of a new, full-treaded tire is greater than that of an old, worn-out tire.
Tire Rack team drove one of our 2008 BMW 328Ci test cars on a set of new, full-treaded 205/55R16-sized tires, as well as another set of the same tires shaved to worn-out (2/32") tread depth.
...the vehicle's odometer overstated the distance traveled by about 1.5% when equipped with the worn out tires.
This means that the vehicle's fuel economy (whether calculated by the driver after filling up or the trip computer) would instantaneously appear to drop by about 1.5% when fitted with new tires simply because the vehicle would actually have traveled 1.5% farther than it did when equipped with its recently removed worn-out tires

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=177

http://www.altenergymag.com/emagazine.php?issue_number=09.06.01&article=tires

 

[0dyfamily]

Very interesting.

OF

 

[sedate_driver]

We own a 2003 ODY ...WE have 91000 miles on it the tires that came with it were worn down to the "wear indicators" these were michelin Symmetry tires ...I don't know if these were original tires we bought the ODY with 40,000 miles on it in 2006 and these were on the car ... The wife Diane and I both check our gas milage with every fillup ...The very best gas milage we EVER got was 22.4 mpg even with our driving 55 on the freeway trying to get better MPG ...Last week we bought new Michelin "hydro edge " tires at Discount tire because of their 800 wear rating and water safety tread we also got the them computer balanced because I know the ODY needs very well balanced wheels and tires to eliminate the shudder or vibration when driving and SO we set off on a trip to Columbus Ohio about 250 miles away driving at 70 mph on the Indy toll road and down freeway 69 ....

Well The new tires are GREAT ! the ride is very good with no annoying wiggle or vibration very smooth and comfortable but the gas milage ! it went from our very best in 4 years of driving to 26.5 MPG ! ! on the first fillup with the new tires...OH well a fluke or we made a mistake when we filled the tank ...Then at the next fillup Diane remarked "Well we won't get that good of milage this time with all the driving we did around Columbus " Well the next tank of gas we got 24.5 MPG ! with all that city driving ! WOW !

Now my question for all of you out there is ...

IS it possible for tires to make such a difference in the gas milage ? Has anyone else experienced this ?

THANKS EVERYONE ! BOB

Generally, you should see a drop in apparent efficiency with new tires assuming your replacement tires are the exact same size as the old ones. The new tires will have more tread and therefore a larger diameter. The wheels will rotate fewer times for the same given distance and because your odometer measures wheel rotation not actual distance travelled it will appear that you travelled a shorter distance. This will translate into a lower mpg. Baseball's Tirerack reference explains changes to rolling resistance and tire diameter quite well. The same logic would apply to overinflating your tires.

I suspect your new tires have a smaller diameter than your old ones and are giving you the illusion of better economy. I hope I didn't burst any bubbles here.