Gas mileage

[iAaronHD]

Hey guys,

I have an 01 4x4 ex. sport and I'm about to put 22' rims on. The wheels are considerably heavier then the stock 16's. I want to know if someone with the same can give me an idea of how the gas mileage is with the 22's so ill have an idea of what I'm facing.

 

[SoNic67]

The wheels are considerably heavier then the stock 16's.

So... you think that they are much heavier? 40 extra pounds?
Compared with the vehicle weight of 5500 pounds, do you think has any relevance?

Not the weight is what kills the mileage, is the difference in engine RPM's for the same speed.
Now you are driving in city with 50mph at 1800 rpm in forth gear. With 22", at same 50mph, probably you will be at 2300rpm but only in third gear, because of bigger diameter tire. Of course, different speeds will yield different results...

 

[71cutty455]

I replaced my stock 16"s with 22"s and while they are definitely quite a bit heavier I didn't see an appreciable loss in gas mileage but I drive mostly on the highway. They do take some pep out the acceleration so if you drive more stop and go you would see a drop but most likely only a 1 mpg or so difference.

Depending on your tire size the overall wheel/tire height may not change much at all. The stock 255/70/16's were right at 30" tall and my 265/35/22's are actually a tiny bit shorter rather than taller than stock so your speedo won't be too far off if you run the same size as I do.

 

[FIND]

So... you think that they are much heavier? 40 extra pounds?
Compared with the vehicle weight of 5500 pounds, do you think has any relevance?

Not the weight is what kills the mileage, is the difference in engine RPM's for the same speed.
Now you are driving in city with 50mph at 1800 rpm in forth gear. With 22", at same 50mph, probably you will be at 2300rpm but only in third gear, because of bigger diameter tire. Of course, different speeds will yield different results...

An 18 wheel tractor trailer combination only saves a couple hundred pounds total switching to aluminum wheels from steel, on a vehicle with a combined weight of 40 tons and tire/wheel combinations that still weigh over a hundred pounds per wheel.... Yet they continue to get proven gains in fuel mileage, even though they offset that weight savings with additional cargo. Same goes for trucks that run super singles, even though they only save a hundred pounds per axle with the super singles. Rotating mass makes a big difference, believe it or not.

OP, there will be a slight difference highway driving, but there will be a bigger difference in town. Like 71cutty said, I wouldn't expect much more than 1-2 mpg loss in town. Also, expect more sluggishness when taking off if the wheels are significantly heavier.

 

[iAaronHD]

Alright thanks for the feedback guys. Is there anything I can do to accommodate for the loss of acceleration?

 

[CDW6212R]

Buy light weight forged wheels. Mileage on the highway may not drop notably, but in town don't expect more than 12-14mpg with heavy(cheap) wheels.

BTW, the tire can be a big weight gain, select tire sizes carefully. You can check tire weights while deciding on those. I dropped about 5lbs per tire by going from 265's to 255's.

 

[doug625]

I agree the previous replies. The weight will not be an issue. Tire or wheel weight will have almost no affect but the tire height will.

 

[FIND]

No, weight is an issue with fuel economy. I think you misread the previous posts. Rotating mass makes a huge difference, frequently more so than small changes in overall diameter.

 

[my98nnj]

Even the tire type will have an effect on gas mileage. A muddier vs a highway or touring tire which will have less rolling resistance.

 

[Dono]

Sorry, I have to chime in here.

Un-Sprung weight (Wheel/tire weight) has a much bigger effect on mileage than sprung weight (Chassis).

Also, generally, you will see better mileage the faster you can go at a lower rpm. This means that if you go larger tires, and your motor has to shift down a gear to support the added weight and/or lower gear ratio you will loose mileage.

Now, if you can go with a larger wheel/tire combo that's nice and light, and the motor doesn't shift down a gear you should get better mileage. The factory does a pretty good job of matching the best gear ratio to the motor/tire height combination. Pretty tough to beat that unless you are changing how your motor performs.

This has all been said in the above posts, but I thought I's take a stab at saying it another way that might help (Or maybe hurt?) with understanding.

 

[delexploder]

If you dont think weight is a factor take a junk set of wheels an tires to a tractor shop and have them filled with calcium slap them on your rig (get some help lol) and let me know how your truck likes it. It dont matter if its on your roof in your cab or in your wheels..if you add weight the motors gotta move it and that takes fuel.

 

[CDW6212R]

If you dont think weight is a factor take a junk set of wheels an tires to a tractor shop and have them filled with calcium slap them on your rig (get some help lol) and let me know how your truck likes it. It dont matter if its on your roof in your cab or in your wheels..if you add weight the motors gotta move it and that takes fuel.

It does absolutely matter where the weight is.

It's easy to push/haul weight that's in your truck, compared to spinning it.

My 18" wheels and tires added only 14.5 pounds per, and that dropped gas mileage by at least 3-4mpg. I used to regularly get 16-18mpg in all around driving. Now I'm around 11-14mpg for the same conditions.

Think about adding 58lbs of weight to your truck, like a very light load for a trip, by yourself with no extra passengers. That will not make any noticeable difference to your mileage.

 

[delexploder]

I agree its worse when its on the end of the axel and while if its in the cab it may be minimised but its still gonna take more power thus more fuel. This is a very broad topic due to the large amount of variables. And I think the best way to answer the original question is to say if the overall diam. is the same as stock then yes the weight will cause a loss and it will get worse with more height. Also might be worth sayin braking will also suffer accordingly. Hope that sounds better than my previous redneck tractor referance. Lol

 

[FIND]

You can generally figure that every pound in your wheels and tires is equal to carrying 4 lbs. Basically this is a problem with the moment of inertia of your wheels. A higher mass equates to more resistance in changes in rotation. Basically it requires more torque to cause a heavier object to spin than a lighter object of the same diameter. This is why there are things like light weight flywheels and those types of things. Angular acceleration = torque/moment of inertia.

 

[doug625]

yes, a few earlier post's claimed that the rpm's would be higher with a taller tire which is completely the opposite....anyways, you might be talking about 5 pounds a tire (depending how much bigger you go) and yes, the extra weight of the tires/wheels can affect mileage, mostly in town as does taller tires. On highway driving the weight will have little or no affect...It takes a little more braking and It will take more inertia to get those wheels rolling but at a constant speed can also create momentum. I mean if we are talking about every little detail then you probably shouldn't upsize at all. Some of these changes will be barely noticeable and for me it's worth it for the appearance. The mileage differences we are talking about here are still smaller than any tire that is simply under-inflated.

 

[iAaronHD]

I replaced my stock 16"s with 22"s and while they are definitely quite a bit heavier I didn't see an appreciable loss in gas mileage but I drive mostly on the highway. They do take some pep out the acceleration so if you drive more stop and go you would see a drop but most likely only a 1 mpg or so difference.

Depending on your tire size the overall wheel/tire height may not change much at all. The stock 255/70/16's were right at 30" tall and my 265/35/22's are actually a tiny bit shorter rather than taller than stock so your speedo won't be too far off if you run the same size as I do.

Dude I just looked at your explorer. The wheels my friend is selling me are the EXACT ones you have on your explorer.

 

[DieselHilux]

I put 31 x 10.50 x 15 BFG KO's on my truck and it removed at least 2-4 MPG!!

 

[masospaghetti]

Big wheels will kill your gas mileage, acceleration, braking, cornering, and ride quality, while making your suspension work considerably harder. While I understand their aesthetic purpose, I find it a hard sell given the sacrifice in so many aspects of performance.