Stock tire size more aggresive tread decrease mpg's?

Hi everyone,

Its about time for some new tires and i would like a little more aggresive tread pattern. My question is if i stay with a stock size tire but go with a more aggresive off road style tread will my gas mileage be affected?

right now im looking at some all terrain bfg's at wally world for $154.99 each. will these increase off road performance much or will they just look cool? My main concern is gas mileage. What do you guys think?

thanks,
Zo

 

[1995 Explorer]

I am currently running cooper discoverer STs (very similar to BFGs) on my Explorer. I would estimate that i have lost less than 1 mpg versus the stock Goodyear Wranglers. My Explorer still pulls 20mpg on the highway and the Coopers are much better in snow and mud. I use my Explorer to travel between Chicago and Grand Rapids, MI and for me the gain in winter traction was worth a tiny loss in MPGs.

 

[Anime]

Aggressive tread patterns have more rolling resistance than smoother pavement tires, so things like gas mileage are usually affected when going from one to the other.

Tires like the BFG A/T's are also heavier, so it takes a little more to get them rolling.

However the Explorer doesn't seem to be terribly affected by this, partly because it was designed with All-Terrain tires in mind, so it's more like Highway or All-Season tires will increase mileage.

Also with a 5.0 V8, how you drive and regular maintenance is going to have a lot more of an effect on mileage than the tread on the tires. Being LT tires, The BFGs also have a higher psi rating, so you can run them higher than the 35psi limit of P-rated tires, which can also increase mileage.

The BFG's are a proven good on/off-road tire. If your main concern is gas mileage though, and you rarely go off-road, they will just look cool. There are other aggressive-looking choices that might be better (and even less expensive) than the BFGs if you won't be off-roading that much, such as the Yokohama Geolandar AT-S and the Firestone Destination AT.

 

[spacecadebt]

thank you anime. Very helpful

 

[wrigley_1285]

I use to run 33x12.50 BFG AT's on my truck. And without recalibrating my speedo I was averaging about 16-17 mpgs. I don't know what the actual mpgs were. And with my 35x12.50 ProComp MTs I’m still averaging about 13-15 mpgs without recalibrating my speedo. I liked my BFG AT's, they were really good in the snow and mud for me and when I went out to the off road park I was getting better traction than most of the guys with mud terrains. If you are planning on getting more aggressive tires I would suggest moving up to a larger than stock size. I would suggest getting 31x10.50's bc you should be able to run them without a lift and no rubbing.

 

[spacecadebt]

thanks for the input but not interested in a bigger tire. I do to much highway driving for a tire that big and like i said i dont want to hurt my gas mileage. Plus bigger tires = more stess on the chassis

 

[colintrax]

I got the faulken rocky mountain AT. I went slightly bigger (30x9.5x15) and I didn't notice much decrease in gas mileage. I also run them around 40psi which seems to help with the soft sidewall. You can tell its bigger, heavier tires though

 

[alakers]

might look for a set of general grabbers .... very similar to the bfg at's ... but much cheaper. i found 118 a tire ... instead of 150.