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Liljeep
Why would city gas mileage be more negatively affected by larger tire size than highway mileage?
I have an 07 Jeep Wrangler and going to a larger tire size caused a much bigger impact on my gas mileage in the city but not so much on the highway. Anyone know why that would be?

Asked by: vroom

User type: Enthusiast

Asked on: August 13, 2008 15:33

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MonsterMudder
User type: Enthusiast
Posted: about 1 year ago
Depends on how big an increase. Highway may pick up a bit and city may dip. If the size change is not that substantial you will hardly notice it. You can get a feel for how drastic the change might be by hitting up one of the sites that has a tire calculator and will give you some idea of the differences. The Tire Rack can also get you all the sizes of tires to see how much over stock it is. The reason is a bigger tire makes it like a lower numeric gear ratio. So a bigger tire will cause your engine to rev lower then a smaller one. So highway can really benefit from lower revs, but around town you motor has to work a bit harder now to move the car. Think if you had to start your car in 2nd gear instead of first, similar but not as bad.
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Motor8rMatt
User type: Enthusiast
Posted: about 1 year ago
I would also add to this, that if you upgrade to a large off-road wheel and tire, the added friction of an off-road tire and the added weight, could both contribute to poor fuel economy.
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Liljeep
vroom
User type: Enthusiast
Posted: about 1 year ago
Thanks for the response. I opted to just keep the tires I have for now. Even with gas prices coming down it's still a gas hog and very costly.
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