Rebel Owners: Fuel Economy After Swapping Tires?

[Tommy R]

Hey folks,

This is just for the Rebel owners who have/had the Goodyear Duratrac tires, which are pretty aggressive for all terrains. I'm curious how changing to milder tires may have impacted your fuel economy. I'm also wondering if anyone went with a taller/milder tire and how that's compared to the stock 33" Gooyears. Have you swapped your tires out for something else? What tire and what size? Have you seen any improvement in economy? Did it stay the same? Did it get worse? I'm curious if going to a slightly taller tire could help by pulling the revs down. I doubt it would be enough to overcome the increased tire weight and aero drag from being taller, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

The reason I ask all this is because I'm fairly convinced a major reason our trucks get worse mileage than other Rams is due to the tires and their rolling resistance. I'm planning on replacing my tires very soon and will likely go with a milder all terrain.

And please keep the old, tired "you shoulda bought a Prius" comments to yourself. None of us expected great economy, but 60% of those numbers is pretty disappointing. So I'd like to see if a tire swap could be helpful.

Thanks,
Tommy

 

[edgarrian]

I haven't swapped tires buy I would say that you wont see anything more than maybe .5 more. Probably negligible if you did go this route.

 

[Tommy R]

I haven't swapped tires buy I would say that you wont see anything more than maybe .5 more. Probably negligible if you did go this route.

Quite possibly! But that's why I'm looking for feedback because I know a lot of us have already swapped tires and/or wheels so it would be interested in see if there's been any changes noticed.

 

[dsmgsx916]

I think there's more than the issue of aggressive tires at work here, I doubt you'll gain more than .5 MPG with a tire swap. You have to remember, the Rebel sits quite a bit higher than the other 1500's, comes with 3.92 gears, and it lacks the deployable airdam found on other models. Going taller on the tires will likely have the opposite effect you're looking for as it will raise the truck even higher than it is now.

The issue here isn't that a 1500 isn't capable of getting the advertised fuel mileage, it's that FCA decided not to individually test and submit numbers for the different trims.

 

[Pribilof]

Definitely won't be enough MPG gains from tires alone to justify the cost of new tires.

 

[Tommy R]

I think there's more than the issue of aggressive tires at work here, I doubt you'll gain more than .5 MPG with a tire swap. You have to remember, the Rebel sits quite a bit higher than the other 1500's, comes with 3.92 gears, and it lacks the deployable airdam found on other models. Going taller on the tires will likely have the opposite effect you're looking for as it will raise the truck even higher than it is now.

The issue here isn't that a 1500 isn't capable of getting the advertised fuel mileage, it's that FCA decided not to individually test and submit numbers for the different trims.

I understand, but ORG package trucks are effectively identical to ours (1" taller height, 3.92s, and maybe no air dam?) yet they seem to be reporting better MPG. That's one of the reasons I've singled out the tires as a possible culprit. I also understand the taller tires will have the adverse effects I listed in my OP (weight, taller vehicle height, etc.) which is why I doubted the potential benefits. But that's why I'm asking for real world feedback from the masses.

 

[Tommy R]

Definitely won't be enough MPG gains from tires alone to justify the cost of new tires.

I know that. I'm not implying that the *potential* MPG improvement would come close to covering the cost of the tires. No way would that be possible. But I have other reasons for not liking these tires so they're getting replaced. If I'm going to replace them, I figured I would inquire as to others' experiences with improved mileage (or not) from different tires.

 

[dsmgsx916]

I'd bet money that the mileage would increase more than a little if the truck was equipped with straight up street tires rather than just a milder A/T, but I doubt you'll see many people put that theory to the test since you'll lose so much capability off-road. I think the reason most people are miffed about the milage is because deep down we all knew the posted numbers on the sticker were too good to be true, but FCA gave us all a little glimmer of hope by posting numbers from other trims.

 

[Tommy R]

I'd bet money that the mileage would increase more than a little if the truck was equipped with straight up street tires rather than just a milder A/T, but I doubt you'll see many people put that theory to the test since you'll lose so much capability off-road. I think the reason most people are miffed about the milage is because deep down we all knew the posted numbers on the sticker were too good to be true, but FCA gave us all a little glimmer of hope by posting numbers from other trims.

Agreed!

 

[Dres79]

I guess it’s all relative to driving conditions and is air ride equipped. So if highway was a major factor and less aggressive tire with a lower ride, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t get better gas mileage.
I had Terra Grapplers on my Chevy and I loved that tire. No issues and I traded it in with 54,000 miles on those tires and vehicle. Buddy had the goodyears on same model truck less bed cap and I was consistently getting better gas mileage on our beach trips. No night and day difference but just another thing I could say my truck was better with. Lol

 

[SilverSurfer15]

I’m curious about this as well, but I’m thinking more realistically it’s going to be that you could swap out to something more aggressive, like say. 296/60r20 (34”) all terrain and not really notice a big change.

As where the “normal” trucks, they will take a huge hit coming from a P rated all season tire to something like that.

If you changed to a same size all terrain, I’d agree with 0.5-1 mpg improvement. A less aggressive tread will help, but probably not much.

Moving up in height might actually help some on the highway, the rpm is pretty high at 70-80. But if the added height comes with added weight and more rolling resistance then... could get worse.

A 34” all season type of tire would probably be the best for mpg. Less rolling resistance from tread, probably less weight, and bring the rpm down some.

 

[dsmgsx916]

Something else I'd like to add... I'm getting consistently better MPG as I put more miles on the truck. I've got just over 4k miles on the clock now and I'm getting about 1.5MPG more than when the truck was new. This isn't really a surprise, I fully expected it to get better as the truck breaks in. We'll see how she does in a few months once we're using summer gas.

 

[edgarrian]

To hit on what the above poster said about getting better mpg as you get more miles. This was truck with my wife's Mazda CX-5. Advertised as 30. At first we were getting 25 to 26. Then after the engine "broke in" we started to get that 29 to 30. Can get that Going 65 which i thought was pretty good considering its mid sized SUV

 

[Gondul]

I understand, but ORG package trucks are effectively identical to ours (1" taller height, 3.92s, and maybe no air dam?) yet they seem to be reporting better MPG. That's one of the reasons I've singled out the tires as a possible culprit. I also understand the taller tires will have the adverse effects I listed in my OP (weight, taller vehicle height, etc.) which is why I doubted the potential benefits. But that's why I'm asking for real world feedback from the masses.

I believe the air dam is only on non-air suspension models. I have the ORG and the air suspension, Aero Mode is (IIRC) 1" higher than than Aero Mode in a non-ORG truck.

 

[Billy James]

Hey folks,

This is just for the Rebel owners who have/had the Goodyear Duratrac tires, which are pretty aggressive for all terrains. I'm curious how changing to milder tires may have impacted your fuel economy. I'm also wondering if anyone went with a taller/milder tire and how that's compared to the stock 33" Gooyears. Have you swapped your tires out for something else? What tire and what size? Have you seen any improvement in economy? Did it stay the same? Did it get worse? I'm curious if going to a slightly taller tire could help by pulling the revs down. I doubt it would be enough to overcome the increased tire weight and aero drag from being taller, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

The reason I ask all this is because I'm fairly convinced a major reason our trucks get worse mileage than other Rams is due to the tires and their rolling resistance. I'm planning on replacing my tires very soon and will likely go with a milder all terrain.

And please keep the old, tired "you shoulda bought a Prius" comments to yourself. None of us expected great economy, but 60% of those numbers is pretty disappointing. So I'd like to see if a tire swap could be helpful.

Thanks,
Tommy

I don't think you will see much benefit at all by swapping to a "less aggressive" tire unless you go with a P-rated highway type tire. The good thing about the Duratrac tire is that it is relatively light for an aggressive off-road tire. I think once you start shooping for All-Terrains, you will find they actually weigh more than the Duratracs (by quite a bit). You might find that the mass of the tire will affect mileage more negatively than the rolling resistance.

 

[Tommy R]

Very true. Fortunately, the tires I'm looking at are lighter than the listed weight of the Duratracs, though they're a bit larger. I'll be going with a 295/70-18 (most likely) and since the offroading I'll be doing is relatively mild (the Jeep is for the gnarly stuff) a much less aggressive tire is fine by me, provided it has the load carrying capacity I want (which they do).

 

[SilverSurfer15]

How heavy are the duratracs? I thought they were like 58? 55? Somewhere in that range?

 

[Tommy R]

Yeah, I think they were pushing 60 lbs. in the stock Rebel size. Tires I'm looking at now are really close to 50 lbs.

 

[SilverSurfer15]

curios to see how it turns out for you, which tire are you looking at?

 

[Tommy R]

Me, too! LOL I'm now leaning toward the Nitto Terra Grappler G2, but not the E rated version. The E rated version is 11 or 12 lbs heavier per tire. The standard tire has ample load carrying capacity to tow my Jeep (the rear axle is more of a limiting factor than the tires) so not worried there. It may do absolutely nothing to help my mileage, but I'd rather get rid of these Duratracs while they still have resale value and put something else on there regardless.