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Tyres and MPG......

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Jim-Willy:
I run 235/85 M/T's on the 90 which is my daily driver, she is doing about 200 miles to a tank which at current prices is killing me.  I was thinking try a less aggressive tyre but, anybody any experience of whether this will improve things enough to bother?  Should i go for a narrower or wider tyre at the same time?  Don't know whether a gay fat tyre will float the landy better allowing the wheel to turn easier or whether the decreased weight of a skinny tyre would be better and create less resistance?

BTW there is no way on this earth i am running 205 road tyres i would sooner buy a car but there must be some middle ground?!

Any other mpg improvements i could make?

DogVanMan:
A Yorkshire man looking to save a bit o brass..? Never!

From one (exiled) Tyke to another, here's a couple of thoughts for u..

Generally speaking the wider the tyre, the more rolling resistance and the worse the MPG
Taller the tyre, higher gearing = possibly better MPG
Within limits, the more air pressure, the less rolling resistance, the better the MPG (I.e. Just make sure they're not under-inflated, don't go over inflating them)

235/85/16 are pretty tall as standard(ish) sizes go and not too wide. I'd be inclined to  stick to the same size, go for a second set of wheels tyres in either A/T or road pattern. Since you've got a set of M/T's why not keep them and run the old girl on road tyres if you really want to save a bit of cash. Then again, if you're not carfeful, you'll spend so much on them that you'll never recoup it.

My top tight Yorkshireman's tip is scour ebay for a cheap set of 235/85/16 road tyres that someone is offloading from their standard Land Rover fitment alloys for sexier tyres. I bought a set of 4 half worn General Grabbers last year for £15!

Or.. God forbid.. tha' could drive slower.

P.S. I just worked out that 200 miles from a 90 tank is about 18-19 to the gallon? About 50 litres a fill? (At least that's what my P reg 90 300Tdi takes).. That's more than just tyres mate.. I'd have thought you'd be seeing 25ish even on m/t's. I used to get 26-28 on A/T's in your size.

G

ChrisV8:
 :roll:well from a tight Cumbrian resident, I agree , you need less aggressive tyres for road use, my 110 runs a Jappy diesel, but with good old Colway MTs 235/85 x 16 mpg was about 23-25, but previously using General ATs it was around 35mpg. With the present fit Durango Ats I get around 35mpg, I even got 25 mpg towing the latest 90 Project back from Scarborough on my Ifor Williams, well impressed.

Muds cause a lot of drag in my view I also have a full roof rack on as well. The Isuzu engine was always better than a tdi, but my farmer mate (the well known short pocket profession) runs his 300 tdi 90 on a set of Grabber Ats as factory fitted for long distance holidays etc, bought with no wear from a poor misguided soul who wanted something "more meaty looking" for £100.00 a set of 5 !! He gets 33 - 35mpg on those, he swaps back to his beloved set of General Ats for the farm use and gets very similar mpg.

Definitely worth changing I think, I would also concur that looking around can turn up some bargains with less impressive tread patterns !

Jim-Willy:
Cheers dudes....  The mpg is low due to the amount of queuing i do i think, i will keep my eye out for some road tyres.

extreme90:
just to throw a spanner in the works
my comp truck is better on fuel than my box std 90
and its on 35inch simex running stock 90 trans ratio's, just got the engine stupidly tweaked

i couldnt belive the difference in fuel economy on the std 90 when i mildy tweaked that

both are 200's btw
dan

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