downsizing wheels

[Jaxmax]

Sell the Mojave tires ,get thinner tires with less aggressive tread. Research tires a bit, weight is a factor also, Mojave Falken AT tires weigh 63 lbs. , I looked at a skinny Falken AT tire that was an inch taller, and 52 pounds with same tread. That reduces rolling weight about 15%, narrow width reduces tread drag perhaps ten percent, taller tire is very small difference but would lower you axle ratio tiny bit. I would bet you will see a difference in MPG, how much no idea, but my next set of tires for all around use will be narrower……Jack

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[Idlethunder]

Last fall I ran a set of takeoff Bridgestone 245/75r17s for a little over a week to see how much difference they made to fuel economy through an entire tank of gas. Each 31.5” tire and wheel weighed about 20lb less than my stock Rubi wheels with Falken 32.7” Wildpeak A/Ts. 40% in town driving and the rest were mostly 2 lane highway trips of approx. 40 miles driving around 67mph. My average with those was 18.4 and the same driving on the Wildpeaks got 17.5. It is windy here in October with lots of gusts, but it was windy for the Falkens too. The Jeep was a little quieter and noticeably more responsive from a complete stop. I usually run a pedal commander set to the low end of Sport mode. With the smaller tires I had to turn the PC down to low city mode to keep from spinning the tires on my gravel road. Trying to make the test fair, when I put the Falkens back on, I left it on the same setting. From my brief experiment, I don’t think anyone is going to see the drastic improvement to mileage they are hoping for by dropping down in size. I can see them causing a little less wear on components but that’s about it. Not to mention that the Rubicon looked awful with the smaller tires

 

[KWin]

Sell the Mojave tires ,get thinner tires with less aggressive tread. Research tires a bit, weight is a factor also, Mojave Falken AT tires weigh 63 lbs. , I looked at a skinny Falken AT tire that was an inch taller, and 52 pounds with same tread. That reduces rolling weight about 15%, narrow width reduces tread drag perhaps ten percent, taller tire is very small difference but would lower you axle ratio tiny bit. I would bet you will see a difference in MPG, how much no idea, but my next set of tires for all around use will be narrower……Jack

this

I was able to pick up about 1mpg by blocking the gap in the front bumper.
1 mpg is hard to prove, especially cause driving habits will be 3 or more mpg either way.

but based on my ev experience (smaller scale same idea) the tires should make a huge difference. trading looks for efficiency is tough but it pays

 

[ZoMojave]

Or you could get into a new '23 Sport with the 3.73 gears and tires that you desire (with some options) for just over 40K. If you have a nice low mileage Mojave, it could be close to an even trade.

2023 Jeep Gladiator for sale in Los Angeles, CA serving Glendale, Burbank & Pasadena, CA 1C6HJTAG6PL501469 - Los Angeles CDJR. (lacdjr.com)

 

[Chunky White]

I am confused on how changing the wheels would help gas mileage unless you went with some lightweight wheel. Changing the tire size and a lighter skinnier tire might help some since going wider and heavier reduces fuel mileage and if you don't recalibrate for smaller tires you won't see accurate mpg reading anyway since actual mileage will be off on top of the onboard mpg estimate

 

[Klicht87]

Maybe consider trading into a wrangler unlimited with the 4 cylinder turbo.

My wife's JL 2.0 turbo gets about 22-23 mpg, with mostly city driving. Just put same size duratracs on it and didn't see much of a change.

 

[Mac]

My JT came with 4.10 gears, the stock tires 245/75/17 got much better mileage than 285/70/17s which are not only slightly larger but much heavier.
If you switch to a lighter 245/75/17 tire you will probably see a 2-3mpg improvement.

 

[Rahkmalla]

This is a solution in search of a problem. The tires are going to make maybe .25 mpg difference if you are lucky but there is a high portability you will be too close to the stock shock under articulation and would damage it.

I seriously doubt switching from ATs to street tires won't gain him more than .25 mpg, especially smaller street tires.

 

[RudeJeepin]

Last fall I ran a set of takeoff Bridgestone 245/75r17s for a little over a week to see how much difference they made to fuel economy through an entire tank of gas. Each 31.5” tire and wheel weighed about 20lb less than my stock Rubi wheels with Falken 32.7” Wildpeak A/Ts. 40% in town driving and the rest were mostly 2 lane highway trips of approx. 40 miles driving around 67mph. My average with those was 18.4 and the same driving on the Wildpeaks got 17.5. It is windy here in October with lots of gusts, but it was windy for the Falkens too. The Jeep was a little quieter and noticeably more responsive from a complete stop. I usually run a pedal commander set to the low end of Sport mode. With the smaller tires I had to turn the PC down to low city mode to keep from spinning the tires on my gravel road. Trying to make the test fair, when I put the Falkens back on, I left it on the same setting. From my brief experiment, I don’t think anyone is going to see the drastic improvement to mileage they are hoping for by dropping down in size. I can see them causing a little less wear on components but that’s about it. Not to mention that the Rubicon looked awful with the smaller tires

Did you recalibrate the speedometer for your testing?

 

[sharpsicle]

wait why is it when people go up in size an inch or two their mpg drops by 3-4 mpg but if you downsize it wouldnt matter? would overland wheels clear the shocks in your opinion?

Because you are limited in how "small" a rim will fit and clear everything it needs to. So there is absolutely a floor to the size you can "downsize" to, and swapping with any other Gladiator rim isn't actually downsizing. It's just changing the rim type, but it's still the same size (17 inch). And Overland wheels (18 inch) are bigger not smaller than stock Mojave rims.

For this reason, you'll see tons of opinions and examples of people going bigger, because they have a huge range of rim and tire sizes they can increase to. But you really can't decrease much, things get in the way (like brakes, suspension, frame components, etc), so there's really no gains to be had there.

As stated here, you really could only change the tire size, not the rims, to smaller tires. But there as well, there's only so much you can do. The law of diminishing returns comes into play here as well, so don't expect too much return on your investment in terms of MPG gained.

 

[bleda2002]

I seriously doubt switching from ATs to street tires won't gain him more than .25 mpg, especially smaller street tires.

The epa ratings say he gets 1 mpg. That's under ideal mpg conditions as well, so real world he really would be looking at 1 or less. Sport tires are big 31s, and his Mojave tires are small 33s so it's not like he's going from a 33 to a 29 and cutting 60 lbs a corner. Given the horrid mpgs stock, there just isn't much to gain because the tires aren't the reason the trucks mpgs suck and changing tires doesn't fix brick shaped, open fendered, high lifted, crap aero and relatively heavy weight.

 

[Hootbro]

Nobody who has done their research before buying, comes to this platform with realistic expectations of hypermiling or extending the range beyond EPA estimates without compromises to the point you should probably have bought something else.

You are better off finding savings elsewhere in your life like eating out less or other discretionary spending than knee capping your own vehicle for what it was made for.

 

[CDNGladiator]

As previously mentioned. lighter wheels and tires, its the rotational mass. the Mojave is also dialed in to the OEM wheel/tire size keep this in mind as it can affect the geometry just like adding a lift to a stock but in the opposite manner. Any weight reduction will help, also having a closed bed with a tonneau cover reduces drag.

 

[Jeepmonster]

Still 4.10s. Dropping to 31" sports wont get u massive gains. I think 3.73 sports might get 23 mpg. Jeep aint a prius.

What? Jeep ain't a Prius?

 

[Josh00333]

I have a max tow, with factory tires and wheels (same wheels different tires, as Rubicon on my Freedom) I got 22ish the day I picked it up.

When I went to 285/75/r17's (34") it dropped to 17.5 or so, super charger dropped it to 15.5 or so.

So yes you will get better mileage. Yes it should be noticeable on the freeway.

Towing I get 9. You probably will not notice it there.

I would probably look at tire swaps vs wheel and tire swaps. Just buy a new set of tires and sell your old ones on CL or fakebook. I sold my factory tires with 500 miles on them for 75 ea set of 5.

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