I’m calling BULL

[A 2]

Just swapped the stock JT Rubi wheels and tires with my wife’s stock JLU. Those 33” were a bear To get on. Can’t wait to see how hard it will be to put on the new 35” wheels and tires on my JT when they arrive Wednesday. Might need a bigger jack.

For all you out there that say the ride, power, gas mileage and handling with bigger tires is negligible, I’m calling BULL. No way. It’s Got to affect it.

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[adentmon]

I just put 35's on my mojave and I really can't tell much of a difference aside from the short people in my life complaining it's now even harder to climb in to lol. Waiting on the tazer to arrive later this week to recalibrate it all before I report any stats, but there's no noticeable difference so far in ride and handling at least.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Just swapped the stock JT Rubi wheels and tires with my wife’s stock JLU. Those 33” were a bear To get on. Can’t wait to see how hard it will be to put on the new 35” wheels and tires on my JT when they arrive Wednesday. Might need a bigger jack.

For all you out there that say the ride, power, gas mileage and handling with bigger tires is negligible, I’m calling BULL. No way. It’s Got to affect it.

Installing anything heavier than what comes stock affects everything mentioned. Whether or not it can be accurately measured is another issue.

 

[Cripton805]

If you have a Rubicon / Mojave, the 4.10 gears will help it.

The Sport will be a dog and bad on gas. You also have to recalibrate the trans shift points on the auto or it will constantly shift in and out of gears. If you have a manual, it feels even slower.

 

[yolo]

I lost a few MPG's putting on 35's (diesel rubi). And yes, I can tell the difference under acceleration and braking. It's not a big difference, but it's not zero.

How much of a difference will depend on the weight of the wheels and tires you go with. I'm not sure what my stock 33" rubi wheels and tires weighed, but my new setup is around ~102bs per corner (the nitro ridge grapplers are ~75lbs each alone). I lost 1-2 MPG on average I'd say.

Again, it should not be too noticeable and you should get used to it within a day or two of driving. Just be sure to keep your tires properly aired up. Your mileage will plummet the lower your pressures are.

 

[AggieJeep]

You are leaving out a few details, gears, wheels, tire specifics. I put 37s on my JTR and feel no need to change anything. I also do not claim the same fuel mileage. Bigger / heavier wheels and tires always will cost something. Just how much depends on the components used, gears, usage, expectations…

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Just swapped the stock JT Rubi wheels and tires with my wife’s stock JLU. Those 33” were a bear To get on. Can’t wait to see how hard it will be to put on the new 35” wheels and tires on my JT when they arrive Wednesday. Might need a bigger jack.

For all you out there that say the ride, power, gas mileage and handling with bigger tires is negligible, I’m calling BULL. No way. It’s Got to affect it.

Humans don't like to talk about negatives of the changes they make. To do so is admitting their choice isn't perfect. The goal is to get reinforcement and to express that it was a good decision, there's no downsides and encourage others to do the same.
It's human nature.
And of course there's the "I love these changes, of course it rides nice!" aspect for the person themselves. They first have to admit to themselves the ride and MPG aren't quite the same before they'll ever say it to anyone else. Ain't gonna happen in most cases.

Larger tires and wheels mean more weight - meaning it takes more to get them rolling and keep them rolling. There's increased road rolling resistance, more rubber on the road means more friction. One the other side - taller tires take more braking effort so there's more brake wear and it won't stop in the same distance it did when the factory tested it and posted results.
Taller tires do tend to smooth out bumps. What would you prefer to push across your lawn - a mower with tall wheels or one with 5" wheels? So if the tires aren't an E load range they may not ride more harsh.

 

[A 2]

Humans don't like to talk about negatives of the changes they make. To do so is admitting their choice isn't perfect. The goal is to get reinforcement and to express that it was a good decision, there's no downsides and encourage others to do the same.
It's human nature.
And of course there's the "I love these changes, of course it rides nice!" aspect for the person themselves. They first have to admit to themselves the ride and MPG aren't quite the same before they'll ever say it to anyone else. Ain't gonna happen in most cases.
Larger ties and wheels mean more weight - meaning it takes more to get the rolling and keep them rolling. There's increased road rolling resistance, more rubber on the road means more friction. One the other side - taller tires take more braking effort so there's more brake wear and it won't stop in the same distance it did when the factory tested it and posted results.
Taller tires do tend to smooth out bumps. What would you prefer to push across your lawn - a mower with tall wheels or one with 5" wheels? So if the tires aren't an E load range they may not ride more harsh.

This is good perspective. It seems like justification.

I just took the Wrangler for a 15 mile round trip to the store. The trip was a good representation of many conditions. Up and down hills, stop and go traffic, highway, parking lots and relatively winding roads.

I have to say going from the stock sport wheels/tires (31” I think) to the rubis was very noticeable.
Braking, negotiating the curves were noticeably slower And sloppy. I checked the tire pressure they are spot on.She has the 2.0 hybrid motor and it has a good amount of torque. almost too much for the stock 31s. Now it feels like acceleration is actually better. I haven’t done any recalibration. Gas mileage started dropping before my eyes. It went down about 1mpg in 1/10 increments. Road noise was quieter and less harsh on the bumps. The steering seems to turn in much faster when parking.

IMHO, take the goods with the bad and it seems a wash. Now the looks on the other hand. Much more aggressive. Haven’t taken it off road yet though.

 

[Kindafearless]

I screwed up with my first round of changes… bought great stuff, but it was too heavy and totally effected gas mileage, ride, everything.

Bit the bullet and swapped it all for aluminum, removed parts that weren’t doing anything, and went to lighter wheels and tires.

It’s a weight game, but you can be creative to get what you want. My 37s and 17s are 20lbs lighter than my previous 35s and you can feel the difference.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Just swapped the stock JT Rubi wheels and tires with my wife’s stock JLU. Those 33” were a bear To get on. Can’t wait to see how hard it will be to put on the new 35” wheels and tires on my JT when they arrive Wednesday. Might need a bigger jack.

For all you out there that say the ride, power, gas mileage and handling with bigger tires is negligible, I’m calling BULL. No way. It’s Got to affect it.

I told myself if I can stay above 17mpgs on 37's I'd be happy and above 18 on 35's. I was around 18.7mpgs on 35's and I'm at 17.2 mpgs on 37's. Still have plenty of power and can still tow 5,000lbs pretty easily. I just got 18.4mpgs again on a trip to the NC Mountains on Saturday. I stay around 17.2-17.6 around town and hwy driving locally. That's negligible to me and that's no Bull!!!

That's a Max Tow that looks like this. I can't speak for other models. Stock Wheels, on 37 12.5 17 Goodyear Kevlar MTRs, they weigh 72lbs a piece. Went with a full width bumper to fill in the fender gap between the bumper and fenders because the stock bumper had it filled in. I'm pretty sure they do that for mpg purposes.

 

[LostWoods]

I guess I can understand not liking how the weight makes the truck feel but you will never recoup the costs of aluminum vs steel in gas savings alone. Avoiding things that cause drag like lights and racks above the roofline will save you far more mpg. If anything, steel commonly goes where you want the weight below the COG... my skids actually improved cornering on road and off-camber in the dirt. It all feels more sure footed with less roll.

But tires and wheels are another story... rotating mass is the enemy and will be super noticeable. It's not hard to add 40# per corner going up to 37s even for a Rubicon and you can even double the Sport/Overland corner weights with the right (wrong?) combo.

 

[Mac]

Agree with OP, I went from stock max tow tires to 34” load range C tires and it dropped my mpg by at least 4mpg and definitely rides rougher, also towing 3500lbs is significantly different.

 

[dcmdon]

There are a lot of factors at play.

All of them negative for a truck that is driven on the road.

Life is full of choices, most of them are trade-offs. Compromises. This is not an exception.

1) weight - they just make the vehicle weigh more.

2) unsprung weight - they add to the unsprung weight so the vehicle's suspension is less able to control the wheels. This reduces the quality of both the ride and handling.

3) polar moment of inertia or flywheel effect - regardless of the actual weight change of the vehicle, you are adding rotating mass far out from its axis. This makes the wheel more difficult to spin up and to brake. This reduces acceleration and deceleration as well as fuel economy.

4) More / softer sidewall. More squirm and more deflection required before the tire actualy begins to provide lateral force. This makes the truck steer "sloppier" than it would with a lower sidewall, as well as making it slower to respond to transitions.

5) greater steady state rolling resistance. This reduces power available for acceleration and reduces fuel economy.

 

[Sekgunnut]

I just put 35's on my mojave and I really can't tell much of a difference aside from the short people in my life complaining it's now even harder to climb in to lol. Waiting on the tazer to arrive later this week to recalibrate it all before I report any stats, but there's no noticeable difference so far in ride and handling at least.

This mirrors my experience exactly. I have used the tazer to change my tires size. Mine matched the 33.97” tire size setting at 30psi. The stock tires measured 32” not 33 on mine.

 

[Hootbro]

If you did not re-calibrate for the odometer speed, you basically knee capped yourself and left gains on table that could have been made up.

When I went from 33's to 35's on my JTR, mileage average went down 2.5. Once I re calibrated for the odometer speed, I got back 1.5 of that.

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