Best Wheel and Tire Size/type for Fuel Economy?

Hey all,

Looking to get a set of summer wheels/tires for my mk4 jetta gls tdi.
I had great success with my 15" OEM and some all weathers (upwards of 56mpg highway at 42 psi) I got a set of snows for the winter, and now want to get an alternate summer set... I'd like to go bigger (17" or 18" - I love the R32 Aristos!) But care more about mpg and daily driving than looks... SO...

Does anyone have any research or thoughts about what size wheel (width and height) and tire combo produces the best MPG?

(for me, pictures always help.. )

check some reading in the fuel economy section. the general consensus is that the factory size wheels and tires give the best fuel economy. going any wider than 195 will cost fuel economy, and larger diameter alloy rims will cost mileage due to increased inertia.

You want wheels as small as possible while clearing the brakes and also as light. Look into lightweight race wheels. As far as tires go, you may experience better highway mileage with a taller sidewall effectively making your gearing taller, just know your speedo will be off. I'd imagine narrow tires would offer less rolling resistance. I'd go 15x6.5 with a 185/65/15. Good luck.

Given the same driving techniques and conditions, the research (and thoughts after the reseach) are almost overwhelmingly for stock oem wheels and tires (195/65/15). In the oem sizes, one can "spring" for the LEAST rolling resistant tires, but no one has the cost per mile driven comparo to see if the claims match the extra price !!

So some of the contenders are the oem tires (3) that came on the Mk IV, Michelin MXV4's, Continental, GY LSH's. I am having similar wear patterns with a Toyo TPT, aka miles consumed per 1/32 in.

So for example the oem GY LSH's were $78 per/ $312 per set of 4 @ tire rack (shipping extra) , @ the time I identified Toyo TPT's @ $62 ea/248 per set + 60 R/R/B of 4 shp. I got 112,300 miles on 7.5/32nds (specifications say the tire starts @ 10/32nds) or 14,973 miles per 1/32nd. So the cost was .0033125 cents per mile driven ($312 + 60 R/R/B /112,300=) So far @ 19.7k miles the Toyo TPT's are on a 15,000/15,500 miles per 1/32nd pace (similar to the oem tires). So as you can see, I only need to get 74,868 miles to match the much crappier GYLS-H's !!!. So if I get 112,300 miles (what it will be... time and miles will tell) the Toyo's will ultimately be (17.2%) CHEAPER (.0027426 vs .0033125) and be a much better tire.

LQQKs are indeed very, very, very expensive. This is not even to account for those other things like now the suspension is no longer "right" for the 17 to 18 in tires

Germaniac said:

You want wheels as small as possible while clearing the brakes and also as light. Look into lightweight race wheels.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say this is a good idea...

I run 15" winters and 16" summers in OEM size on my '03 Golf. There is no noticeble change in fuel economy on my car betwen the two tires. The only thing that is very noticeable though is the marked improvement in the handlong characteristics of the car when running the 16's, even compared to the original summer 15's.

I think to run a more fair test you would need to run 15 in/16 in winters and 15 in/16 in summers. Just the difference in summer/winter tires alone is a no brainer.

I can understand the decreased mileage from a wider tire, or a different compound, or a different tread patter (winter v. summer), or tire pressures.... BUT.... If you increase wheel size and decrease tire wall height, (ie, 15" with 65s or 17" with 45s) the actual tire diameter is barely changing if at all.... So if you had a 15 x 6.5 or a 17 by 6.5, shouldn't they be nearly the same?

18" Wheel plus 40mm sidewall= 19.5"
17" Wheel plus 45mm sidewall= 18.7"
16" Wheel plus 55mm sidewall =18ish"
15" Wheel plus 65mm sidewall =18ish"

All are VERY close....

ives said:

18" Wheel plus 40mm sidewall= 19.5"
17" Wheel plus 45mm sidewall= 18.7"
16" Wheel plus 55mm sidewall =18ish"
15" Wheel plus 65mm sidewall =18ish"

All are VERY close....

Click to expand...

weigh these tires, and you'll see that they aren't as close as you think

Like everyone has been saying...reduce unsprung weight and rotating mass as much as possible. Lightweight wheels, small as possible, footprint as narrow as possible, low rolling resistance tires.