Switched from bfg ruuged trails that had 80k miles to bfg AT ko and no matter how I drive my mpg's are down 3 to 4mpg's ! Raising the air pressure to 65psi helped alittle but now it rides like it has concrete wheels!

Anyone else experience this?

Thing that really P's me off is the rugged trails still had 6/32 of tread left.

 

Well I'll make the mistake of talking about something I know little about, so everyone keep that in mind as you read this and cut me some slack.

From looking at the two different tires, it appears that you went from an all terrain tread pattern to more of an off road / snow tire pattern. The leading edges of the tread blocks on tires with an aggressive tread pattern are going to really dig in until they wear in a bit. That might explain some of your mileage loss.

Next, you should compare the weight of your old tires when new to your new tires. The reason is that a heavier tire is going to mean a larger reciprocating mass that will require more energy get moving and keep moving. In short, heavier tires = less mileage. On top of that, since your old tires were worn, they were even lighter than they were when new. Once again, heavier tires = less mileage.

Were both your new and old tires the same load range? Going from say a "D" load range tire to an "E" load range is going to give you a heavier tire - you get the idea.

Finally, even if both of your tires were the same size, you should check the revolutions per mile specification for each tire. There can be a bit of variation in actual tire size, even though the size stamped on the sidewall reads the same. A smaller tire will overstate your miles per gallon, a larger one will do the opposite.

You should be able to check all this information at BFG's web site. Hope this helps.

 

Not sure what to do. Discount tire is willing to put a set of rugged trails on a t no cost. I'm not sure if it's a combination of winter blend fuel and the tires or what. Truck just burned 3/4 of a tank of gas in 330 miles all highway.

Thats somewhere in the 12mpg range. I got 16-17 all summer hand calculated.

 

ya them are not a real economy tire, probably getting to much friction from traction. i need a harder skinnier tire.

 

I easily lose 3-4mpg with the switch to winter blend fuel. I'm in Minnesota and stations start blending down their diesel fuel on10/15 and gradually lower the gel point every two weeks until 11/30 when we move to full winter blend. I see you're in Mt. Prospect, I'm going to assume that's Illinois (part of my old territory, back in the day). Since we start blending down in mid-October here in central Minnesota, I'm going to guess that Northern Illinois is a couple weeks behind Minnesota in offering winter blend diesel. So, your fuel may well play a role in your mileage loss.

I guess it all boils down to asking yourself if the reasons you switched to a more aggressive tire still hold , i.e. snow traction, off road traction, etc. - or would you be happier switching back? I know that if I wasn't completely happy with a new tire, I'd switch to something else.

 

Has anyone had successes(better mileage) with a thinner engine oil in winter months? I don't know what Ford recommends....

 

Just wondering, does anyone recommend any fuel stabilizers for the winter months or additives?

 

my old '00 excursion had BFG A/Ts load range Es on it and i saw no differance in MPG compared to either of my other Excursions which are on differant tires. i was running 55psi in mine.

 

Tall separated lugs on tires take more effort to turn over. Bald tires will get good gas mileage but as we all know are unsafe. New tires of just about any brand will have around 1/2-3/4" of lug height. The lugs act like a horizontal shock absorber, when accelerating they are absorbing the power supplied to the tire somewhat.

Than there are all kinds of other small variables like extra tire height, more weight, etc.

Cheap fuels and especially winter will always use more gas. Dense winter air takes more fuel, cold starts, idling, etc.

 

Just out of curiosity, did you get an alignment done after you switched tires?

 

I'm running 5w20 with 1 quart 5w30

With the new tires I can hear the engine on the highway trying and excellerating harder with the cruise on.60psi in them now
Also when I let off the gas truck seems to decellerate more quickly

No alignment since the tires I pulled off had 80k miles on them.

 

The weight of the tires is gonna be a biggie.

I'd say keep 'em as they aren't cheap tires, and the Rugged (oten called Ragged) Trails aren't very good tires.

If you were happy with the Rugged Trails, try adn get some money back.

Sometimes traction outweighs the cost in mileage.

-rockstate

 

And for the record, I probably lost 1.5-2 or maybe a little more by going to the heavier BFG on my truck (P rated to an E range and I picked up 20 lbs per corner).

Now that I have a taller Nitto that weighs 30 lbs more than stock, I lost only another .2 mpg on top of the BFGs. I see 10 in the city and 15.5 on the highway. I am running a 34.5" tall Nitto though.

-rockstate

 

Real simple, just put on Rugged Trails since Discount is offering to do so! I made a switch to a different tire and hated them and turned arouns and went back to Discount and got Rugged Trails put back on......Happy now! Got 80K miles out of my last set!

 

I have the BFG AT's on my excursion, and this winter is killing me, it has to be this winter fuel. Im averaging 12-13 mpg to. I've had the excursion since december of last year, and the tires where put on new by the dealer when I bought it, so I dont know what it go mpg wise on any other tire, but last winter I was veraging 15 mpg. On the upside with the BFG AT's I avG 17.5 or better on the HWY., I do however have a bigger exhaust and sct tuner, located in IL.