Date:         Fri, 4 Jun 1999 14:36:50 PDT
Reply-To:     Mark McCulley <transporter99@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark McCulley <transporter99@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      observations on gas mileage with 27" tires
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

I recently installed a set of BFG 27x8.50-14 tires on my syncro Westfalia.
After about a dozen tanks of gas I think I have some reliable gas mileage
figures:

Before (w/ 195-75-14 Michelin LTX): 18 mpg
After (w/ 27x8.50-14 BFG All Terrain): 16 mpg

The difference is about 11%. Of this 11%, about 6% can be attributed to the
difference in tire size and does not reflect a real reduction in mpg.
However, that still leaves an actual reduction of about 5%. I attribute this
actual reduction to several factors:

- the BFG tires are quite a bit heavier
- the tread design is not optimized for mileage
- more time is spent driving at higher rpms in the lower gears to overcome
the effective loss in torque with the larger tires

Hope someone finds this useful/interesting.

MM


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