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Tire Weight and Performance

travisk

travisk

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fullerton, CA
Any thoughts on how tire weight affects on and off-road performance? I was digging up the weights of some of the 35" tires that I was looking at and it looks like there's a 16 lb difference between the lightest and heaviest tire, which translates to 64 pounds of extra rotating, unsprung mass. How would you factor this into your tire choice?

Code: 
					35x12.5/15 	33x12.5/15
Tire					Weight (lbs.)	Weight (lbs.)
Dunlop Radial Mud Rover				58		53
BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2			61		58
Yokohama Geolandar M/T Plus			61		51
Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ			66		56
Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar			67		60
Kumho Road Venture MT				67		57
Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ Radial			67		52
Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC Radial		67		60
Falken Wildpeak A/T				72		54
General Grabber					74		69
Nitto Mud Grappler (wider)			80		72
Nitto Trail Grappler				N/A		73
Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3			N/A		58

Another thing I noticed was that larger wheel size = significantly heavier tire. I thought that was strange.
 
I have 33x12.5 Toyo M/T which are listed at 69lbs and they're every bit of that if not more. Factor in steel wheels + air and and you're closer to 100lbs and I can definitely feel it with stock brake pads, even with disks in the rear. Next set of tires are going to be 35" KM2s to go bigger and shed a little weight at the same time.
 
air weighs pretty much nothing..
 
Re: Re: Tire Weight and Performance

Junkhead said:
I have 33x12.5 Toyo M/T which are listed at 69lbs and they're every bit of that if not more. Factor in steel wheels + air and and you're closer to 100lbs and I can definitely feel it with stock brake pads, even with disks in the rear. Next set of tires are going to be 35" KM2s to go bigger and shed a little weight at the same time.
Click to expand...

I am running the same tire. I really like how they perform but these suckers are heavy. I don't know what the weight is with my wheel setup but I am not sure I would let that factor into my next tire purchase. I would pick what I feel works best off road if I am buying a M/T. Nobody picks a 33 or 35" tire because they are concerned about fuel mileage.
 
On some tires weight does equal tough. This was apparent at KOH this year. Our cars that had krawlers went through more tires then those that ran the Toyo. That being said I wont run those heavy suckers lol.
 
Yeah, all that. :spin1:

I would base your decision on what you think will perform best for your needs on and off road. A heavier tire and wheel will probably lower your MPG and decrease braking effectiveness to a degree, IMO. Even the peppiness off the line. But on a lifted rig, MPG and peppiness off the line are rarely much of a concern. Braking, while different, is not likely to be unsafe at all, even on stock brakes.

Let factors like offroad performance, on road noise level, longevity, etc versus your needs weigh heavier in your decision. Sidewall strength is only a big deal if the wheeling you do makes it a big deal. Lots of loose rock KOH kinda wheeling needs lotsa sidewall. Slickrock like Moab - not such a big deal.

In closing, your honor, I would not worry about weight much.
 
when I was DD-ing my jeep, this would have mattered to me, but since my current XJ is being built as a winter snow rig, and off roader. weight really isnt a huge concern for me, and to be honest, the heavier the tire I think is better for my uses. it creates more pressure across the contact area. and since its on an XJ which is already pretty light for a 4x4, the extra pressure should help in things like rock crawling and driving in the snow, both of which are my primary uses for this jeep.
 
FloydXJ said:
A heavier tire and wheel will probably lower your MPG and decrease braking effectiveness to a degree, IMO. Even the peppiness off the line. But on a lifted rig, MPG and peppiness off the line are rarely much of a concern.
Click to expand...

This.

Going from a 31x10.50x15 A/T to a TSL swamper of the same size I noticed a 4mpg drop and a HUGE difference in braking and acceleration. once those tires wore out and I put the all terrains back on it was like a whole new jeep again.
 
I've always worried about wheel/tire weight both on my Jeep and my car. That's because each pound added to the wheel/tire combo is equivalent to adding ~1.7 pounds in overall weight.

At just 10 pounds difference per tire, that's equivalent to 68 pounds of extra weight you're carrying around overall. For those of us with trail rigs - no big deal. However, for daily drivers/commuters, that's a pretty significant amount.
 
Milford Cubicle II said:
I've always worried about wheel/tire weight both on my Jeep and my car. That's because each pound added to the wheel/tire combo is equivalent to adding ~1.7 pounds in overall weight.

At just 10 pounds difference per tire, that's equivalent to 68 pounds of extra weight you're carrying around overall. For those of us with trail rigs - no big deal. However, for daily drivers/commuters, that's a pretty significant amount.
Click to expand...

This is a good statement of the impact of unsprung weight on the street. Anyone who says it doesn't matter is wrong except for a trail only rig. Braking distance matters, period. If you are talking about the difference between being able to stop before hitting the child who runs into the street in front of you and safely stopping in time there might be a difference. Also keep in mind that tire diameter has a major affect on braking distance as well due to leverage which will up that 1.7 number as diameter increases. Alloy rims and staying at the stock 15" rim diameter helps. Obviously something like a WJ brake upgrade also makes a big difference.
 
Depends what you want to use your rig for.
Mud, sand, deep snow - situations where you want a lot of wheelspin to keep the lugs clean - weight is not going to help you.
Gofast stuff, heavy tires will negatively affect braking and handling. Again, not helpful.
DDing it, it won't help but you probably won't notice much. If you flog it enough, you will.
Off road / trail use... whatever. Won't make much difference.
 
GrimmJeeper said:
This.

Going from a 31x10.50x15 A/T to a TSL swamper of the same size I noticed a 4mpg drop and a HUGE difference in braking and acceleration. once those tires wore out and I put the all terrains back on it was like a whole new jeep again.
Click to expand...

Another classic example of why 99% of all gear ratio calculators are junk. Unless one can factor in all of the variables, they will typically be off by at least 1 ratio level, more likely 2.
 
Aww, I forgot the popular Toyo M/T. Those are heavy too, and available in a wider track.


Code: 
					35x12.5/15 	33x12.5/15
Tire					Weight (lbs.)	Weight (lbs.)
Dunlop Radial Mud Rover				58		53
BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2			61		58
Yokohama Geolandar M/T Plus			61		51
Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ			66		56
Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar			67		60
Kumho Road Venture MT				67		57
Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ Radial			67		52
Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC Radial		67		60
Falken Wildpeak A/T				72		54
General Grabber					74		69
Toyo Open Country M/T (wider)			79		69
Nitto Mud Grappler (wider)			80		72
Nitto Trail Grappler				N/A		73
Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3			N/A		58
 
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