Thread: Choosing a Tire
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Old 09-26-2011, 12:49 AM   #20 (permalink)
California98Civic
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Location: Coastal Southern California
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Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SentraSE-R View Post
Taller is better. Tall tire test.
On the overall, I agree your data showed that. But there are more lessons in it. Under P&G and highway conditions the lighter/oem-sized wheels performed about as well as the tall and lightweight tires. It seemed the taller/lighter combo had the biggest advantage under cruise control. Here's your summary of the results again:

Quote:
Originally Posted by SentraSE-R View Post
Test results
A = Goodyear NCT-5 (V), 205/50-17, 47 lbs, 5.31% taller
B = Trazano H550-A, 185/60-15, 35 lbs, OEM
C = Continental ContiproContact, 195/65-15, 36 lbs, 4.97% taller

A1(cc) 49.3 mpg
A1(P&G) 69.9 mpg
A1(hwy) 39.4 mpg
B(cc) 50.6 mpg
B(P&G) 71.1 mpg
B(hwy) 41.5 mpg
C(cc) 53.0 mpg
C(P&G) 71.8 mpg
C(hwy) 41.8 mpg
A2(cc) 50.3
A2(P&G) 68.6 mpg
A2(hwy) 40.0

By test, green=best, red=worst
tire set A1....B.....C......A2
cc.....49.3-50.6-53.0-50.3
P&G..69.9-71.1-71.8-68.6
hwy..39.4-41.5-41.8-40.0
Seems fair to say that if the tires are reasonably close in size, even a 5% smaller tire will be of benefit if its weight reduction is really significant, like 40-50%.

Your data, Darrell, helped me decide to buy the VX wheels I have yet to install because I'm running my old tires to the rims. Thanks for that. Eventually, I might be able to test the VXs versus my current alloys, since I have both wheel sets. Do you think I made a reasonable read on your results?
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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