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Old 09-05-2012, 11:33 AM   #4 (permalink)
CapriRacer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dcarver View Post
Hey y'all I've got a confusing (to me anyway) question. I'm looking to downsize my tires from 275/60/17 to probably 255/60/17. I figure this will effectively up my gear ratio from 3.55 to around 3.73ish. I know my lower gears are better for mpg and I love that, but I'd like to be able to tow better and with having 3.73 gears I would probably have better mpg while towing anyway. Now with smaller tires shouldn't I have less energy to rotate the tires effectively upping my mpg?

Please help me figure this out. I obviously don't want to change my gears as in mechanically swapping them and since I need new tires anyway, I just thought I could kill two birds with one stone.

thanks,
DC
I think you have that backwards. LARGER tires would reduce the effective ratio.

Think of it this way, a smaller diameter traveling at the same rpm generates a lower speed.
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