|
Your question has too many variables. There's no way to 'even-out' all the variables to give you a real-world 'yes/no' answer. For instance: If you regear to compensate for the tire size, you STILL have to compensate for the increased wind resistance from the vehicle sitting higher off the ground.
There are also 'rolling mass' issues to resolve, and so many other things that it's nearly impossible to overcome them all outside of a lab. Automotive engineers have been running these kind of numbers for years and still can't build a perfect car.
But I think you can get an idea of what's going on by looking at bikes. A guy coasting down hill on a 20" BMX bike won't be able to keep up with another on a 24" mountain bike. A guy with 700mm tires (27+") will blow them both away.
Now let's think about this on a car... If you kept the same width/psi/ kept the 'rolling mass' as close as possible, AND shoved the wheels up in the wheelwells so you're not increasing your wind resistance, you probably would get some kind of increase in milage. (don't forget to re-calibrate your speedometer) IMHO, a gear change isn't necessary because you would essentially be getting 'more gas friendly' gearing anyway. (in the Jeep community, we want the opposite)
|