Hypermiling tech that damages car parts

[CargoBoatTails]

Well bigger tires can cause premature wheel bearing wear and damage wheel wells, especially if you go wider. For instance, if you have a 245/45/17 you shouldn't go to a 255/45/17, you should go to a 235/50/17, kind of like Porsche does now and Lotus use to.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by CargoBoatTails

Well bigger tires can cause premature wheel bearing wear and damage wheel wells, especially if you go wider. For instance, if you have a 245/45/17 you shouldn't go to a 255/45/17, you should go to a 235/50/17, kind of like Porsche does now and Lotus use to.

ANd driving with your windows down in the rain will eventually mildew your carpet.......
(but we are smart enough to know that)

I can't think of one person in the 4 yrs I've been here who put on a taller tire that rubbed the wheel well.

Why?

Because the idea is to put a tire that is SLIGHTLY larger diameter and DOES NOT RUB!!!!!
And as a factual note: when I used TIRERACK.com recommended installer, they actually ordered a larger diameter tire and tried it out beforehand to make sure it didn't rub the wheel well.

Please show PROOF of someone here suffering premature wheel bearing wear.

Again, a slightly oversized tire MIGHT weigh 1-2 lbs more that the size it replaces. There is plenty of over-engineering in wheel bearings to handle that slight increase.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by CargoBoatTails

Well bigger tires can cause premature wheel bearing wear and damage wheel wells, especially if you go wider. For instance,
if you have a 245/45/17
25.7 inches diameter, 23lbs weight
you shouldn't go to a 255/45/17
26.1 inches diameter, 25lbs weight
, you should go to a 235/50/17
26.3 inches diameter, 26lbs weight

kind of like Porsche does now and Lotus use to.

WTF!!!????
you say that bigger tires are BAD, then recommend bigger and heavier tires???

are you saying that PORSCHE changed tire sizes to a larger tire?

[niky]

What will damage suspensions quickly is if you upsize the rims a whole lot, adding huge amounts of mass and taking away sidewall absorption.

But upsizing tires on the same rims? Have never met anyone who's blown a shock from doing that... Not unless they've added 33" mud-tires to the stock rims!

[whatmaycome14]

Oh, this whole thread was just a big waste of time to read, yet I couldn't look away...

[theaveng]

Perhaps I'm in the wrong place. I like high MPG but also high money savings. That's why I didn't buy a Prius in 2002 (almost 10,000 dollars more than its Toyota Echo equivalent that got 42 mpg). It just made no sense financially.

Similarly I don't spend hundreds of dollars on upgrades that only return a few pennies in fuel savings. IMHO

[dirtydave]

Not many people spend big money! Some people do to get the maximum MPG but most of us just do what we can for free or really cheap to get a few MPG's. And the biggest is free and that is driving smarter.

I have spent like $20 and that was on wire, switches, duct tape, zipties and spraypaint. so I'm already $520 in the hole. But wait! I used to drive my work van around that got 15MPG. so I'm actually like $1500 ahead already. So I actually could go and do a bunch of stuff to break even. But I won't because I have already spent it on craft beer and E-juice!

[jamesqf]

Besides, for at least some of us it's not about the money.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by mcrews

Please show PROOF of someone here suffering premature wheel bearing wear.

Back some time around 2008 an official .mil email was circulated that had a semi float axle on a pickup snap off due to over sized tires. No specifics were given to the year of the ranger and exact tire size.
It was clearly an early to mid 2000s ford ranger on at least 32 or 33 inch tires that also appeared to be on incorrectly back spaced rims (tires stuck out a lot).

I forwarded that to my mechanical engineer and he said that putting over sized wheels on with incorrect backspacing puts a "funny moment" on the bearing/axles and increases load substantially.

So if you create the worse case scenario perfect storm things will break.

I went from 235/75R15 to 31x10.50R15 on my suburban in 2008 and it still has the same front wheel bearings that it had when I got it.

[theaveng]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Improve your technique, and match the revs by careful throttle application.

Doesn't that waste fuel when you're revving the engine up to ~2500 rpm, so you can reengage the clutch?