Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives MPG Difference Between AT and MT

A thread up in general discussion got me thinking about your experiences with MPG differences from tire to tire. Anyone run an AT and an MT of the same size and notice an difference in MPG? If so, how much did it drop with the MT's?

Based on some back of the envelope math, a drop in MPG of 2.5 MPG would cost me about $1200 in fuel over the life of the tire (assuming 16mpg to 14mpg for a 40,000 mile tire life with diesel at $3.85). Essentially, going with the higher mileage tires are "free" relative to the lower mileage ones.

If it matters it is a duramax diesel.

If you did nothing but drive at highway speeds the savings would be there but ..

Once you factor in driving around town/off road/towing/carrying heavy loads/4WD in winter, where the difference in mpg would be negligible, it wouldn't make as much difference.

I see about a 2mpg drop on my Cummins with Maxxis mud tires, as opposed to all terrains. I used to have an extra set of wheels with the mud tires mounted, since my old hunt camp had a really bad stretch of clay road getting to it. I changed hunt clubs and got rid of them

Thanks. 2mpg drop still nets out to nearly $1,000 more in fuel over the life of the tire.

The MT will usually drop MPG by 2-3 over the AT's. I've ran Goodyear's, BFG's, Coopers, and Pro Comps. I think that you would be better served with an AT that provides decent off road and snow/ice traction.

Both the Toyo Open Country AT2 and Cooper AT3 will offer good road manners and decent off road/snow/ice performance with 50-60k treadwear. Most of the MTs will net you 30-40k with a drop in MPG and increased road noise.

Cooper is running an $80 rebate on purchase of (4) Discoverer AT3's and Toyo $50 rebate on Open Country AT2s. If you order online, this will help pay for shipping costs or alignment. The tread pattern on the larger sized Toyo OC AT2's is more aggressive than the smaller sizes and Cooper AT3's which is a good compromise to a MT. Both Cooper and Toyo carry the larger 18"/20" sizes in the AT's.

Me, I'm going with the Cooper AT3's for my next purchase as I can get them for $35 per tire less than the Toyos and should get 50-60K from them. I've purchased 3 sets of tires from Tread Depot and have been satisfied with each purchase as far as customer service, price, and quick shipping.

MT's may look cool, but not worth the trade off for a daily driver-too much noise, too much rolling resistance with decreased mileage/treadwear.

Another good AT is the Hankook Dynapro. You may also want to consider a hybrid design tread between AT and a MT if you like the looks of the MT.

SD

My mileage actually goes up with my MT's on. Before you say it ain't so, let me explain. My Jeep Wrangler has 3.73 gears and with the stock 29" tires it runs at about 2700-2800 rpm's at 70 mph. With my 33" MT's right at 2300 rpm's at the same speed. With the lower rpm's countered by the heavier weight and rolling resistance of the MT's I still get slightly better mpg's.

Are you allowing for your speedometer/odometer being incorrect with the taller tires or do you recalibrate when you change tire size?

Dave.

Yes, I have a little electronic gizmo called a ProCal that recalibrates the speedo and odometer for the bigger tires.

It would depend on where I drove the vehicle as to what it wears.
I am not fond of having to change tires when off roading due to tire damage. Alot of mud tires have extra beef built into the side walls just for this. I've had to deal with two damaged, flat tires in one instance, so I'm kind of sensitive about such things.
Somebody will probablt try to say that since you are running E rated tires, you won't have that problem. Not so. E

Thanks for the feedback. I am looking at Toyo AT2 vs Toyo MT. The AT2 in my size is the 'extreme' version, which looks like a really aggressive AT. The Toyo MT is supposed to be very quiet and have a very long tread life.

Essentially, the AT2 is kind of a hybrid leaning toward AT side of things, while the MT is kind of a hybrid leaning toward the MT side of things.

I went with the Toyo MT for my pick-up due to my brothers good luck with them and their reputation as a good tire. I haven't measured the milage, but I wouldn't be suprised to find them giving less. The truck seemd to work harder to get rolling.

Also, I bought them because of the thinker sidewall than others since I would be using the pick-up to haul heavy loads on rough roads.

Another tire that I have had success with on my suburban is the Firestone Destination MT. I would rate it quieter than the Toyo MT. I got them siped so they do really well on snow back and ice, but also dig through any snow I have pointed them at so far. The Toyos are scary on ice and packed snow. I switch to Studded Kelly Safari TSRs in the winter for the pick-up because of this,

You said I would love those tires. You were spot on.

Glad you like them TC1

Last Wednesday I went on a scouting excursion looking for antelope. I covered 360 miles roundtrip and saw 24 antelope. Pretty low.

Getting back to the reason for this post. This was the first time I had checked the milage on my pick-up with the Toyo MTs. ~ 160 miles were on gravel with top speed ~ 45 mph. The rest on highway at 70 mph. I got 12.5 mpg. About what I usually got with my BFG AT KOs that these replaced.

I would imagine I would get less in town then the BFGs, but I did stop and glass some so had to get them rolling again. I was pleasantly surprised.