Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption

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Sat 8 Mar 2014 09:34
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - david22

I have had 2 Mercedes 220 CDI estates in succession. The only difference between them is that the rear, drive wheels on my current car, are wide profile. I am ashamed to say, I did'nt notice when I bought it second hand. The previous car had standard profile tyres all round. I was so suprised by the difference in fuel consumption, that I took the new car to my service centre to check it's performance, which was normal.

The effect on fuel consumption has been discussed at times in the Telegraph motoring section. I now have long term fuel consumption figures from both cars, to prove the point. If anything, with current diesel prices, I am even lighter footed with the current car, than my previous one. The first car had a long term perfmance over 10's of thousands of miles, of 42 MPG, the current one shows 37.8. I think that is a staggering and costly difference. It just goes to show that wide profile tyres are not only expensive and give an uncomfortable ride, but make a big difference to fuel consumption too.

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Sat 8 Mar 2014 12:38
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - Collos25

Were the two cars identical apart from the wheels if you are that concerned change the wheels and tyres I doubt that you see much if any difference.My sons garage which seees hundreds of MB each year I have never heard of one complaint about fuel consumption with regard to the tyre sze maybe there is something wrong with the car 37.8 for a 220 if driven over long distances and economically is very poor.

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Tue 11 Mar 2014 11:40
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - david22

They were absolutely identical and the garage owner had the same experience on a coupe with wide, tyres, he found a 6mpg difference when switching to narrower profile tyres.

Yes you can change to narrower profile tyres, but you not only have the tyres to factor in, but the alloys, which are very expensive. I looked for some second hand alloys, but could'nt find any

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 08:39
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - unthrottled

Wheels contribute massively to the overall aero drag of a car. Big tyres (sitting on multi spoke wheels) might look great but they will really churn up the air. At motorway speeds, the difference in economy will be very noticeable.

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 11:27
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - skidpan

Most manufacturers just quote an average CO2 mpg for the range wheras some quote for different trim specs.

When the wife last swapped we finally narrowed it down to the Ford Focus estate 1.6 TDCi (to replace a C-Max 1.6 TDCi) and the Kia Ceed SW CRDi. Ford quoted exactly the same figues regardless of the car being basic with 195/65 15 wheels or Titanium with Carlos Fandango wheels. We actually bought the "3" spec Kia with 225/45 17 tyres, combined 60.1 mpg wheras the "2" spec car which was mechanically identical except for the wheels/tyres, 205/55 16 had a combined of 61 .4 mpg.

Not a huge difference but it shows that some manufacturers are more willing to show the difference small changes can make.

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 17:59
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - HandCart

Not having a go at you or your choice, Skidpan,

it's just: 225/45 17 on a diesel Kia Ceed estate...?!

Come to think of it though, I think a colleague had something very similar when he had an Astra (top trim level). And he complained about the nuggety ride, amount of road noise, and silly cost of replacement tyres.

The manufacturers put these unnecessarily large tyres on cars these days, and then half the population end up running around on chinese 'Fullrun's, leading to debates about wet-road safety...

:-/

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 18:44
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - skidpan

Not having a go at you or your choice, Skidpan,

it's just: 225/45 17 on a diesel Kia Ceed estate...?!

Nothing wrong with the ride. During the winter we use 205/55 16 and there is no noticable difference.

The problem with most manufacturers is the simple fact that they fit "sports" suspension along with the low profile tyres and its the suspension that wrecks the ride. Add in run flats and the car is rock hard.

If I had had a choice I would have had the 205's when we bought it but the kit spec we wanted came with those wheels.

But no regrets from me, its just fine.

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 18:52
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - madf

Not having a go at you or your choice, Skidpan,

it's just: 225/45 17 on a diesel Kia Ceed estate...?!

Come to think of it though, I think a colleague had something very similar when he had an Astra (top trim level). And he complained about the nuggety ride, amount of road noise, and silly cost of replacement tyres.

The manufacturers put these unnecessarily large tyres on cars these days, and then half the population end up running around on chinese 'Fullrun's, leading to debates about wet-road safety...

:-/

Some of us check tyres sizes before we buy a car. Anyone who buys a car and then complains afterwards due to not doing any research is just a dumb consumer who cannot even have read the manufacturer's brochure : the impacts of larger tyres are plain to see on mpg.. (see Yaris Hybrid and Hionda Jazz as two examples I have seen).

And of course wide tyres are useless in snow..

I say "dumb consumers" becasue those who buy without research are beloved by marketing people...

See also those who buy a new car and then complain because they cannot achive the quoted mpg...

  • We live in a world where technology rules: if you cannot be bothered to learn about it, expect to be screwed - OR find someone who does teh work for you like Which.

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 23:15
Mercedes C class estate - Wide profile tyres and fuel consumption - Smileyman

I've always thought the brand of tyre makes a difference too .. presumably this is why the new EU regulations includes fuel consumption as well as wet grip and noise

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