LRR Tire Guide
 

I have been searching for LRR tires out there and there are allot of experiments on the web and very few results. It almost seems like tire manufacturers don't want us to know who has the better tire. So after all this searching I found a good site comparison.

(greenseal.org/resources/CGR_tire_rollingresistance.pdf)

Scroll down to about page 5 and you get 17 tires to chose from.

Now back in 2002 I found a great site for SUV tires, it was a large comparison test and it was dedicated to LRR tires for SUV's, but the site has since vanished.

From memory Firestone, Bridgestone, Continental, and Genral tire made the most fuel efficient tires, Goodyear and Pirelli had the highest resistance.

I know because at the time I had a Ford Explorer, auto, 4X4, 4.0 V6 that drank gas like a sailor. I got it from my dad who never got the thing out of the teens in mpg. My dad loves big tires and of course he had the thing jacked up and it had 3 different manufacturers brands on it. So after fixing things on the truck, I started making it get beter gas mileage. I looked up the factory recomended tires and shopped around until I found a tire store that had the brands I was looking for.

Funny, most tire stores want to sell you bigger tires, I had a really hard time finding factory tires for it, but finally I found a place that sold me a set of 4 Genral tires for $41 a piece. The tire guy informed me he buys them in stacks because he uses them as general replacemnt tires. He considered them junk and was amaised I went through all this research to find what he thought was a cheap tire.

All said and done the Explorer got 26 mpg, the matched set of tires also made the anit-lock brakes work again.

Who out there has had signifigant gains in mpg by tire choice? I know Prius owners have huge differences in mpg depending on tire replacement choice.

Tire Guide
 

My bad, I missed a part of the web address, here ya go.
(greenseal.org/resources/reports/CGR_tire_rollingresistance.pdf)

Its dated 2003. I wonder how many of those models are still available with the same specs. Rubber doesn't generally stand the test of time.

Considering the lack of specs being published, I'd go with judging by tread design and max sidewall psi allowed. And select longer tread life; because it's usually the result of harder rubber which would flex less, thus lower rr. Softer rubber for stickier tires.

Block type tread generally has higher rr than lengthwise ribs. I think most tires today are a block type tread but at least you can look for a design that's more in the direction you want.

B381
 

I found that they still make the Bridgestone B381 in different sizes. As reguards to tread block design, I know allot of manufacturers have gone to a angle scued block, I don't know if rows or staggered square blocks are the answer. I know years ago Mercedes came out with an oval block interlocking LLR concept tire. Theres the squeegy effect an all season tire has. I have been working on comparing tread faces off the list to see what would be the best tread design.

Hopefully you need 185/70-14s, because at least as far as The Tire Rack is concerned, that's all you're going to get the B381 in.