So many of the true economy cars have small, thin tires. I was just wondering if we could greatly increase the MPGs on the HHR with smaller tires. Would it adversely affect the performance and handling of the vehicle! The stock tires are extremely wide for the size of the vehicle.

Just a thought!

 

Keeping the correct tire pressure would save you more. Reducing the width of the tires would lessen the weight and the amount of friction contact to the road, but going on a diet would do the same thing, at least in my case. As far as handling and the "ride feel" would be sacrificed with thinner tires. Just my 2¢.

 

There is an energy saver tire by Michelin called Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus. They come in the right OE size for the 16" HHR wheels, I think. But they never show as an available tire for HHR in any online tire browsers like Tirerack.com features. The wife's VW TDI has them from the factory and I think maybe Toyota uses them on the Prius but I'm not sure. They don't feel like a fuel economy tire, based on how her TDI handles on them-- they handle quite well... they are fitted as 205/55HR16's on her VW. I would seek the advice of a professional tire shop (that sells Michelin plus multiple other brands) before having them installed on an HHR, though.

 

Those tires were OEM on my 03 Accord. They SUCK in snow, especially after they have a few miles on them (but are nowhere near worn out). They had a great ride, but lost traction really easily. Plus I noticed no fuel hit when I changed them out for Falken ZE-512's. They're expensive as hell too.

 

Fuel economy is bettered by lower rolling resistance which is partly a function of tire construction,compound,and air pressure.A narrower tire,with all else being equal,increases loading for a given contact patch size which would increase rolling resistance.

 

The Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S are GREAT in the snow and on wet pavement.

 

More important than size/width of the tire is the construction and compounds used, as ZTony had mentioned.

There was a report that was issued by a "Green" organization that studies low resistance tires and found that up to 6% in fuel savings could be gained by using lower resistance tires.

http://greenseal.org/resources/repor...resistance.pdf

 

Smaller tires? Hmmmm

 

Good find on the Greenseal PDF. Saved it to my archives.

 

I just overinflated mine to 35 psi and picked up 3-5 mpg highway. YMMV, but I think you'd have to wait longer for your return on investment on new, narrower tires.