Low-rolling resistance tires, are they common?

[shawn99]

save 5–15% in fuel consumption by switching to Low-rolling resistance tires according to wiki. When you purchase tires, do you look into getting Low-rolling resistance tires?

[skidz88]

I personally could care less about saving 5% on gas. But basically the tires you are referring to fall into the performance summer tire category, these will have the lowest rolling resistance and lightest weight. Although for 95% of the people on here, they are overkill and the cost of the tires will probably outweigh fuel savings.

[Pete_Coach]

Actually, high performance street tire are not low rolling resistance tires. Just the stickiness of the rubber compound denies the low resistance claim.
Most OEM's install low rolling resistance tires on their cars when you buy the car. Everyone knows they are awful tires. Hard compound, noisy, poor road handling etc. This is all part of the fuel mileage package. The bottom line is, the harder the tire, the lower the rolling resistance. If you buy a performance tire that will last for 30,000 kms you get handling, if you buy a tire that will last 110,000 or more, you get low rolling resistance.

[D-3vil]

You can have a good tire that also has a low rolling resistance.
In the case of winter tires, the Nokian Hakka R is classified as low rolling resistance.

There are also quite a few all-season tires that offer great performance outside of winter, that are also low-rolling resistance.

Also, low rolling resistance does not correlate with less wear. The rolling friction is but a fraction of the overall rolling resistance. Most of the energy is spent as regions of the tire flex (when they come in contact with the road) and un-flex, resulting in energy being lost as heat (due to hysteresis of the rubber).

[Pete_Coach]

You can have a good tire that also has a low rolling resistance.
In the case of winter tires, the Nokian Hakka R is classified as low rolling resistance.

There are also quite a few all-season tires that offer great performance outside of winter, that are also low-rolling resistance.

Also, low rolling resistance does not correlate with less wear. The rolling friction is but a fraction of the overall rolling resistance. Most of the energy is spent as regions of the tire flex (when they come in contact with the road) and un-flex, resulting in energy being lost as heat (due to hysteresis of the rubber).
Fact is, the harder the compound, the less the "flex" the better the rolling resistance. Steel has better (read less) rolling resistance than rubber. Steel on steel (as how a train would travel) coasts farther than a car with rubber on concrete if all parameters (weight etc) are equal. A hard rubber compound tire would roll farther than a soft rubber compound tire.
A hard rubber compound also slips more than a soft compound tire because of less traction or low (rolling) resistance. A high performance low rolling resistance tire is as oxymornic as a high performance all season tire. Only the marketers can come up with an all singing all dancing all season tire that performs equally as well in hot weather, cold weather, snow and ice. Same goes for the low rolling resistance tire. Harder is better for economy reasons.
"Hysteresis of the rubber"? Did you get that off a glossy brochure? :|

[65505201]

Also, low rolling resistance does not correlate with less wear. The rolling friction is but a fraction of the overall rolling resistance. Most of the energy is spent as regions of the tire flex (when they come in contact with the road) and un-flex, resulting in energy being lost as heat (due to hysteresis of the rubber).


"Hysteresis of the rubber"? Did you get that off a glossy brochure? :|

I haven't really thought about it that way...but I can accept that *some* energy IS being lost as the side walls flex and relax at the contact point. I don't know how much of that accounts for rolling resistance, but if it is a significant amount, I can see how rubber of equal hardnesses can yield tires of different losses based on the construction of the sidewall. Still, you have a lot of flexing from soft treads squishing.

[corrupt123]

In fact, just to top things off, I believe that most of the energy losses due to any type of flex take place right in the tread. The sidewalls are a lot easier to flex then the tread, and as a result you spend most of your energy compressing the solid rubber of the treads.

Hell, after driving for a while feel your tires. The tread will be significantly warmer than the sidewall.

[D-3vil]

Fact is, the harder the compound, the less the "flex" the better the rolling resistance. Steel has better (read less) rolling resistance than rubber. Steel on steel (as how a train would travel) coasts farther than a car with rubber on concrete if all parameters (weight etc) are equal. A hard rubber compound tire would roll farther than a soft rubber compound tire.
A hard rubber compound also slips more than a soft compound tire because of less traction or low (rolling) resistance. A high performance low rolling resistance tire is as oxymornic as a high performance all season tire. Only the marketers can come up with an all singing all dancing all season tire that performs equally as well in hot weather, cold weather, snow and ice. Same goes for the low rolling resistance tire. Harder is better for economy reasons.
"Hysteresis of the rubber"? Did you get that off a glossy brochure? :|

If you read my message again, you'll see I mentioned that there are all-season tires that offer great performance OUTSIDE of winter. As you say, there is no do-it-all tire that doesn't compromise on a few aspects.

I guess the word hysteresis got engrained in my vocabulary through the few polymer courses I took in university, however here's a review of literature (done by the NRC) that uses this term quite a lot in reference to rolling resistance: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr286.pdf. The fun starts on page 42.

[maniacshopper]

typically, the more racier the tire, ie. more grip it provides, the more resistance it has.

Typically passenger tires that come stock in those sedans are low resistance tires.

As soon as you get into the high performance tires, you get more grip, better feedback from the road.