[Gerrit Loubser]

I currently get about 8.2 km/l whether I'm driving on the freeway or in the city.

8.2 km/l is on the heavy side for an Auto DiD on the open road at legal speeds. You should easily get 10 km/l unless towing something heavy. My LWB Auto manages 10 km/l on the open road quite regularly and has done 12 km/l.

I'm now thinking of the 265/75r16 which will give me a diameter between my current tyre and the standard tyre. 3.4% slower on the speedo and 26mm higher in diameter, 13mm extra clearance.

Do you guys agree with my new choice?

while it is easy to decide that 285/75R16 is too big, it is a little more tricky with the 265/75R16s. Some swear by this size on the Auto DiD and several others have been rather unhappy with the fuel consumption increase. This might be down to individual driving styles and routes travelled. If you regularly travel roads with 100 km/h speed limits at the legal speed, I would be very careful to fit larger than standard tyres on the auto DiD.

The safe thing to do would be to stick to the original size (especially now that the BFG AT/KO is available in 265/70R16 in SA ).

[CATS]

I currently get about 8.2 km/l whether I'm driving on the freeway or in the city.

8.2 km/l is on the heavy side for an Auto DiD on the open road at legal speeds. You should easily get 10 km/l unless towing something heavy. My LWB Auto manages 10 km/l on the open road quite regularly and has done 12 km/l.

I'm now thinking of the 265/75r16 which will give me a diameter between my current tyre and the standard tyre. 3.4% slower on the speedo and 26mm higher in diameter, 13mm extra clearance.

Do you guys agree with my new choice?

while it is easy to decide that 285/75R16 is too big, it is a little more tricky with the 265/75R16s. Some swear by this size on the Auto DiD and several others have been rather unhappy with the fuel consumption increase. This might be down to individual driving styles and routes travelled. If you regularly travel roads with 100 km/h speed limits at the legal speed, I would be very careful to fit larger than standard tyres on the auto DiD.

The safe thing to do would be to stick to the original size (especially now that the BFG AT/KO is available in 265/70R16 in SA ).

Remember that when comparing fuel consumption on two Pajero's with different size tyres is not easily done due to the fact that the bigger diameter tyres will lead to the vehicle covering ' less' distance on the speedo than the vehicle with the smaller diameter tyres even if they travel the same ACTUAL distance. This then lead to the bigger tyre vehicle seeming to be heavier on fuel. To make an accurate comparison you need to campare ACTUAL distance traveled using maybe a GPS.

CATS

[Gerrit Loubser]

Remember that when comparing fuel consumption on two Pajero's with different size tyres is not easily done due to the fact that the bigger diameter tyres will lead to the vehicle covering ' less' distance on the speedo than the vehicle with the smaller diameter tyres even if they travel the same ACTUAL distance. This then lead to the bigger tyre vehicle seeming to be heavier on fuel. To make an accurate comparison you need to campare ACTUAL distance traveled using maybe a GPS.

Very good point, Cats. Even if the 8.2 km/l is not based on true distance, but rather odometer distance and this value is corrected to take account of the fact that the 285/75R16 tyres have a rolling circumference of about 7% more than the standard tyres, then the fuel consumption works out to be 8.8 km/l, which is still almost 14% worse than a conservative estimate of the typical consumption achieved on the open road at legal speeds by auto DiDs (10 km/l). This 14% deficit is probably due to the fact that the torque converter does not lock up as frequently with the large tyres as it would with the standard size.

[Skillie]

Hi

Thanks CATS, you're comment made me think and at the end I had to do the math....

I used the tyre size calculator on http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp to compare the 285/75R16 to the standard 265/70/R16. The standard tyre's circumference is 2441.7mm compared to the 2618.7 mm of my current tyres. If I apply these figures (and my maths is correct ) the 8 km/l equates to 8.58 km/l......

So actually i'm getting 8.6 km/l which is still not 10km/l but we are improving

My next question is: How much is 13mm extra ground clearance really worth? Will it make a difference? If not I'm back to standard 265/70R16

Thanks guys

[CATS]

13mm is a LOT if that is what you need to get over a rock, but one has to weigh up all the pros and cons of bigger tyres. The bigger tyres will obviously also have an affect on the actual consumption due to rolling resistance.

I have 265/75/16 on my Gen3 DiD and am very happy with this slight oversize tyre, especially because it is BFG AT. For MY purposes it works great and gives me some extra clearance, off road protection(3 ply sides) and longer tyre life. NOTE that I have a MANUAL, so I am not affected by the torque lock up issue!!

CATS

[SimonB]

My next question is: How much is 13mm extra ground clearance really worth? Will it make a difference? If not I'm back to standard 265/70R16

I don't own an auto Gen 3 but from what I've read, rather stick to the standard tyres and invest in a decent set of heavy duty bashplates which will protect you from the knocks that the 13mm might have protected you from

[JDV]

Cats, at what speed does the Gen 3 auto torque lock up start?

[MR2-Blue]

This story confuses me....I bought a pre-owned Gen 3 SWB 3.2DiD in late 2008 with 265/70 R 17 BF Goodrich AT tyres on original Mitsubishi rims...until I went to that thread, I was always the opinion, this is the original tyre size....

I x-checked with the previous owner today - he only replaced the tyres mid 2008 but exactly the same which have been on before...also the original Mitsubishi rim somehow tells me, it might be the original size...?

Is it possible that Mitsubishi delivered the vehicles with different tyres sizes across the last 5-6 years ???

[CATS]

MR2 Blue

Are you sure you have 265/70/17 tyres on?

As far as I recall from 2004+/- the Gen3 Pajero's came standard with 265/65//17 tyres as standard. Before 2004 Gen3 Pajero's was standard with 265/70/16. Thus the rim size was bigger but due to the lower profile of the tyre the diameter remained almost exactly the same. (265/70/16 - 777.24mm diameter and 265/65/17 - 776.22mm, ie only 1mm difference)

I have 265/75/16 oversize tyres on my MANUAL DiD 2001 Gen3 Pajero and owners of later model Pajero's with 17 rims often went to 265/70/17 oversize tyres due to the availability of AT tyres in this size, but as stated earlier this oversize tyre could lead to torque converter lockup problems on AUTO vehicles as reported by some. Some other owners report no problems at all so this might be linked to the specific use of the vehicle like towing etc.

CATS

[MR2-Blue]

...Are you sure you have 265/70/17 tyres on?

Yes - checked again

...owners of later model Pajero's with 17 rims often went to 265/70/17 oversize tyres due to the availability of AT tyres in this size...

Probably that's the reason why I have them mounted....it's a "BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A" one of the previous owners decided for. I'm not sure what "oversize" means....or at least haven't heard that before.

But so far I don't have any problems with the A/T gearbox (cross-fingers... )