New wheels and tines sure look nice. Maybe they are the greatest single upgrade we can make.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I tend to think that good tires with plenty of tread are a very good thing, that we all get in a pinch from time-to-time, and when we do, we need all of the stopping power and traction that we can get. A year ago someone ran a red light right in front of me. Not only did I have to stop fast, but I also had to swerve hard. Some dumb thing like this may be just a fluke, but these kind of flukes seem to happen every year or two. I would rather be prepared for those eventualities, even be able to stop faster.
If I remember correctly you have a camper/topper of some sort. Maybe it helps with mileage. I dunno. One thing for sure, It adds a lot of weight and raises your center of gravity. If so, you might want to give this some serious thought.
I have also noticed that the 3.0 liter engine tends to chug along and perform pretty much the same no matter what. I put bigger tires on mine, fully expecting my mileage would go down but it never changed. I still get the same. You might just discover the same if you go with narrower tires.
Another factor is safety. I have spent thousands of dollars and plenty of time restoring and modifying. The best way for me to protect that investment is to have bigger tires. Mileage is one thing. Safety is quite another.
Perhaps a better investment would be some sort of ground effects package. It really helps with both traction and mileage and sucks your truck down to the road. And, if you can't buy one, you can always make one. Done right it just might even look really cool.
A good exhaust system might help your mileage too.
I actually really appreciate this response because it talks about safety in a way that it should be talked about. With importance.
I'm definitely with you that in real life the roads aren't perfect, and neither are other drivers.
I am taking the safety aspect of my overall build pretty seriously, by first reinstalling/repairing the trucks standard safety equipment like airbags, and restraint systems which have been either damaged, or removed after it's accident from before I had it.
I think a reduction of width down to 205 is pretty reasonable, and in some low traction situations even be beneficial by concentrating pressure, it's something I've done with winter tires in every vehicle I've owned here in Northern Ontario. It should also be noted, my winter tire season is from October, to around the beginning of April, so half of my year is spent with very competent Blizzaks as a tradeoff for safety.
After the advice from folks on here, I'll most likely be sticking with the OEM Tri aluminum tri spokes, even fi they're not the perfect wheel. With standard oem tire size being 225/70r15, and my "thinnest" realistic option with the trispoke alloys being 205 width, at most I'm looking at a 0.8 inch reduction in width. Pretty reasonable in my opinion.
With the bed cap, I've added around 220 lbs to the rear according to the dump's scale, which overall has really helped with traction given an empty rear bed (especially in the winter). It's also made the car maintain stability a lot better compared to the open bed at high speed as well.
Compound is one of the reasons I'm avoiding EV tires, but also because basically no EV made today comes with 15-16 inch wheels, and so the choices for tires at 205-70 are non-existent. Compound is important too, luckily Hankook Kinergy, Toyo Extensa, and now Kumho TA51, and most economical touring tires still perform well, and have very good treadwear ratings.
I really wouldn't want to move a performance or a sports tire compound/tread that will overly compromise handling in lower but not freezing temperatures(15-5 Celsius), and rain. Being initial expense, tread life and drag will hit on the economy goals.
I've made sure when looking at tires that the load ratings are adequate for the vehicle's weight on all four corners, and in particular with maximum payload in the rear, a 97 with adequate inflation is going to be plenty. Same goes for speed ratings, and short of some really strange tires rated Q or N, which seems to be only some off-road and winter tires, I'm good there too.
You're right about the 3.0, overall not much can be done to make it more fuel efficient, that's why a lot of the efficiency mods are going to be focused outside of the engine bay.
Some additional aero will be come soon for sure! A lower grill block and a front air dam are almost ready to go on, and I'll be covering the area between the bed and truck topper with a plyable plastic (probably held down with speed/aircraft tape lol).
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