One word for you: Low-rolling resistance tires! If you have already heard of this term then you are way too smart for your own good! LRR Tires are tires made specifically for the fuel efficient consumer in mind. This is the next step in the evolution of tires technology. What started in the 70's with the move from bias ply tires to steel belted radial tires, has progress to the next level in a tire's evolution.
Take a minute to realize how important you tire selection is. You could spend 100k on a nice Mercedes but that car would be worthless if the tires it ran on were crap! OK not worthless but very unsafe. In fact I remember having a friend in High School who wore his tires down to the cords. Yes his tire did blow, and yes he did crash. Today's standard radial tires are light years beyond those of the past; but they still fall victim to rolling resistance.
Rolling resistance is the friction that occurs when a round object rolls on a flat surface; deformation of the object takes place which causes friction. Have you ever looked at a tire and noticed that it bulges where the rubber meets the road? This is the deformation of the tire. "LRR tires are designed to improve fuel efficiency by minimizing the energy wasted as heat as the tire rolls down the road." Most hybrids sold today wear these LRR tires to help increase their already outstanding MPG performance by a few percent.
New car owners are not the only people who can benefit from LRR tires. In fact, Consumer Reports publishes a rolling resistance score when rating new tires. So as a consumer you do not necessarily have to pay more for this benefit. Many LRR tires cost the same as their standard brothers, moreover theses LRR tires have about the same tread wear rating and do not sacrifice grip. So you can have your cake and eat it too. Just be sure to do your homework when buying new tires.
Tires with a good LRR rating can save upwards of $100 in gas a year at the very least! That is just the savings that one individual can accrue. The California Energy Commission has been thinking about LRR tires at the state-wide level. "California could save approximately 300 million gallons of gasoline annually by using low-rolling resistant tires. More realistically, a campaign to encourage low-rolling resistant tires, assuming a 25 to 35 percent penetration, could reduce gasoline consumption in the state by 77 to 107 million gallons annually. As a result, California consumers could save approximately $118 million to $165 million annually." Spread this out over the entire nation or world and we have mass amounts of gas saved. This would prove to be a great benefit for our environment in many ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-rolling_resistance_tires
http://www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2003-01-31_600-03-001F-VOL1.PDF
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