Put AT tires on my Hybrid Maverick and still saved 5.6lbs per corner over stock

[FischAutoTechGarten]

XL plus new rims kinda = XLT

or STX

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[Joseaoe1]

The new wheels and tires look great.
Like the lightning bolt as well which is an idea that I wouldn’t thunk. I stuck a turbo emblem under my badge.

Did you consider swapping your spare to the same rim tire up? I swapped my spare to my same all weather Bridgestone and figured I might as well swap the rim.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

XL plus new rims kinda = XLT

Looks great. If anybody gives XLT lip tell them it's because XLT= extra large tires!

 

[Burdy]

The new wheels and tires look great.
Like the lightning bolt as well which is an idea that I wouldn’t thunk. I stuck a turbo emblem under my badge.

Did you consider swapping your spare to the same rim tire up? I swapped my spare to my same all weather Bridgestone and figured I might as well swap the rim.

I'll be honest, it never crossed my mind. Great idea.

 

[Old Hickory Trojan]

When Ford first announced the new Maverick, I knew right away it was a vehicle I wanted. A pickup truck starting at or below $22k is unheard of now days, much less one capable of getting MPG’s in the 40’s. After multiple attempts in early 2022 to buy one at MSRP, I located a friend-of-a-friend with a connection and was able to get in on the 2023 ordering window.

I ordered my 23' Maverick Hybrid back in September 2022 and received it in mid January 2023 and after tax, tag and delivery from Florida to Georgia, I paid $26k out-the-door. The goal was a low cost (hence buying the base XL model) extra vehicle for my wife and I and for extended family to drive if they were in town and we needed to be using our own vehicles. I was looking for something that gets better mileage than my Excursion 7.3 which had just turned over 500,000 miles and something more practical than my wife's little 2 door coupe...if and when she had errands to run that required a truck. The Maverick basically was bought to fill the roll of what most people use a Honda Civic for, but I knew a bed was mandatory.

I debated long on Hybrid XL 2WD vs ECO 4WD, but eventually settled on the XL Hybrid 2WD as I do already have a solution for a 4WD/AWD fun vehicle if needed. Having turned 16 years old in the year 1994, I was the product of the mini-truck generation so I thought it would be fun to have this little truck and play with it a bit. I ordered Eibach lowering springs long before my truck arrived in anticipation of future "light" mods (I still wanted the truck to be inexpensive).

I really expected not much from the truck, I mean lets face, it is the cheapest new road legal vehicle you can buy with a bed on it and I figured N.V.H. would be an issue, ride quality would be sub par and build quality would mean interior rattles from day one. I have only put 1100 miles on it, so everything could come apart down the road, but initial impressions are much better than expected. I take the truck to the park with weights to work out a bit after a run, drive the dogs to Sonic for meals, and take the trash to the dump. It is just so versatile. My wife even likes it and has no problem driving it around, something she never does in my “big ole” Excursion.

The ride quality was so comfortable, and the truck was so good at being a "swiss army knife" of sorts, I decided to forego the Eibach lowering kit and start searching for a slightly more aggressive tire that I would be happy with at stock ride height. Wheel and tire combinations for the vehicle are currently limited. The truck was a looker, but still a bit too "cute" for my tastes with the factory footwear and I needed something that made me bit a bit more proud behind those tinted windows without breaking the bank...or the MPG's.

My search began and took me many directions, but as with most things in life, a spreadsheet solved the puzzle. One thing I wanted was a tire and wheel profile as close to stock as possible in order maintain as much MPG as I could. I believe this combo is one of the best solutions you can currently find.

The stock wheel weighs 26.2 lbs and the stock tire weighs 24.9 lbs. Now, this is not much of a fair fight right off the bat, because OEM tires are notoriously stingy with tread depth usually ringing in at around 7/32's instead of the 11 or 12/32's of pretty much any other tire you would buy as a replacement. OEM tires are the equivalent of the factory toner cartridge that comes with your printer...good enough to get you started, but don’t last as long as the replacements. Because of the lower tread depth, the weight is lower. So you may very well have a particular OEM tire that weighs a couple pounds lighter than the "standard" replacement would be of that very same tire. Confusing I know. Its one way manufacturers try to keep costs down.

After contacting multiple wheel manufactures (the wheel marketplace is an absolute mess) I began to narrow down my selections. I settled on the Advanti Hybris wheel (Made by Konig). The wheel was factory diameter of 17" but 1/2 inch wider at 7.5" inches vs the factory 7" wheel. The offset was set at 45, which consequently puts the outside edge of the wheel EXACTLY where the factory one sits, to the mm (vs the factory 38mm). The extra width of the wheel shows up inboard, toward the strut and brakes. I was hoping this would help curb MPG loss that you typically see by going wider beyond the fender. The wheels weighed in at an average of 17.2 lbs, cutting exactly 9 lbs of weight from the factory steel wheel. The load rating on these wheels are sufficient at 1521 lbs per corner. I did have to use hub centric rings to bring it from the wheel's 71.1mm opening to the Maverick's hub of 63.4mm.

There are many on/off road tires now, and Ford uses those on these trucks depending upon the package, but even the tire on the Tremor package for me is just not quite aggressive looking enough for my tastes. I searched to find the lightest factory size, true A/T tire available, and that turned out to be the big brother of the factory Tremor tire...The Pirelli ATR "Plus". Most tire sellers showed this tire to weigh 28 lbs, but again, I emailed Pirelli to confirm. They confirmed that in fact the tires are 27.8 lbs and are the lightest in the category at this size. Once ordering and receiving the tires, I of course confirmed weight myself and got a slightly heavier 28.29, 28.50, 28.50 and 28.13 for an average of 28.35 lbs, or a 3.45 lb weight GAIN over the stock road tire.

In total this combination saves 5.5lbs per corner over the factory setup and, at least in my opinion looks much better. Now, will it get factory MPG's? I doubt it. One thing you have to take into account is that even though this is factory sized tires, it will sit with a bit more contact patch on the slightly wider wheel, and this type of tire will have significantly more rolling resistance than the street tire it came with. Additionally, though the total combo is lighter, the tire is heavier and the tire sits further away from the center of the axle. Weight gets harder to spin further away from it's source, so the additional weight savings will not be translated 100%. I am too dumb to do the calculation on what the effective change would be removing weight close to the axle (wheel) and gaining weight away from the axle (tire) but I am sure some young whipper-snapper with a physics degree can tell us.

What I did arrive at, is, in my opinion, a wonderful compromise. I expect a slight MPG loss, but the truck now looks quite a good bit better. So far I have simply just added black tailgate letters, removed the factory chrome "hybrid" badge and replaced it with a black lightning bolt to somewhat signify its electric-hybrid roots. I also installed a Bakflip Revolver Tonneau cover. I don't really have any future plans other than some light flexbed mod's to further increase it's utility.

Purchasing the Maverick was intended to be for practicality purpose only, a tool, so to speak. As it turns out, I have really grown to appreciate what Ford did with this truck and it's no wonder they don't stay on the dealer lots for long. It really reminds me of my teenage years. Going to Sonic with my wife listening to old radio stations just reminds me of a simpler time. Its quite intriguing that the entire reason this truck has struck a chord with buyers is the overall simplicity of the package itself. I still think this truck is best bought as an XL model, especially now that cruise control is standard for 2023. They don't make them like they used to, but I have to thank Ford for rewinding the clock a bit with a new model that inspires old memories.

Did the same evaluation for my Hybrid on the Nokian Outposts ATP tires. More reserved looking AT tires but 3 Peak Rated and known and advertized for low rolling resistance. Weight for the 225 65r17 was approximately 26.5 pounds, Aramid side walls, 65k mile tire life, gravel guard and pot hole protection. Not many reviews but Nokian makes good tires.

 

[Burdy]

Did the same evaluation for my Hybrid on the Nokian Outposts ATP tires. More reserved looking AT tires but 3 Peak Rated and known and advertized for low rolling resistance. Weight for the 225 65r17 was approximately 26.5 pounds, Aramid side walls, 65k mile tire life, gravel guard and pot hole protection. Not many reviews but Nokian makes good tires.

That's probably a better tire for the truck. I almost went with the pirelli ATRs at 25 lbs but I really just wanted a touch more aggressiveness and sacrificed 3 lbs over the ATR to do that. One reason was I thought it helped visually since I was sticking with the stock tire size. If I went up a size I might have stuck with a more on/off road tire rather than an AT. I also heavily prefer a tire with square shoulders.

 

[Bodageta]

I think the new wheels probably appeal
To younger drivers. I’m in my late 50s. I really like the silver steel wheels with the cactus grey just the way it came. I think the factory look is a great look. But no problem making your truck what you want. I’m waiting on an XLT hybrid and I can’t stand the dark grey aluminum wheels. They look so dirty. I love bright silver steel wheels.

 

[Decayed]

I think the new wheels probably appeal
To younger drivers. I’m in my late 50s. I really like the silver steel wheels with the cactus grey just the way it came. I think the factory look is a great look. But no problem making your truck what you want. I’m waiting on an XLT hybrid and I can’t stand the dark grey aluminum wheels. They look so dirty. I love bright silver steel wheels.

Grey aluminum is so boring. They don't look bad but they never look great. The steelies at least have an iconic look to them.

 

[710-oil-614]

On one hand your thread makes me angry because when I ordered my XL Hybrid in October 2021 this is exactly what I had in mind.

On the other hand - your post is awesome because when I ordered my XL Hybrid in October 2021 this is exactly what I had in mind!!

3 ways this can impact your Mav - efficiency, ride quality, and acceleration.

Much like you've stated - I don't think you'll see much of an increase at all in efficiency given the AT tire choice and tread however I can't see a situation where you've made efficiency worse - I think you'll probably see maybe a slight decrease if not a net of zero while you've vastly improved the looks and the capability of the vehicle with the AT tires.

Another reason efficiency impact is minimal is that once the wheels are rolling at speed the additional weight is negligible to keep spinning.

Ride quality is where you will see the biggest change - and what the IS really depends on the suspension and how it reacts to less weight. In general you have lessened the stress on components and that is a good thing. The AT tires and increase contact patch should provide improved ride quality on bumpy or choppy roads .

Last is acceleration. As far as performance this is where you'll see any impact. It could be as significant as a .1 - .15 off your 0-60 times in the best case scenario. It would have been interesting to see before and after numbers.

Regardless - nice job!

 

[Burdy]

On one hand your thread makes me angry because when I ordered my XL Hybrid in October 2021 this is exactly what I had in mind.

On the other hand - your post is awesome because when I ordered my XL Hybrid in October 2021 this is exactly what I had in mind!!

3 ways this can impact your Mav - efficiency, ride quality, and acceleration.

Much like you've stated - I don't think you'll see much of an increase at all in efficiency given the AT tire choice and tread however I can't see a situation where you've made efficiency worse - I think you'll probably see maybe a slight decrease if not a net of zero while you've vastly improved the looks and the capability of the vehicle with the AT tires.

Another reason efficiency impact is minimal is that once the wheels are rolling at speed the additional weight is negligible to keep spinning.

Ride quality is where you will see the biggest change - and what the IS really depends on the suspension and how it reacts to less weight. In general you have lessened the stress on components and that is a good thing. The AT tires and increase contact patch should provide improved ride quality on bumpy or choppy roads .

Last is acceleration. As far as performance this is where you'll see any impact. It could be as significant as a .1 - .15 off your 0-60 times in the best case scenario. It would have been interesting to see before and after numbers.

Regardless - nice job!

If I would have had 5k miles on the truck and a Dragy, I would have loved to have done an accelaration test. I think you are pretty spot on on your analysis but its hard to tell because the temps dropped big time after the install which we know really kills the hybrid MPG. With that being said this tank is at 40.5 mpg at the moment at a little less than half full. The first half was split with the old setup vs the new. Once the weather warms up and stays steady, maybe I can get a good feel for it. My last tank was 40.2 on the old setup.

 

[MavDave]

Vety nice write up. You hit the big points most people don't think about when they replace wheels and/or tires. I am trying to find the weight of my XLT stock alloy wheels but so far not much luck. Since my tires are newish and I know their weight, I guess I can just pull 1 and weigh the wheel and tire then just subtract the tire weight... that just seems like a lot more work than a Google search.

 

[Burdy]

And for those wondering where my center caps are...I have some Ford ones on order, will post pics once I get them in.

 

[einstein57]

Nice write up. The only thing the XLT has over the XL in my book is the power mirrors ( my wife is a foot shorter than me) and the rear armrest for my kids. Initially I went for the “best” AT tires out and got some 245/70/17 KO2s. At 47lbs a tire I’m down to 34mpg. I’m stepping down in size and weight with the Maxxis RAZR in a 245/65/17 which will save me 13lbs a tire and still have a very aggressive profile. The stock tire size is only 30.74lbs which is pretty dang light for such a chunky tire with amazing reviews.

 

[BuddyS]

Looks terrific! Great write-up, too. Looking forward to your results on MPG impact.

 

[MortyHooper]

I think the new wheels probably appeal
To younger drivers. I’m in my late 50s. I really like the silver steel wheels with the cactus grey just the way it came. I think the factory look is a great look. But no problem making your truck what you want. I’m waiting on an XLT hybrid and I can’t stand the dark grey aluminum wheels. They look so dirty. I love bright silver steel wheels.

I’m 37 and feel the same way!

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