Thread: How badly does bull bar etc affect fuel consumption?

I noticed bigger diameter and more aggressive tyres changed fuel consumption more than carrying an extra 80kgs around (bar and winch). Even my 40kg roof rack barely affected economy.

If you switched to bigger tyres it affects the overall gearing of your car too.

Hello stevo68,

My TD5 was getting 875(city) to 950+ km(country) per tank with a factory fitted rubber bullbar. When I put on an ARB bull bar and winch, my milage went down to 825-850 km per tank(city driving) I fill mine to the absolute brim each time I fill the tank so I can keep track of fuel economy.

Cheers,

Jason

I noticed the biggest change in consumption after fitting bigger tyres (235/85r16 muddies, so not much difference rolling to yours).
I had the bullbar on before that, but no winch.
Since fitting the winch I can't say I've noticed any difference at all.
I'd put it down to the tyres. As stated before in an above post, it also noticeably changed my gearing, but learning to use the auto box better soon fixed that.

I'm not posting my V8's consumption here because its too embarassing...!!

Thanks for the posts......I should note that when Smokey was stock was getting over 700-800+kms to a tank. The new tyres I mentioned......I had them before....same brand/ diameter, just they had worn out. So when I originally fitted them plus roof rack some 2 yrs ago.....there was a decrease.....but would still get 650-700kms. Since the bull bar and winch has gone on it has dropped somewhat significantly....which I didn't think it would to the extent it has. Maybe its a whole combo effect??

Regards

Stevo

I would be surprised if the bullbar per se made a measurable difference. However, failure to increase the tyre pressure to keep the tyre flex the same with increased weight could. And tyre type and size will make a lot more difference than a bullbar.

John

Has to be tyres...my economy blew out after I put the 33's on ....

also the tyres will give you false km reading so you have to work out the difference between stock and larger tyres and what they do to the speedo.

Dont forget that changing tyre size as stated will affect gearing but also will change the speedo reading. I cant remember which way is which but for example because your odometer says you've done 700km does'nt mean you have actually done 700 km, If its reading wrong you may have done 750 or even 650. A good way I found of checking it is with the odometer and speedo on a GPS and comparing the speedo's speed and kilometre clock over on the car with the GPS one. My Pajero I had with bigger tyres was quite a bit out and showing I was getting more k's per tank than I was actually getting. Something else to consider?