Increasing Gas Mileage With Taller Tires? Options

[joyworks]

One of the few things that I dislike about my '99 Celica Convertible is that the gas mileage isn't as good as it could be. The 1997-2001 Camry, which had the same engine, got 3 mpg better on the highway with a 5-speed than my Celica does with a 5-speed, and the Camry weighed about 300 lbs more! I can only attribute this to the high revs of my Celica's 5th gear. So, my question is, can I achieve better fuel economy with a larger diameter wheel/tire combination? I know it would throw my speedometer off a bit, but to save fuel, it would be worth it to me. On that same note, what would would the tallest tire that I could put on a 16" rim and not suffer from any fender rubbing? What about a 17" rim? Thanks for your help!

[playr158]

Wheel size alone can not be used as an indicator of weight. It all depends on the particular design, and there are better and worse ones out there. I would bet you can find 18" wheels with low profile tires that will weigh considerably less than the same overall height/width combo in a 15 or 16" wheel.

this is very true. I can produce 18s that weight a LOT less than a set of 15s.....now tell me who on this site will put enough $ into their wheels that they'll buy $2000+ rims (alone) for some quality LTW wheels over your $1000 18" set of HP racing/AXIS ect.

yes i'm being bad and assuming the OP like 90% of this car culture will buy generic wheels.