New Tires = Better MPG

[GAP]

I have a 2022 F150 which I bought brandy new in December of 2021:  Weird but true.  It's my daily driver and, unladen, gets roughly 21mpg.  Towing my Oliver E2 with stock Goodyear Wrangler Territory P (passenger) rated all terrain tires, I would average 11-12mpg.  In searching for a winter rated (3 Peak) tire, as opposed to a snow tire, I found plenty of information confirming that the average P rated tire is at it's outer limits towing an Oliver so best for low mileage on smooth roads.  Very limited options for C&D rated tires (roughly 6&8 ply respectively) I opted for a E 10ply Michelin Agilis Crossclimate.  Took my first winter trip which was 7 hours driving each way to and from a ski mountain in northern Maine.  I go there often enough to know what to have expected with the Wrangler tires.  Averaged 13-14mpg so noticeably better. Unladen, mpg dropped 1-2mpg compared to stock.  Towed MUCH BETTER and seeing as how half my annual miles is while towing, the mpg balances out.

As expected, the new tires are a tad louder then the stock ones but barely noticeable difference.  Also slightly stiffer ride when unladen but perfect and much less squishy while towing.  A whole world of improvement on snow. More appropriate for rough road usage and greatly decreased chance of blowing out a sidewall.   Found a great conversion app for comparing differences between tires so I ignore the door sticker and run the tires at 45psi unladen and 60psi while towing.  It's convoluted but, in short, as plys go up, it takes more psi to achieve the same carrying capacity so beefier tires need to run at a higher pressure to get to the factory tire spec.  

This is my 2nd truck where I tried stock and beefier tires while towing my Oliver.  Similar outcomes in both cases.  I'll use the stock tires during warm seasons but will retire them before they are at the end of their life and switch full time to the beefier options. Will try to keep them off heavily rutted roads and drive slowly when on dirt.