Tires & Wheels for the Offroad minded gentleman

Wot wot!


Alright so I spent some solid hours in the wheels & tires section last night, but I didn't see where anyone was focused on what they hoped to achieve with a new setup.

I've got your typical 3" OME lift with TSB/AAL rear in planning which is to accomplish my primary goal of getting me more clearance for offroad adventuring. I would like tires/rims to accompany this, but there's more restriction:

1. Truck is my daily driver, so attempting to keep mpg and long tire life would be ideal
2. With the amount of rainfall in my area, there's muddy trails almost year round, so traction is a key element.
3. A tall tire would be great to add extra lift, but it has to air down well for the trail.
4. Just like everyone else, I don't want to be rubbing. Trimming is fine. It would be nice to keep stock rims, but otherwise I'd jump to a proper sized steel rim before doing spacers. I believe 16" rims is probably still the best idea (more rubber for the trail), but I run around with a bunch of FJs so switching to 17" isn't out of the question since I could pop on one of their spares in an emergency.

So what's the verdict, all?
Is 285/75/16 that holy grail combo?
Is the difference between a 285/75/16 and say a 265/75/16 negligible in terms of handling? By stepping down I could keep stock rims and not look too oddball on my lift?
anything else?

 

Im curious about this as well, as I drive 350mi a week.

 

Keep your stock wheels & some nice A/T tires for daily driving.

Get a separate set of steal wheels ($50-60 each) and mount some nice Mud Terrain tires on them for offroading. When you're ready to go offroading...just swap out the wheels.

 

Rims are about the only thing I'm actually not worried about scratching up. I'm trying to keep them to reduce cost and I think they look good enough for me.

 

+1

 

I'm sitting at 20k with the original Rugged Trails and wondering what type of life I've got left , so I thought the most economical idea was to suffer those for a bit more before converting to some ultimate tire solution.

Hmm, maybe I can keep stock rims/tires, buy the steel/tires and come out ahead in all this... or maybe it's a forced issue due to rubbing and all that.

Still, no one's answered the tire size question and how it relates to offroad-ability

 

i got 265/75/16 and i do alot of offroading and never have a problem with them, love them. never do i wish i had the 285. also depends on the offroading you do? the 285 will do alot better in mud and wet stuff as they have more surface area but on the other hand lots of people like the skinnier tire with a higher side wall. lots of people except tacoma people ,it seems at least to me, wants the looks of a wider tire. lots of times i see 255/85/16 on the trail, they have that added height for clearance and love the more narrow tire.

285's will give you poorer has mileage, which people dont seem to upset about. and then there is also the possibilty of a lack of power upgrading the size therefore a possible regear depending on how you feel.

heres a little reading about narrow vs wider tires if you feel as waisting a few minutes of your time:
http://www.expeditionswest.com/research/white_papers/tire_selection_rev1.html

 

I'm not interested in a regear, and I don't think anyone has had to do that with 285's. I don't see the FJ guys needing to do it either. Might be more of an issue getting larger than that I would think.

Very awesome, I will have to read this at lunch.

 

Man, I did some heavy reading today and searching - I think I put the tire calculator under a pretty good stress test. I even went so far as to try reading a heavily-aussie forum. it was all "mate" this, "tyre" that, and the realization that I never want to hear someone from Phillip Island EVER talk




Anyway, I took some time to reflect, and also think 08pretaco has some really good points.

The article regarding narrow tires is great. However, finding a tire that isn't a rare size that will still fit seems a bit difficult - America's Tire, for instance, only sells one type of 225/85/16, and at 33.07" there might be issues to the extent of regears and body mount relocation. A 265/75/16 is about the best size I could come up with. At first I was concerned with the height lost between the 285/75 and the 265/75, but looking at both the argument for narrow tires, the benefit of no rubbing hassles, and that I might be splitting hairs, this becomes a moot point.


This is a bit off topic from my original intent of this thread, but it's worth saying since I ignored it up until 15 minutes ago:

Come to a realization with yourself that a difference in ~1" of tire height probably isn't going to save the day.
Worrying about how your tires look standing still only matters once you are at the top.



As for me, I think I'm doing the 265/75 route in an A/T until I decide it's not enough - then I can think about a second set of rims with whatever sizing I feel like.

 

I'd recommend the GoodYear Wranger DuraTrac's for ya. They're kind of a hybrid MT and AT tire. Look beefy, have lots of siping for wet/snow/ice conditions and should still give decent mileage in the long run.

I ran 265's for a while. While they fit well, they do look small IMO. I'm gonna go bigger next time for sure. Probably a 295/70/17, or a 285/75/17. I dont mind the body mount chop mod and I love the beefier look of the larger tires, as well as the slight gain in ground clearance.

 

Glad that little article helped out to some extent with your tire decision

 

Yea, this is a great thread about this. I have gone back and forth in my mind about what kind of tires Im gonna put on when its time to buy. With me driving so much on road, 300+ mi a week, its a huge concern. I want mud terrains, but I feel like they would be bald after a year of driving and for the cost, Im not really down with that. I want my truck to look good, but the performance aspect is the most important. I have never really heard about the skinnier tire aspect. Good info.

Are there mud terrains out there that would get good mileage out of them?

 

The Toyo Mud Terrains are known for good wear. I have a friend with 33x13.50's on his 96 Tacoma and he's got about 15K on them with 75% tread still. When you consider the 1st 1/2 of the tread seems to wear quite a bit quicker(from what i've observed of my tires), they should wear for over 60K! I've got about 19K on my BFG KMs and they're sitting at about 50% for reference, also.

 

my dunlop mud rover are m/t and so far i got 15000 miles on them still got about half tread, all highway (except when offroading) and average 400 miles a week

 

If you go with the Wheelers Off-Road 16s you can put 305/70R16 on your truck.

 

How about 275/70/17 BFG T/A's. I don't know how well they perform in mud, but i just spent the whole day going to tire stores and ended up deciding on that setup . Gonna cost a ton though so im gonna hold off on the lift, its starting to get a little complicated arggg .

 

if they are as intense at wheeling as the FJ crews i have seen, you may want to run something closer to what they are so that you can get an easy bail out on your runs...

OR carry at least 2 spares of whatever size you decide to go with...

 

I'm a bit more conservative than the rest of the group, but the option for an easy swap with the other FJ guys is a definite plus. I just have to decide if I'm packing around two sets of tires or if I'm just going with one.


275/70/17 and 255/85/16 both seem to be rare tire sizes.

 

if you have the storage space for a full set of wheels, then run the two sets, but of course, storing 6 wheels and tires will take quite a bit of space...

if not, then just run the one full set with the spares in storage...

 

What is out there besides the KM2s in 255/80/17?