Wheelwell trim to fit LT285/70R17

I spent some time on a Toyota dealer lot this evening, and taking spy photos of a 2010 Access Cab lifted and modified by a major nationwide 4 wheel parts chain to be sold off the dealer's lot. This truck has a 3" pro-comp coilover spring suspension lift, and ProComp Extreme ATs in LT285/70R17. Sorry, I didn't note which wheels they're using so we could research the backspacing.

I wanted to capture the extensive trim work that was done to fit the tires without rubbing. All photos are of the driver's side wheelwell. On all photos, you can click through to the gallery view and see the 1024x768 larger photo.

From outside, you don't see much. But when you look inside the wheelwell, and know what to look for, you can see how much cutting they've done, and it's quite a bit.

Starting below the front bumper, from the outside, it all looks pretty stock:



But, if we flip around to the other side, you can see they've cut a little off the outer fender. We'll get a better look at the wheelwell trimming itself in the next pic...



Here, red lines accentuate all the *missing* plastic. A lot has been removed from the front wheelwell!



And here's about the same view, but accentuating the cut line itself. See how nice and stock it looks? We didn't *really* take a scissors to it ;-) But from this perspective on a stocker, you wouldn't be able to look out the front grille.



Here, we shift perspectives and are now looking at the rear of the wheelwell. Plastic trimming isn't that extensive, but they've trimmed the cab mount (part of the frame) and covered the cut by welding, grinding, and painting a small plate over the opening.



Now this photo is interesting for what has NOT been cut! I've sketched in green lines over some high-profile wheelwell pieces you might expect to have to trim, but they've been left untouched. And you can see the outer fender is completely stock as well.

 

Haha, that's nothing

 

Now I know actual tire sizes and wheel offsets will vary. But I hereby and forever more take any and all claims that "I'm running 285/70R17 (or 285/75R16) tires, and I didn't trim and I'm not rubbing" with a large grain of salt for any vehicle that actually turns lock to lock or goes over any speedbumps. As always on the boards, YMMV, there's only one at this price, and objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. ;-)

 

not to bad they did what they had to do so some one doesnt buy it and keep comming back to the dealer every time a tire rubs? is it 4x4?

 

I tend to agree actually. It's not that bad, if you know those are the meats you want to carry and you're willing to take a fairly heavy hand with the snips and actually get out the grinder and welder.

But if you really want to leave those wheelwells stock, a smaller tire size might suit better.

 

Yeah, 4x4 Access Cab V6.

 

Haha, yea I had to trim a very tiny bit when I was running 285/75/16's. I had to cut a lot to fit the 315/75/16's I have on their now.

So long as you can't see anything from the outside than trimming doesn't really hurt anything.

 

Looks like mine

 

looks like mine also. i still rubbed my cab-mount tho...

 

You still rubbed the cab mount even AFTER you cut some of it away with a grinder?

What size tire/wheel and what wheel offset are you running??

 

Are you running 255/85/16 ?

 

Ooops... missed the pic with the chopped mounts