Need help to surprise my Marine son. 2004 Prerunner mods

My son will be graduating from Marine boot camp and I want to surprise him. His 2004 Prerunner ext cab is stock. He wanted a 2" lift (I got a body lift) and I am going to put custom wheels on it. Stock tires are 265/70R16. I am not looking for super off-road radical, but subtle effect, without sacrificing handling or greatly decreasing gas mileage and without needing to modify a lot of other things. I will be using matte black wheels. He likes masculine and tough, but not over the top. Street use only, he does not off-road. After reading through forum, I am way overwhelmed with information.
With the 2" lift, what size wheel and tire combination would achieve what I have described, in your experience? Anything I should steer clear of? On behalf of my son and I, thanks for any helpful input you have. Proud dad.

 

i like the BFG A/T tires. They are good on and off road IMO. After i got them i started looking at all the tires on the trucks i pass and about 50 - 70% of them had the BFG A/T's. Didn't realize how popular they were till i got them. Personally I'm not a big fan of body lifts but i think you would be able to go with a larger tire size if you wanted since you already got it.
If you are also looking for other things to get i would consider getting some wheel spacers since you will be getting rims/tires already.. I like BORA spacers.

 

I have no real suggestions...just wanted to come here to say you're a badass dad for doing this for your son.

 

^^ Agreed.

As for wheels, I love my MB Wheels TKO.

Discount Tire Link

Here they are with Cooper ATP's:

 

I've run both the BFG A/T tires and Cooper Discoverer AT3s on two different vehicles. The BFGs definitely look a little more badass and are a touch better in mud. However, the AT3s still look pretty darn good, wear better, ride better and quieter on the road, and perform better in snow than the BFGs. They also cost less.

Not sure if you're going to be able to go much bigger than 265/75s with a 2 inch lift without them rubbing when he turns. But 265/75s should look sweet on a 1st gen Taco.

 

Cool dad.....

Cooper AT3 are great tires, I have used them in mud, dirt, sand, standing water, gravel, snow, rain, handling, towing and a great hwy tire. They do everything good.

I got the 275 70 (11 x 32) so I lost 1-2 mpg and you can hear them not crazy but louder than the engine...

For a better snow tire that looks more aggressive the Goodyear Duratrac are maybe the best AT snow tire made, but have a softer side wall than the cooper so they don't handle as good...

These are 2 of the best tires that I know of...

 

Congrats to your son, pretty cool.

 

For a pretty basic matte black rim I run mickey thompson class II (III are almost the same). For tires I run at3's like shr133 and am very pleased with them in everything Ive had them in. For me they are much quieter than the other set of A/T tires I had one before and ride good on the interstate

Not the best picture of the rims just pm me if you want any other ones. Btw what you are doing is awesome for your son.

 

That was really the kind of info I needed. I was thinking of 17" wheels, but it looks like 16" is the best. The AT3 information and size information was super helpful as well.
What a great forum. You guys are great.

 

Would 17 inch wheels be ok and if so, with what size tire? And would other mods then need to be made? The reason I ask is that I have a friend who runs a shop and several of the wheels come in 17 inch and up.

 

The reason most people on here have 16s is because more rubber is better for off road purposes. but if he won't be doing much 4x4'n then 17s should be fine. it depends. smaller tire = better gas mileage.

I would personally go with some 32x10.5 or 31x10.5 but thats me and i like bigger tires.

don't think there would be any other mods you would need for those.. just make sure the back spacing is ok for how you want it..

 

Depending on budget, I have 265/70/16 general grabber at2s. They're good for the price and handle well on and off road. There's normal tread ware. I don't have any complaints with them. Just a suggestion. Or duratracs

 

Here's the link for figuring out tire sizes:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tirecalc.php

I can't comment on whether 265/75/17s would fit without rubbing with a 2 inch lift, though. Maybe somebody else who has tried it can chime in. You could always dial back the aspect ratio if he's only driving on the road - you can save about an inch in diameter by going 265/70/17 instead.

 

You could do the anytime fog light mod if it has fog lights and the led lights on the inside and I've ran the cooper discover at3 and they are good tires

 

Thanks for the input guys. My son graduates next Friday as a Marine.
As far as the truck, you gave me lots of great info. Here's how it worked out. It was a 2" suspension lift (I mistakenly said body lift) and I added 17 X 9 Pro Comps with 265/65/17 BFG's Rugged Terrain T/A and it worked perfectly. Very streetable, no steering issues, good proportions. He will be very surprised. Thanks again.
Proud Dad

 

Looks great! You're a good dad

 

Damn that looks good! That's awesome of you to do that. Thank you to your son for joining and thank you for supporting him!

 

I do not have any mod info, just wanted to tell you and your Son, thanks for his service. I was an FMF Navy Corpsman with the First Marines in Viet Nam.