Choosing 265/75-R16 over 275/70 BFG KO2s

They don't look quite as huge in person. I think the Tacoma's proportions make it look bigger than it is. @crashnburn80 is right - the tires design make it look much more aggressive. When they back the truck up out of the stall and I saw it for the first time, I thought they put 255/85's on because the tires looked skinner and sooo much taller than the stock 265/70's. The lack of white lettering probably also make the tire look bigger than it is. Same with the all black wheels. For what it's worth...

^^This is basically how I arrived at the decision I came to.

Re: the frontal area. Going sideways for a sec, my thought on those little mini-air dams is that they create negative pressure just behind them, helping to scavenge air from within the wheel well and behind the front bumper cover. My bet is those little things might help with cooling (possibly) but most likely aero. There are louvers placed just above the mini-air dams in the plastic wheel well covers, which together (mini-air dam + lovers) probably encourage air flow and reduces the positive pressure within wheel wells. The point of what I think I'm saying is... my bet is that removing those mini-air dams will affect aero more than the increase in frontal area of the 275s. What I'm wondering and will never know is how big of an impact removing them has on overall resistance.

My arm-chair engineering for the day is complete now.

That really is a good story. I hope one of you kept the hitch.

 

All about weight

 

Louvers are only on the passenger side as the air intake is drawn from within the fender. It is an intake airflow thing. Note the driver-side is solid. I do suspect you have the right idea for the flaps, and that the flap at stock heigh is near the tire radius (50% of the height) as to not introduce turbulent airflow up into the wheel well. Of course that goes out the window when you lift the truck and by moving the wheel down relative to the flap, without extending the flap, will likely introduce that turbulent airflow anyway.

 

265/70/16 BFGs Rugged Trail upgraded to BFGs 265/75/16 LTs from discount tire direct
After
Before

 

You're right! Learn something new everyday...

 

Congrats, looks great!

 

So I don't plan on getting new tires until the stock ones need to be replaced but with an over 6000 mile road trip coming up I think that's going to happen sooner than later. I've been surfing this forum and haven't particularly found the answer for the "biggest tire without lift or rubbing" answer... I currently have stock R265/65/17's on a 2nd Gen 2015... but was thinking about going with R270/70/17's. I won't be doing too much crazy off roading as of yet(mostly trails to camp sites) but ya.....