Help me decide a tire size

First and foremost - this is NOT a "what's the biggest tire I can stuff under my fenders" thread.

By the end of this month, I hope adding 4 inch spindles to my 2012 PreRunner SBDC. One drawback of spindles is that you have to run at least 17" wheels, and I currently have 16's. I have the wheels narrowed down to a few choices I'm deciding between. The purpose of THIS discussion is to decide what size tire I should run on the 17s with a 4 inch lift.

My current tires are 265/70/16. I know the largest tire for a stock suspension on 17s without rubbing is 265/70/17. If I'm not mistaken, with a 3-4" lift, I could run a 285/70/17 without rubbing. But I don't know if I should go that big or not. I don't use my truck to off-road outside of the occasional dirt road or mud hole. It's a daily driver. So, I don't necessarily need the biggest tire I can get eating up my fuel economy. On the flip side, I don't want to spend the money on all this and have some wheels that will look ridiculously small under a 4" lift.

My priorities in order:

1. No cutting - I'll remove the mud flaps if necessary, but I don't want to be cutting and hammering on my truck to get the wheels to fit.

2. Looks good - Let's face it, outside of using my truck weekly for home projects, she's a concrete princess, and needs to look good. I want the right amount of space to fill the fender wells without too much gap, or looking like they are shoehorned in.

3. Fuel economy - I know I'm going to lose some economy by going up in tire size, and I'm okay with that. I just want to find the sweet spot between looks and economy

I know this is all a matter of personal opinion and preferences. I'm just looking for some feedback. This is my first time changing tire sizes and a lift at the same time, so I'm having a hard time deciding what to to. I'd rather be happy with it the first time, so I'm just looking for feedback.

I guess it comes down to a) 265s as if it was stock, b) 275s in the middle, or c) all the way up to 285s, right?

Thanks for reading, and for any help you might be able to provide.

 

My vote 285/70/17.

 

No one else have any feedback?

 

275's, not a big hit on milage, still look big.

 

So between 265/70/17 and 285/70/17 is approx 3.5% difference. Gas mileage difference is negligible. Go 285s. The difference may cost 1mpg. I run 285s aaverage 18-20mpg combined depending how heavy my foot is that day.

 

Here’s a couple pics 285s 3/2 lift.

 

Did you see any impact to power?

285s fit without trimming, right?

 

Those look great! Are those on 17s?

 

265/70/17 on 4in spindle I had to take the inner front small mud flap out. tires Was rubbing in Reverse. Planning on 285/70/17 next time I need new tires.

 

The stock tires were ~39 lbs on mine (265/70-16). The tire I run now is a 265/75-16, but was only available in an E load index. They are ~54 lbs each, and the difference was very noticeable. You do get used to it, but both braking and acceleration will suffer. I like how they look, but the next time around I'm going to be much more careful about my tire selection. 15 pounds of rotating, unsprung weight is HUGE.

 

Yes. 285/70/17 on a 17x8.5 -10 offset wheel

 

Power is a non issue. I’m running jba ucas and 4* caster so clearance is good. If you gonna run the factory uca I would have them max caster out. Should be able to get 2.8-3 degrees of caster out of them. Make sure to get a good alignment guy and set caster, camber then toe in that order.

 

265 is going to be the largest you can fit. A lift doesn't change the size of the wheel well or location of the cab mount. Those are going to be the limiting factors for tire size.

I think anyone that says they don't rub with 285s hasn't tried hard enough.

 

It’s a prerunner just like mine. Granted I have ucas which helps greatly. I have plenty of room, use on trails to to hiking spots etc. Haven’t rubbed cab mount yet. 4* caster helps greatly. Now I would agree if your 4wd and really off-roading completely compressing the suspension at full lock yep probably gonna make them rub.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Like I said, I'm not going to be doing anything to push the suspension outside of the occasional pothole. So, are you saying the 285s will rub only if I really bang on it? Or is it going to rub turning out of my driveway?

 

Running oe wheels and factory ucas?

 

For what it’s worth, I’m running a 16” wheel with the maxtrac spindles

 

It's more likely to rub than not rub. if you're not prepared to do some cutting I wouldn't recommend 285s.

 

@ChadsPride show him a preeunner with spindle lift and 285’s please and he may have questions

 

When I bought my truck it had a 3" lift in the front and 285-70-17 - bumper and mud flaps had been trimmed to fit them. I still experienced slight rubbing.

It'll be hard to get an exact answer because everyone's setup is a little different. Different tires (even with the same labeled size) will be slightly different sizes. Wheel width and offset will also affect clearance. Just because someone rubs or doesn't rub with a certain size won't ensure that you have the same experience on your truck.