How capable are 265s?

400 more? Should be like 20 more per tire.

 

I'm running 255s and I had to cut a bunch of plastic, have to cut more, and still have to do a cmc and pinch weld. If I had known it would be as bad as it is I would have just gone with 285s

 

I was looking at America's/ Discount Tire at the Yokohama Geolandar MTs and if I got 4 in 265 it would be ~$800...if I got 255 I'd need to get 5 and it would be ~$1170

 

Really? Are you on stock wheels? What tire are you running?

 

Oh the spare. Well that’s a whole other story. You could get a used tire in the same size for cheap AF for emergency/limping to the shop. Save for a 5th new one.

 

Level 8 wheels, 0 offset, which granted are an inch wider, but I'm contacting everything

 

That seems like an ideal situation. I took a lot of time comparing weights and widths with the tires that were in my top 3. I have spacers and Sema wheels that push them out a bit but happy with the stance, although they do throw some gravel up. These are on 17’s too, so about 31in and some change.

 

Yea that's true haha

 

If I were going to buy a second set of tires or a new set I would consider jumping up to a 17" wheel and tire combo. Seems like the tire options in 17's are much better and not much more expensive.

 

Yea, unfortunately I just have the 16" stock steels as my second set so am limited to those options, which it seems are just 235/85, 255/85 and 265/75...want to avoid CMC and trimming if possible so 285s are not in the running

 

Having just gone through this myself I would ask what is limiting you currently? For me my rear bumper hit everything so I got a high clearance one. Once that was done I started to notice bottoming out and that encouraged me to jump up to toyo mts in 255/85/16. So far it's been a night and day difference. But I think more importantly is the type of tire versus the size. A smaller MT will perform better than an AT thats 1 inch bigger.

Also as others have said tire options and availability for 255/80/17 are a lot better.

 

I ran a BFG Ko2 in a 255/75/17 load range C on my 2nd gen taco and loved it. I wish there was a 16 option, but sadly they're just not out there. For me the jump to 17s was made easier because of this tire.

 

Yeah I really wish I had gone for 17s. At least there are usually lots of available 4runner/Tacoma takeoffs on craigslist etc

 

Don't forget that 1.5" diameter = 0.75" increase in ground clearance, not 1.5".

Everyone's situation is different, obviously. I don't offroad a ton but want to keep doing more. In the small handful of trips I've taken so far I've run into multiple times when a little more ground clearance would have been helpful. Not necessary, but would have been nice and I expect would be nice in the future.

And maybe I'm looking at different tires but with a quick google search I see that the 265/75 Duratracs are about $215 and the Geolandar MT's are $218. 255/85 Geo's are $230. So I'm not seeing where there is a $400 difference in cost here. Maybe there's a super deal somewhere on those Duratracs that I'm not seeing.

 

I thought 16 inch wheels had more M/T options? I don’t think 17s have more availability for any and every tire option. I could be wrong though?

 

That's a great way to look at it! I noticed that my stock skid plate was beat up and hitting every trip so I replaced that with a real set of steel skids...I did hit my body under the passenger side door which caused me to buy rock sliders...since I have a long bed my tow hitch is the only thing saving my bumper at the moment and it drags/ bangs rocks every trip...but aside from that I've been fine on 265/75s otherwise

To your point about MTs, I def plan on running MTs as my off road set and am pretty sold on the Yokohama Geolandars...but can't decide between 265/75 or 255/85...based on a lot of the comments here I feel like 265/75 makes more sense...but 255/85 gives .75" of extra ground clearance haha

 

Oh yea, forgot it would only be .75" extra ground clearance, good catch...and I was including the cost of a brand new spare but barf pointed out that I could just get an old used one to run instead of a brand new one.

 

Personally, I like skinnies and run 255/85/16.

Not sure what the complaints are with E load tires; trucks are made to run like trucks, and going from a C or D load tire to an E won't much of a difference at all as far as 'feel'

Plus I love that I can air down to 10psi for mud, or 15psi for snow, dirt, etc. everywhere else.

 

I ran 255 toyo's on my 2018 TRD Offroad and now run Falken 255's on my ZR2. Great size on these trucks! whoever said they won't turn well has no idea what they're talking about. just get a high end name brand tire that you can count on and they drive great.

 

Honestly, I noticed no difference between the 265/75 and 235/85 offroad with the exception of steering inputs that I mentioned earlier. The 235's definitely feel like they take less steering input to get them to do what I want. I don't do any really aggressive offroading or rock crawling, though I have played around on a pretty rough hill climb area to compare my 1st and 2nd gen. If I were more into wheeling then I'd probably look at going straight to 35's. Once you start cutting, you might as well go big.

I switched from 265/75 to 235/85 on my 1st gen years ago and loved it. When I got my 2nd gen, I went straight to 235/85 from the factory tire. I love the looks of a bigger tire, but from a practical standpoint I can't say that my 235's kept me from doing anything that I'd tried with the 265's. I've felt no need to go with a mud terrain type of tire with the kind of driving that I do. Like most of us, the vast majority of my driving is on pavement. I do a lot of road trips that are a mix of pavement and dirt. A typical trip will see me swapping back and forth between pavement and dirt a couple of times a day... I'm not going to carry two sets of tires to have the best possible one for every condition I may encounter An AT suits me just fine, but you'll have to decide what works best for you.