How capable are 265s?

265/75/16 used to be considered a pretty big tire. That is bigger than the tires that were issued on the Jeeps that went everywhere during WW-2.

They are almost 32" tall. You won't see any noticeable difference in performance off road until you get to a 35" tire. Going to a 285/75/16 will only net you about 1" more ground clearance. At that small amount driving skill is a much bigger factor. Even going to 35's you'd only see about 1.5" more clearance.

You reach a point of diminishing returns. On a Tacoma 265/75/16's or 265/70/17's (same overall dimensions, but the 16's cost less) is a good place to be. You get the biggest tire with no downsides. Anything bigger will cost a lot more. Not only with the cost of the tires, but the modifications needed to run them. And then you have the loss of performance. For next to no gain in clearance. But to some folks it is worth it to look cool.

I could like 255/85/16's. But there are fewer options, and at greater cost.

 

That's good to hear, it sounds like performance/ response doesn't change much then...now I'm drifting back into 255/85 camp hahaha

 

i had 235's on my regular cab tacoma also! totally forgot. i found they looked too narrow for my taste on a 2nd gen, but on the 1st gens i think they look better. mine were lower quality canadian tire goodyear territories, they weren't great, never again after that did i buy cheap tires

 

You want them.... DO IT!!! you will be happy you did! The toyo's are the tallest at 33.5, whereas some of the other 255's are as small as 32.8.

 

Thanks for this response, it's very laid out and makes a lot of sense...I think that you're right that 35" is where you'll see a bigger change/ return on performance. For me, the biggest deterrent to the bigger tires sizes is, like you said, the cost that comes with them: price of tires, CMCs, trimming, new wheels, new UCAs, etc. I would like to avoid all that and it sounds like 265/75 is probably the limit.

 

34x10.5R17.

 

I just called America's Tire and they said they have a 14 day return policy haha...I'm really close to just trying the 255s and if they don't fit/ require cutting and mods, just taking them back and then getting the 265s.

 

Absolutely. If you can try them out and swap, do it.

 

Yea, if I do that it might just be hoping/ wishing/ wanting it to work haha...but the realistic side of me is thinking that 265/75 is the more logical sense and a lot of the comments here seem to support that

 

Did you notice any fuel savings running 235/85 vs. 265/75? For my daily driving/towing tires I might look at getting 235s once the 265 Duratracs wear out.

 

If you can return them then definitely try the 255. I love mine and have found they made a difference with the things I used to hit on the trails. I have a trd pro so I only needed to use a heat gun to push some of the fender liner in the front out of the way. Otherwise I have had no issues and no cutting needed (I do have a high clearance rear bumper with no mud flaps so I can't comment on how much work is needed in the rear)

 

That's good to know and I appreciate the real world experience. Hopefully no cutting is required. I understand I'll probably need to remove my 1.25" Spidertraxx spacers though.

 

I recently went with 265s simply because of the availability. 255s seemed to be awfully hard to find in stock. My truck is the main vehicle in my family and if I destroy a tire (or more) while we're on a trip, I don't want to be stuck waiting around for one to get delivered.

 

Driver skill will be 10x more important than a 255 versus 265 decision.

 

Yea for sure, and I would feel more accomplished gaining better driving skills and being able to tackle trails that guys on larger tires do

 

That's a good point: if you're out in Smalltown USA they might not have 255s if your spare gets destroyed on the same trip or if you don't trust your spare to get you home.

 

Exactly. I treat tires for my truck kind of like work boots. I spent the whole first year I had my truck researching and going back and forth over what size or brand or rating, etc. I wanted. For a 255/85/16, it seemed to be a minimum of a week for a special order for every shop within 50 miles because nobody actually kept that size in stock. Ultimately, I just didn't feel comfortable having to wait. It would be one thing if it was a specific brand or something, but nothing at all? It just made me wonder what it would be like if I take a family trip to the beach and I have a blowout. Not a situation I wanted to find myself in.

 

Good point, and the group I run with no one has a 255...a couple have 265s and the others have 285s and another runs 315s, so I'd be really screwed without a spare...from a practical standpoint, 265 seems the most sense...

 

It really is simple, just get a full sized 255 spare, there is room for it under the truck. If you can find a matching rim for the spare you can run a 5 tire rotation, loved doing that with my Jeeps, your set of 5 will last 20% longer if done right. Yes there is the up front cost, but it balances out well long term

 

I didn't track mileage on my 1st gen so it's hard for me to prove that they get better mileage. My gut says that mileage did improve. Both tires were the same just in different sizes, General Grabber AT/2. I think they've replaced with the AT/Z or something now.

You've got a 3rd gen though 2nd gens require a little bit of work to make them fit. At a minimum he's going to have to use a BFH on his pinch weld, but it'll probably still run.

This was another point for the 235s. 235/85R16 was a stock size on Ram 3500's & F350s for quite a number of years, though it has been some time since they were spec'd on any of those rigs. Funny enough, I saw a Ram 2500 dually today with 235/85R16 Duratracs today and it was definitely a newer model. From what I can tell, the most recent vehicles spec'd with the 235 size are Land Rovers and G-Wagens.