The SKINNY on skinny tires

The crack is likely being smoked by the feces flingers who did your alignment. The Pro wheels don’t push things far enough to meet your crack smoking problem.

 

I guess that's a possibility too. Are these numbers bad? Where should they be if you have any suggestion?

 

Numbers are theoretically fine but it will pull to the right and your only using the LCA bolts to set alignment. You’ll need SPC UCAs so you can move the wheel forward in the wheel well. A standard high caster UCA will move the upper ball joint back and cause more clearance issues, you need the adjustable UCA ball joint and a good tech to make it work. Can’t be that much rubbing though. I would cycle the wheel with no coil over and cut for clearance.

 

Your caster is right where mine was running the larger Toyo 255’s yet I was not able get the tires to rub.

Maybe the reply above is onto something.. not sure. I was expecting you to have much lower caster numbers.

 

Yep, that's my situation, except I'm running stock SR wheels. Also NO crack.

 

Since we are talking alignment numbers and such with skinny tires here are mine. I have the 5 spoke OR wheels and about a 2.5 inch lift using 5100s. I got wildpeak AT3w tires at 255/80/17r. When I got the JBA UCAs installed, rubbing on the inner side of the UCA got MUCH worse than with the stock UCAs. The alignment tech that I spoke with said he couldn't do better than what is shown in the numbers below. Nothing is bent and most of suspension is new. I find it hard to believe that things would be so bad with the new arms. He had no idea why I wanted caster at 4.0 even though thats what the JBAs are designed for. Did I just get a tech that has no idea what he is doing?

 

Ah I see. Good info to know. When you mention pulling to the right, do you mean that is due to the tires or the alignment? Cause my truck does pull to the right quite a bit, but I assumed that was due to the tires because of the thread on ST Maxx tires on here.

 

The pull to the right is definitely the tires. Very annoying. If I stick with 255s when it comes time to change, I'll almost certainly be going with a different brand.

 

I’ve worked closely with my alignment tech through my fitting of 35’s and he stated that it is common for all Tacomas to pull to the right if the caster is equal on both sides. He adds in 0.6-0.7 degrees extra caster on the passenger side to compensate. It’s how mine it setup and it drives true. Only time this maybe different is if you have a bent frame. This is not a tire issue.

 

If you rotate your tires around and you still have the same pull, it’s the alignment. If it goes away, it’s the tires.

 

Tires have been rotated 3x, balanced 3x, and aligned 5x (with additional caster to the passenger side the most recent 4x).

edit: Truck never pulled to the right on 265/70R17 Duratracs. Posts a-plenty about the 255-width ST Maxx pulling to the right (which I admittedly ignored, despite finding nothing similar for other 255s). Trusted local 4WD shop and their alignment shop both think it's the tires. Therefore... I'm thinking it's the tires.

edit2: Should probably note the balances were done at the same America's Tire, and alignments were done at three different shops (the aforementioned alignment shop doing the most recent, and driving it to test).

 

I wouldn’t buy anything with my name on it. Usually trash. Lol. I did have a set of 255/85 standard ST’s back in the day and they did suck but I figured it was because I bought them used. Probably just sucked and that’s why he sold them.
How much extra caster did you add to offset the pull? I’m at 0.4 right now and it pulls a bit. I have to go back when I have time so we can add a bit more. Game of millimeters.

 

JBA's will rub anything taller than 32.5 on stock wheels. Plenty of back space info on their website.

 

Talked with them on the phone and they mentioned that they should pass no problem according to their site it also says it should pass. Some members on here are running the same thing also. I'm getting a rub with almost one full turn of the wheel.

 

Gotcha. Actually looking at your numbers I wonder why the tech adjusted the camber like that? I think a better alignment tech could get that sorted out.

 

That's what I was thinking. Unfortunately out of everything alignments are the thing I have no idea are done. He was saying I have no more adjustment on the bolts but JBA says that can't be right as the UCAs should be able to adjust back to a good spec.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-do-an-alignment-at-home.252256/ Here's a deep deep rabbit hole on the subject, I've only gone down it far enough to say fuck it though lol. I lucked out and found the old alignment wizard guy at a small local tire shop that does a lot of 4x4's. If you're in Northwest AR/Southwest MO I can give you his details.

 

I set my LCA bolts to push the wheel all the way forward, maxed out.
Use the UCA adjustable Ball Joint to set camber to 0.
Check caster.
Use UCA adjustable Ball Joint to get caster near 2-3 degrees.
Adjust LCA as little as possible to get caster in spec.
If needing to make major adjustments or running out of adjustment at the LCA, adjust UCA Ball Joint to the next position to get most caster. (SPC UCA, not sure about JBA)
The more caster you have to add at the UCA, the less firewall clearance you have.
The more caster set at the LCA, the more firewall clearance.
The goal to to keep the LCA adjusted as far forward while keep the UCA ball joint adjusted as far forward as possible while getting 0 degrees camber and at least 2 degrees of caster.
Add 0.6 degrees more caster to passenger side to compensate for coming pull to the right.
Set toe last.

 

After using my stock TRD Offroad wheels and 265/75/16 K02s for about a year, I'm making the move to Black Rhino Armory wheels (16x8) and 255/85/16 KM3s. Discount Tires had the best prices I could find. Once I get them installed, I'll update with a pic or two. Thanks for all the information in this thread. It helped greatly in my decision-making process.

I currently run the tuff-country 3" lift, which I've got no complaints with in the year I've had it.

Tuff Country 3 Inch Toyota Tacoma Lift Kit - 53910KN | 4wheelparts.com

 

I should also mention, this technique of pushing the LCA all the way forward is hard in your LCA bushing and they may wear faster than normal. The real fix for all this is the JD Fab LCA Pivots so that’s going ti always be my first recommendation if you plan to really off-road the truck.