The SKINNY on skinny tires

Anyone can justify their load preference, and often any data presented tends to be loads of horse shit. The E load crowd just seems to be more vocal than others. Run what works for you.

 

I don't like limping home without a spare after taking a pungee stick in a C rated tire or treating a chunk out of the tread

 

Why do you say more useful for skinnies?

 

Are 8.5" too wide for 255s?

 

Positive offset helps you fit bigger diameter tires without rubbing or lifting. A big advantage of running skinnies is you can go up to 33s (255/85/16 or 255/80/17) with factory lift and nothing else. This is only possible with high offset; as you push the wheel further out, the wheel pivots more around the steering axis, colliding with the body.

 

I run SEMA 17x7 with 35x10.5R17’s and the offset is perfect. No real poke, very flush with the fenders.

 

This makes sense, but I also thought a negative offset was popular, in small part, because it potentially helps push the wheel away from the UCA’s and allows for larger tires. Am I misinterpreting this in some way?

 

That has been the case for me…my wheels are -10 and when I ran 285’s on a 2” lift, the offset helped keep the wider tire away from the UCA.

 

I don’t understand why people find those wheels as an option. SEMA wheels are pure trash. I do understand, “different folks, different strokes” but damn.

 

Any particular reason why the SEMA’s are trash? My truck came with them and I don’t mind them. Planning on picking up some SCS’s from a local guy this week though.

 

What makes the SEMA wheel pure trash? It’s a OEM wheel in a perfect size and offset for skinny tires. Most aftermarket wheels are made in China and have questionable quality. I think your opinion is pure trash.

 

I think that you’re forgetting the part I mentioned that this was a personal opinion. Based on my personal opinion sema wheels are trash due to their look
And no added benefit for off road shenanigans. @czukie as you mentioned, if they were already there that’s awesome! If you are getting them for free and offer the offset that you were looking that’s awesome! But if you are spending your hard earned money on wheels, and you plan to mess around off road then I’m the type of guy who is going to be looking for added benefit for the price paid such as beadlock, beadgrip or the studded ones from Icon. @Maxx dont take it personally. I was not trying to hurt your feelings or attack you. We can agree to disagree.

Edit: the china argument is a little loose since stuff made in the USA and Japan can get damaged after being abused. I consider more important buying product from reputable manufacturers with proper warranty programs and offers in place.
Cheers

 

Negative offset is necessary for wider tires, but that's the reason we're here talking about skinnies; pizza cutters aren't absurdly wide for no good reason, so no UCA interference. This means positive offset is possible, which now means you can run 255/85/16s (33") on a stock TRD OR without any lift or other aftermarket parts.

 

Understood. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen 33 skinnies with stock suspension. It feels like most owners upgrade suspension even with skinnies. I personally like skinnies because of weight savings without any loss in performance for what I do.

 

It's not just the lack of lift, but the lack of suspension overhaul, and the lack of cab mount chop, fender shredding, etc... You can do as much or as little as you want, but you can go up to 33s with skinnies and not be obligated to do $5000 of other work to accommodate.

Weight loss depends on what you're comparing to; a lot of skinnies only come E-rated, which means a weight penalty compared to stock size.

 

My point is just I hardly see skinny 33’s on stock rides. As in, they just aren’t that common near me. I’m not arguing any of your points, just pointing out my observations.

As far as weight goes, you’re right about 10 ply skinnies and weight. Not arguing that. I’m just speaking about my experience. My 10 ply 31.7”wheels weigh nearly the same as nearly any skinny 33…

 

For sure, I think 2" lift and 2" tire lift (via skinny 31s or 33s) is a good and common combo. My point originally though is just that if you're going skinny, if you also go positive offset, you don't even have to lift, which also implies not needing CMC, UCA, wheel well futzing, etc.

I'll prob lift a little bit, but its fully optional. To me the skinnies, whether going 255 33s or 235 31s, is a no brainer. But if you go negative offset, you negate a lot of those advantages, and may, depending on your vehicle, need to spend a lot more money to account for your wider steering arc.

 

No one seems to have a solid answer in regards to this and it's exactly what I wished I could find data for. It's physically possible to mount a 255 on an 8.5" wheel, I've even seen it on an 9" wheel. But just because it's possible doesn't mean it's a good idea. I'd love to see some data showing how tire performance and various pros/cons change as you mount a tire on a narrow vs wide wheel. There are lots of factors here so there may not be a "best" in all sense of the term. Likely, a narrower wheel will have some benefits and a wider wheel would have different benefits.

Each tire and manufacturer will have their own specs, but using Falken AT3W as an example... per Falken, their 255/80R17 is approved to be mounted on 6.5"-8.5" wide wheels but all specs they list show the tire as mounted on a 7" wheel - which would presumably be their recommended "ideal" wheel width. It's interesting to me that this is on the narrower side of the 2" width range. My Yokohama Geolandar G003's on the other hand have an approved rim width of 6.5"-8" but again the "measured" width is 7".

It seems clear to me that for what the manufacturers designed the tires for, they're overall designed for narrower, not wider, wheels. What we're missing by mounting them on wider wheels has yet to be quantified to me.

 

Im runnings 17x9 summit wheels and am looking at the MICKEY THOMPSONBAJA BOSS A/T 255 /85 R17. It recommends wheel width to be 6.5 to 8.5 . Should I just choose a different tire to run or would this be fine? Also what mpgs are you guys seeing on these skinny tires? Im sure its somewhere in this thread, I will keep searching the 302 pages. ha

 

I think that's the reason most people go with skinnies, so you can fit a 33" on a stock Tacoma without other modification or suspension change. At least that's why I did initially.