Help tires stick out

fairly new to forum.
Just purchased a 2002 Tacoma, love the truck hate the tires, don't like the fact they stick out, also think the size is just a tad big, IMO.

The current tires are 285 75r16 mounted on 16x8.5 MB wheels.
It has a 3" spacer lift upfront.

My question, is it possible to purchase MudTerrains, in a slightly smaller tire size say - 31" or 32", and if I keep the rims, can I avoid the tire sticking out issue?

Or do I simply need to purchase another rim/tire combo to keep tires from sticking out?

 

Honestly I think it looks perfect. But you could get different wheels with less back spacing and keep those tires if you dont want the tire poke

 

I have Toyo Open Country M/Ts in 31 inches, but I'm not sure if you would still have the same issue of the tires sticking out.

 

Skinnier tire might help if you're looking for 1/4" less poke, but the wheel dictates where the tire is going to be.

Selling wheels is kind of a pain in the ass and you'll be paying for new wheels, remount and rebalance before you're done. If you don't mind that expense, there's definitely a better setup for your needs. But if it's not a big issue, I'd just keep it. The cheapest of steel wheels are still probably $240 for a set, figure another $80 on top of that for swapping wheels, balance, and mounting tires. More money if you want alloy wheels, sky is the limit.

 

I too like it...add some wheel well flares and a roll bar to make it "off road" like. But if you really want to narrow up the tires, perhaps take it to a friendly after market tire place and have them mount some to look at...they do that a lot...with your lift in place you don't want a "wimpy" look either ;-)

 

"...but the wheel dictates where the tire is going to be."

OK that pretty much answers my question then. The current tires are equivalent to 33" - I just thought by reducing tire size to 31 or 32" might not need the backspacing and therefor keep from sticking out. I guess Ill have to live with it or purchase new rims, going to upgrade to MT's either way. Thanks!

 

Got my vote to leave it as,looks good to me the way it is now.

 

FFFFUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its Wheels.... not rims.......

 

Not to be the negative Nancy, but the truck looks built by someone that doesn't know what they are doing.

Oversized tires for the lift, overly wide 9.5" wheels that do not belong with that combo, and using a 3" spacer lift. Yes the truck can be improved.

The wheels are wrong for the truck, at least at your current build level.

Some options:
1) Drop to 275s and the tires move in 5mm and save some weight for improved mpgs/power - likely not worth the cost for small gain
2) Drop to 265/75/16, tires move in 10mm, save significant weight with C-load for vastly improved mpg/power - might be undersized for the lift
2.5) Reduce spacer lift to 2" of less for improved ride and performance over 3" spacer
3) Buy some stock 2000 era 15" light weight alloy SR5 wheels, remove the spacer lift, swap to 31x10.5 LT tires for an ultra light setup for maximum power and mpgs at lowest cost.

I chose 3, but I care about performance:

 

A 285 wide tire is quite large for that truck. Definitely aim for more like a 30~31" tire (rather than a 32~33" like you have now) and you'll notice a difference. More like a 265/75R16. There's also a 265/70R16 but that'll only be about an inch shorter the same diameter of ~10.5"

The first number (285 in your case) is actually width of the tread. 285 being ~11.25"

 

Thanks guys I found this comparison, I like the difference in height wish it showed width. According to this same site I got the pic it says the difference in width is .79 so basically 3/4", wish it were a full inch but I'll take.

Crash you would be correct, it was a 20 year old, he had truck since he was 16.

 

It's a pretty good difference at least to make it look a lot less out there. You sure he didnt have wheel spacers on? Have you taken the wheels off? Aside from that your best option is new wheels with "more" backspacing than what's on there to bring the wheels in.

 

I can't add any practical advice on how to correct it, but I agree that it looks a little cartoonish/over done (at least for my tastes). Maybe there's someone on TW that would want to swap wheels with you, and also definitely double-check to see if there are some spacers on there.

 

The wheel calculator tool on this site does show width, if I'm not mistaken. So do other online calculators.

Edit: choose overlay view.

 

The first number in tire size is width in mm. 285/ = 285mm. 265/ 265=mm. So the 265 tires are 20mm narrower, or about 7%.

 

So I thought I would post a quick update on my tire situation. I went from 285 75 R16 AT's to 265 75 R16 Toyo MT's.

I kept the same wheels 16x8.5

Also put 4 new Bilstein 5100's around.

I like the look much better. Drives great too.

 

Truck looks great!

 

Rims=Wheels

 

While I'm not into all that aftermarket stuff, I think the width / tire spacing looks great, although clearly you don't like it (which is what really matters).

So... have you checked to see if there are spacers behind the wheels right now? Might be a super easy fix!

 

Yes, there are no spacers.