The SKINNY on skinny tires

235s look weird on a Tacoma, IMO. They're just way too narrow relative to the vehicle's dimensions.

 

yeah, I was kind of wondering if it would end up looking like the truck forgot leg day LOL

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/235-85-16-the-skinny.490070/page-3

Big thread on the real skinny skinnies. Certainly form following function in the looks department, but that's just like my opinion man.

 

In my opinion, the performance (off-road) of 235/85 far out-weight any problems with looks! Appearances are much farther down the criteria list.
I want 235/85R16 - I think - my only concern is high speed (50-70 mph) cornering on pavement with a normal load. Will the sidewalls hold and if a wet road, will the tread grip?

 

Here is my 2015 utility rig with 235/85/16 Firestone Destination XT's. I originally had Pirelli Scorpion mudders in the same size but they were too noisy even for my truck which was used mostly on my ranch. I like the skinny profile, on stock wheels especially. It is not everyone's taste most certainly, but thank God we all don't like the same things, what a boring world that would be!

 

Test fit my spare 255 85 r16 on the front driver wheel with -25 offset. Definitely need a cmc and some plastic trimming. I didn’t trim anything for the 0 offset wheels.

 

I put 235/85/16s on my truck right after I bought it. I was not happy at all with the on road characteristics. Very squirrelly and felt unbalanced on the freeway. Very twitchy.

Sold them right away and went to a 285/75/16. Much better look and overall feel and handling.

I believe the 255/85/16 would’ve faired better. I had them on my ‘06 and never had the issues I felt with the 235s.

 

Any updates on the tire/size?
Looking hard at those.
How was fitment?
Hoping it was easier than the standard 35x12.5.
I really need to keep the fender liners for my area.

 

I’m running my second set of Cooper ST MAXX tires and have a question for those that also run them. How many miles are you getting out of them, and do they get real noisy toward the end of their lives? I can’t get more than 40K and after 30K, they get annoyingly noisy.

 

I only have about 4K miles on mine. I am interested about tread life as well. What pressure are you running?

 

I’m roughly 25k miles on mine, haven’t noticed much more noise than when new. Guess I’ll start paying more attention for the next few thousand miles

 

I'm 99% sure I am getting Firestone Destination X/Ts in 215/85-16 on my 2.7/4WD.

I don't care at all about appearance and don't want to tank my MPG with something wide/oversized but want more capability/sturdiness for long trips out west — no rock crawling or deep mud but more like 20-30 miles off road where the state park recommends "high-clearance and 8-ply tires."

Any downsides? They are the same OD as the 245/75-16 Destination LEs that came on my truck and while the section width is narrower, the tread width is the same. And they only weigh 37 lbs in that size.

 

No downside for your off-road experiences! They'll perform much better than the fatties out there. But... you may feel like the truck is really squirrely when on pavement.
I think it'll be a great choice. Please report back after you gain some time with them to say for sure, one way or the other.

 

What pressure are you running?

 

One other person here has them in that size - see this post that I keep going back to:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/im-running-215-85r16-pizza-cutters.538710/page-4#post-26196544

What do you mean by squirrely? Like worse braking and slower steering response? Wallowing around on the taller (proportionally) sidewalls? The sidewall height will be about the same as with the 245/75-16 Destination LEs but the proportions are obviously different - I was figuring the beefy sidewall would balance out the taller proportions.

I drive this thing like a grandpa but like how it tracks on the interstate with the Destinations. There's no wallowing around or that feeling where the rear end takes a fraction of a second to catch up to what the front is doing. I guess I could do the X/Ts in 245mm width but I am trying to keep weight down and MPG up.

In my brain "squirrely" has always meant an unsettled rear end that likes to unexpectedly step out (in an un-fun way) if you hit a patch of snow or ice.

 

I'm debating a set of Toyo AT3's in either 285/70/17 or 255/80/17, I'm leaning to the skinnies but want to hear from the experts, truck currently rides on 265/70/17 AT3's. My truck spends most of it's days on pavement, in summer is towing a ~3500lb boat, and in the winter sees a fair amount of pavement snow/mountain driving with some off-road day trips when I can. Overall it seems like there are some advantages to the skinnies over the big tires, I don't want to loose any towing performance but I also don't want to loose out on snow traction and on road stability with the skinnies.

What are your thoughts/experiences? Anyone towing with the skinnies?

Thanks

 

Yeah, my bad for the vague terminology. I was referring to them maybe feeling like they were wallowing around, weak sidewalls flexing too much. Not rear end kick out.

Maybe it comes down to lifted vs stock height; weight added (up high, in bed, or down under); and speed has to play a large part = you addressed speed though.
You have all the right reasons for choosing that size. I'm all for it (a few more questions to be answered first) and I could give a rats ass if the look isn't the same as others! But my current 255/85 were handed to me on a silver platter (almost) so I jumped on 'em. Next tire change though will be more narrow, I'm sure.

When I said what I said earlier, I was paraphrasing the real-world experience of @Gmak621, and his were not even 215s:

 

Hey where are you guys finding the 235/85r16 Destination x/t’s at? Called around to a few local shops and backed ordered with no eta in stock.

I’m deciding now between a set of the Firestone Transforcer AT or the Cooper Discoverer AT3 LT. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t do any rock crawling and would be spending very limited time on sand/beach Most terrain for me is fire roads and old jeep trails in the state forest/national forests, also, plenty of snow/ice/slush/ frozen whatever.

switching over form a k02 in 265/75r16… had bad luck in the winter with these.

 

I run my Cooper ST MAXXs with 35-40 psi.

 

I have cooper st maxx and run them at 40 on all 4... I have noticed my tires are not wearing evenly even though I'm rotating them every 10 k