The SKINNY on skinny tires

Time to write to the companies and let them know what we want! Skinny 33”s/35”s A/T, M/T and R/T’s on 16”s or 17”s now!!!!!!!!!

 

My cooper discoverer at3 4S SL rated tires in 255/75/17 did just fine on the sand dunes in Corolla NC at 18PSI. My BIL’s ram rebel got stuck though

 

My 33/10.5's turned into 32's when I put them on a 8.5" wheel. Didn't even enter my brain that the stretch would shorten the tire. I havent had any issues on a 8.5 yet but i have 10.5" tires so they look less goofy.

 

Yup, same. I actually have a set of 16x7.5 +10 TRD "beadlock" wheels and I really like the fitment although even they look wide with 255's on them (mainly due to the extra thickness of the rock ring). I keep coming back to looking at 17's for the better tire options but then can't find anything but a stock wheel in an appropriate width. I know many are running 255's on 8-8.5" and I'm surprised that it doesn't always look too stretched. But still the wrong size.

 

Just got my RRW 17x8.5 -12 RR6-H's mounted with 255/80r17 Wildpeak AT3w's. @Discount Tire the entire shop crew came out and was telling me how much they liked the combo on my truck after the install which was fun!

 

Damn that does look good!

 

Looks GREAT! And thanks for posting this, for some reason the 255/80 AT3W's never made it onto my spreadsheet I'm using to compare tire sizes/weights. After a quick check these may be the ideal tire for me. Seems AT's don't look as bad stretched as MT's so maybe I can find an 8" wide 17 that looks good and doesn't break the bank. I kinda don't want to go back down to a 265/75R16 but I'm getting tired of my MT's and think an AT is much more appropriate for me.

 

I got the 17" wheels so that I could get a skinny 33 that was 3PMS rated. Good excuse to get some wheels that look way better, too. The 255/85r16's are all MTs.

I just measured and can confirm a previous comment that the 8.5" wide wheel stretches the tire, so all loaded up the tires measure ~32" tall. A bit of a bummer, but still a huge improvement over stock so I'm okay with that. The tread depth is insane on these though, especially coming from the stock tires.

 

Do you have pictures of this set up yet? Was curious to see as I have the same wheels and wanted to see the "poke". Currently on 285's, but considering running skinnies.

 

I have an identical setup other than 0 offset wheels

 

You should do this measurement with the wheels/tire OFF of the car. You're always going to get a smaller measurement when they are loaded with the weight of the vehicle. The stretch does have an effect of course but some of that effect you're measuring is likely from the weight of the truck.

 

I just mounted the same tires mentioned by @tacomasnbeers on 17x8.5 -12 wheels, and have just a bit of poke (pictured in post 5965 above). You can use tiresize.com to compare, which I've included a screenshot of below. I believe it assumes the wheel width remains constant, so I used the wheel spacer field at 0.75" to account for the wheel width going from 7" to 8.5".

 

Wheel width will not really affect the poke measurement sense the offset is measured from the center of the wheel.

If backspacing was used then it would matter.

 

Sorta correct. The wheel width does have an effect on poke. Assuming the same offset a 1" wider wheel will poke out 0.5" further. But the amount of stretch the tire has between the different wheel widths also has an effect on fitment.

The one thing I don't like about that calculator is that it uses tire width which can be misleading if your tires are significantly wider/narrower than what would be standard for that size wheel. For example, the calculator won't show you any fitment difference between a 6" wheel and 10" wheel if they are running the same size tire.

 

I agree the wheel will poke more, but the tire does not. Maybe some small amount due to the changing profile of the tire as you mount it on a wider wheel.

Those calculators arent 100% accurate, they are just meant to get in the ballpark +-0.5". Different brands can have tires with the same specs but different diameters. I believe it is the 35" bfg's measure around 33.5"

 

Correct. If the tire size and offset are the same then the width shouldn't have a big difference on fit. But, if you're comparing different width wheels and corresponding width tires then the difference can be significant. Like you said, this is all just ballpark since it's theoretical calculations and the actual size of these tires varies greatly from brand to brand and model to model.

 

Anyone who runs aftermarket uca with 255/85r16s, what uca do you guys use? I was gonna go with JBAs but according to their website, these size tires will rub on unless the wheel has 4inch backspacing. I currently have oem trail edition wheels with 255s and am now considering camburg ball joints but the I read about the additional caster pushing the tires rearward, potentially rubbing on the cab mounts.

Some additional info: I have bilstein 6112 at 2" on the front and 5160 with a 1.5 AAL rear.

 

I have 255/85/16 with spc light racing uca. They don't rub

 

SPC is the way. Just make sure to keep the ball joints well greased.

 

Seems like SPCs getting some love, lol. Did your local 4x4 shop know how to adjust those ucas during an alignment? I hear some shops will refuse to align your truck because of adjustable ucas.