1st gen 15" wheels on 32s help!

I have searched and searched, cannot find anything specific so thought id make a thread. Im getting ready to order wheels and tires for my 03 5 speed 3.4 4x4. Orginally i was going to go with stock size of 16" and do 265/75/16. I do light to moderate offroading so i wanted to see about getting more tire without re gear or having huge power loss. My question is, oem wheels on right now are 265/70/16 which technically is almost a 32. So if i go down to a 15" wheel and do 32x11.5x15 will that balance out to almost match oem and not have problems with power? Or does the wheel size not matter for power and only the tire? Really need help deciding! Rubbing im not worried about trimming, just focused on not loosing alot of power due to towing a quad and having alot of hills to drive. And do not want to go as deep as re gear and all of that. Thanks for any help.

 

Thank you! First 4x4 build. Usually had cars but always loved off roading and everything finally lined up and i love the truck. Thanks for your response but could you give me a reason for 16s?

 

I went with 15s because I was dumb and bought my tires first. I had a helluva time finding 15" rims that cleared my caliper

 

it is the rolling circumference that determines the "need" for regearing and as mentioned above a larger wheel gives more options.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Wheel size doesn't matter for power, that's only the size of the hole in the middle of the tire and doesn't define the outside diameter. It can affect brake caliper clearance though. If your originals were a 16, then I'd stay there.

As far as tire size goes, play with the tire calculator on this site. It's on the top menu under mods and tutorials I think. Anything larger than what youve got is going to reduce power, but its pretty tolerable so long as you don't go nuts with huge tires.

And just for general education, a 265 tire is 10.4 inches wide, so an inch narrower than the 11.5 you were considering. Tire width is a whole other conversation. For me, I wouldn't go wider than a 265.

 

265/70R16 is not almost a 32" tire, it's between 30.5" and 31". If you move up to a 265/75R16, that will be about 1" larger in diameter. You'll lose a small amount of acceleration, but nothing that I really notice in normal driving.

 

My truck came with 15s and 33s. I bought 32x11.50r15 for it and haven't really lost power. The wheels on it are 15x10s. To clear the front calipers the previous owner had ghetto rigged it by putting some washers on the studs before mounting the tires. I didn't think it was a bad idea so I got thicker washers and put them on there. Haven't had a problem with them yet lol

 

You wouldn't lose "power" (acceleration actually) by going to a smaller tire diameter.

Did you get longer wheel studs at least? Regardless, using washers is a dangerous way to space out wheels. The fact that you know it was "ghetto rigged" and then made it worse by adding thicker washers scares me.

Invest in some proper wheel spacers please!

 

Can you confirm this is a 3" body lift and 32x11.50x15? Is there any suspension lift front or back? I am considering going down to 32s and stock suspension, and I have a 3" body lift already.

 

Well No shit...I was merely answering the guys question about losing power with 32s...

The Previous owner already installed longer studs so I saw no reason not to add thicker washers. Plus I keep em torqued every 2 to 3 weeks. I'm not much of a fan of spacers, plus I'm already on 15x10s, I don't want anymore offset.

 

Yep it's a 3 inch body lift with 32x11.50r15s. No suspension lift, front or back.

 

Perfect, thank you for the confirmation. No rubbing I assume?

 

I would go with aggressive 265/75r16's. Your power loss will be minimal, more options vs 15's, and leaving yourself open to run tundra brakes in the future. I wheeled the piss out of my truck in this size for a while. It's basically almost a 32.

 

No problem. Nope no rubbing at all.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys! Sorry for the late reply, i usually have a notification and wasn't getting them. I went with a 16" and ko2 165/75/16 arrives nov 5th hopefully they look good.

 

Put up a pic when you get them , please. That’s what I’m wanting to get I’m interested how they look.

 

I will definitely, i ended up going with ultra mongoose 178 5.5 backspace and +1 offset hopefully everything fits up well, they are hub-centric to.

 

165/75R16? Or 265/75R16?

 

265 haha typo. Man that would be a skinny tire