285/70/17 Tires with Fuel Stroke Rims on 05 Tacoma TRD Sport 4x4

Hello all,

Just joined this forum despite having my tacoma since it was brand new 17 years ago. I just finally decided to throw some rims/tires on it and went to a local shop that deals a lot with tacomas/tundras. They informed me that 17" rims with 285/70/17 KO2 tires would fit fine with a small amount of trimming and bilstein 5100 installed with a 1.75" lift (2nd notch on the 5100's) in only the front to make it level. I just got it all installed and it looks great but when I crank the wheel all the way to the left it makes a popping noise and moves the truck up/down in the front. I installed fuel stroke 17" rims with a +1 offset since they said I want it to be as close to 0 as possible. I regret not researching this more before I decided to pull the trigger on this but you live and you learn. I looked under the car and didnt notice any rubbing or anything like that. This only happens on the left side wheel. Not sure what's happening here. Is it maybe getting caught on the shocks? I know 285's are a tight fit but it seems to ride fine besides when the wheel is cranked all the way to the left. I was thinking it might be the UCA but I checked when its cranked and I'm not seeing that contact anything, maybe its because im 230 lbs and weigh it down more so it hits? OR maybe its an alignment issue? I'm not sure whats happening. Any insight would be great. Thanks all.

Also, I literally do zero offroading in this truck besides maybe once every two years when I go on a camping trip up to the mountains of washington state. So I think it should be fine but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm a complete newbie to modifying my taco. Thanks again.

 

See attached pics

 

They’re rubbing somewhere I can assure you. Just a matter of figuring out where. With just leveling the truck that’s a lot of tire stuffed in there.

 

check the control arms, and the rear fender pinch weld area..or have someone turn the wheel and you listen and look..nice truck BTW and welcome!

 

Yea when I got the tires installed we cranked the wheel all the way to each side with me in the car and made sure it wasn’t rubbing anywhere. Had to take out a decent amount of plastic in the wheel well. But I’m not hearing any rubbing when driving. Might have to take another look underneath the car when someone heavy is in it. Thanks for the input

 

Thanks I thought it might be the control arms but checked and didn’t see any issue. Going to try again with someone in the car and see if it makes a difference. And thanks, 222k miles strong and have never had an issue gotta love Tacoma’s.

 

Remember when you just sit in the car the suspension is static. When driving and turning the suspension is active. You’ll be amazed how much movement is in the suspension when turning. So it may not run just sitting in the parking lot but will run when actually cycling as you drive.

 

ahhhh Shit yea that makes sense, it only does the noise when turning to the left with the wheel fully cranked. Now that I look at the inside of the left driver side rim it has scratching in it, not sure if this was from the install but I’m guessing it’s form the noise I was hearing. Taking it back to the shop tomorrow to figure this out. I’m wondering if I need to push the wheels out further in order to make these fit, or I just get aftermarket UCA’s but that’s an expensive mod. The rears are good but for some reason only the front left wheel is having issues when fully cranked. I’m honestly pretty upset at this shop for recommending this setup when it doesn’t work. But that’s my bad for trusting them.

 

No. You don’t need uca. Don’t waste your money. If you get uca, most Likely they will be high caster and push your wheel towards your cab, making you rub on your cab mount.

Here is what comes to mind for me.
If it’s a pop that you hear, could be the bolts holding your Lca. Sometimes they are not torqued down all the way and will “pop”.

Or you are rubbing on your cab mount.

look inside your fender wheel well and see if you can spot anything “clean”
Usally everything is dirty and dusty there, but where the tire rubs, it will clean off the dirt.

 

I appreciate all this info very much brother. Going to take a look after work and see what I can find out. I called a 4x4 shop and asked their opinion and they said it’s most likely the cab mount issue that you described - easy couple hundred dollar fix just for labor on that. I just noticed that when I crank the wheel all the way to the left in drive it won’t move at all with zero gas, yet cranked all the way to the right it will move with zero gas. It’s Forsure getting caught on the body mount. No issues with the lca. Thanks again for the help

 

A wheel alignment can help, move your wheel forward.
A good offroad shop will know what to do for alignment numbers

 

perfect I have an appointment already set up on Saturday for an alignment since they said it will need it once I get the tires/wheels installed, so maybe they weren’t wrong that 285/70/17 would fit with proper alignment and a little cutting. They deal with tacos all the time so that’s why I trusted them in the first place. Gotta say it looks really damn good compared to stock so I’m happy with that after throwing down 3500 for everything. Appreciate ur input as well

 

I ran my 285s on the street for a couple weeks before doing a cmc, it rubbed but barely in certain situations. Don’t freak out when it does, take a look and trim a bit of plastic. 285s aren’t big tires really. Jeeps run 35s and 37s with minimal work.
285s definitely look great on our trucks.

 

alright that’s reassuring to hear that you can get away with that, a lot of people say 285 is too big of a tire for tacos unless you lift it a bunch. But maybe that’s only if you plan on off-roading it. I literally never do and only did it for looks. Sure does look nice. Thanks for ur info

 

Get a cab mount chop & you should be fine!

 

High caster pushes the wheel away from the cab though...

 

So I just threw on some 285s on my truck with stock wheels. I am Lifted 3 inches and have SPC uppers, yet I still rub on plastic and my cab mounts still. Same as you, only on low speeds and fully cranked. Granted if I go to an alignment shop they can try to give me more caster to move the wheel forward, but considering I want bigger tires in the future I will most likely do a CMC as well. I did get rid of some plastic myself with my handy dandy dremel, so I will only need to worry about the CMC for the time being. A 4x4 shop near me quoted me $300 without me providing the plates

 

No. The opposite. It pushes the wheel towards the car mount. thats how I got fooled. Thought I need uca cause I was planning to run bigger tires. But nope. It just made it worse

 

No no no. Caster only move the top of the tire at the upper ball joint if the adjustment is made at the uca.( hence the tire loses clearance at the cab mount) When caster is adjusted at lca it moves the lower ball joint forward, but the way the lca on the Tacoma is designed the entire lca moves that’s what helps clear the body and cab mount. Caster is a line between the ubj and lbj , that pivots thru the center of the hub it doesn’t move forward and backward vertically. But yes when adjusted at the top it lessens clearance at the cab mount.

 

Thought I’d throw an update in here in case anyone else runs into the same problem as me. I took it to a shop that gave it a proper alignment and now it’s not rubbing on anything. No CMC needed just some minor trimming of plastic so that it doesn’t rub. Clears LCA and UCA without a problem even fully cranked in drive. It’s now running perfectly. So 285/70/17s can fit with a billstein 5100 leveling and proper alignment - minor trimming as well. No issue at all. It looks pretty rad too. Thanks for everyone’s help on this thread! On to more mods… lol