Help on tire size?

Hi my names nick! I got my 2.5 inch lift on front and 1.5 inch lift on rear on my 96 Tacoma done. I got the bilstein 5100 with arb old man emu suspension. I’m looking to get wheels and tires as my 19’ tacoma trd off roads are almost out of life on them. I’ve been doing research and found 33/12.50/r15 tires that look great I want a good stance and wide but not ugly wide. There’s this guy on Instagram nick hailey and he has a red tacoma and I love his stance. But I don’t have as much of a lift as him. So I want to get pro comp series 252 street locks either 15x10 or 15x8. But the only difference is the 15x10 have -44 offset which is hella wide and the 15x8 is -19 offset so if I was going to do a 33/12.50r15 or 32/11.50r15 tire with one of those two options which one would be better and require less trimming with little to no rub and which one is not worth the headache? But still be giving me the stance I want? Please let me know thanks!

 

You may want to consider 33x10.5x15

 

The 32s on the wheels with -19 offset will require less trimming/clearancing and will still stick out quite a bit. Especially since your '96 doesn't have thick fender flares like the later 1st gens.

 

So, this is a relatively common question - essentially, what size tires can I run on my lifted Tacoma? The answer isn't supper simple - there's a lot that contributes to rubbing - but there are a few things that are true in addition to what @Nessal and @Digiratus said:

1. Your lift does not affect rubbing (except at rest).
2. Wider tires will rub more than narrower tires.
3. Taller tires will rub more than shorter tires.
4. 33" tires will rub somewhere if you don't do anything (usually, the pinch weld mod)

For a longer explanation about why for all these, you can read through this post. And certainly, ask questions:
What size tires fit my (lifted) Tacoma?

 

So I’ve read through your post but am a little confused? I have 2019 Tacoma wheels on right now on with no lift. (Lift getting put on Saturday) (shopping for wheel and tire setup) So 32/10.5/16 basically what I have on now. The wheels I’m thinking of getting are 15x8 -19 offset and 3.75 backspacing. If I got 33/12.50r15 I’d have to do pinch weld mod most definitely. Would I hit a UCA or have to bash in the fire wall or trim my corner of my fenders or cab? Or if I go with the 32/11.50r15 what would be the outcome. With those? It’s probably not an easy question to answer but anything helps *I would be having stock UCA.

 

u have ‘19 wheels? idk i might not be right but i think thise wheels arent 15’s more like 16’s. Also his truck the guy on ig he took off the fender flares so it looks more aggressive with the tires sticking out

 

I don’t have fender flares either. And yes the 2019 Tacoma off roads are 16 and I’m wanting to go with a 15x8 wheel

 

Dan's write up linked above is your guide; read it again.

You'll then realize why your question can't be answered as specifically as you want it to be.

Two vehicles with identical wheels/tires can have varying clearance issues as not every truck is 100% identical.

 

So, as @Kwikvette mentioned, the difficulty here is that even the seemingly same setup on two seemingly same trucks, can have a different outcome for a lot of little reasons. That's why the article tries to walk through the things that affect fitment and how they affect that fitment, so that you can get a sense of what you will likely deal with when you try to fit a certain tire/wheel combo.

Just to make the point even more explicit - you can run the same tires, wheels, and lift (both brand and height) as someone else, but if you have a different alignment - one of you has more caster than the other (caster moves the wheel backward in the wheel well), one person might rub and the other might not. Crazy, huh?

So, with your proposed setup - a wheel with 3.75" backspacing and 12.5" wide tires - here's what I'll say:

• The inside edge of the tire in that setup will be in a similar position to a 10.5" tire on a wheel with 4.75" of backspacing. That's because the 3.75" moves the wheel out of the wheel well, but then the tire hangs over the wheel an additional inch on each side. Stock backspacing on our trucks is 4.5", so you'll be about 1/4" closer to the UCA than stock. You'll be closer to rubbing, but you might be OK. You might even be OK at full pressure (less tire bulge) but rub when you air down.
• The outside edge of your tire will be significantly farther out than stock. I mean, a lot farther. In your setup, about 2.75" farther out per side (+.75" due to backspacing, +1" due to wheel width, +1" due to tire width). That means you will have a very high likelihood (certainty) of rubbing quite a bit the rear corner of the wheel well and the pinch weld area. You will notice this even more if you have an alignment that has caster maxed out (which you want/maxed caster is a good thing).

So anyway, you'll definitely get that "wider stance" you're going for, but it's going to mean rubbing and some significant work on the wheel well if you don't want rub throughout the entire range of motion of your suspension.

 

If it’s just rubbing at full lock a little that’s ok but normal driving will be fine this trucks my daily and off-road but I’ll be going from high school to college here soon so any info helps! Thanks guys! Appreciate it!

 

change ur ball joints

 

My ball joints are actually all good and don’t need to be changed yet my mechanic and I are very surprised they aren’t shot and they are still intact must have been changed before I got the truck couple years back

 

I ran 15" wheels on my 02, and I have them now on my 07. I had to use wheel spacers on my first gen and I have to use them now too. Both times were because the wheel contacted the brake caliper. I don't like them at all and I can't wait to get rid of them. Just to bring it to your attention. Good luck with your search.

 

Why don’t you like them?

 

Why don’t you like them

 

There's really no way to tell man. They fail with no visible play, wear, clunking, etc. This has been documented on the internet and this forum for at least the last 12 years.

If you don't know what brand they are or mileage it's very cheap insurance compared to having your wheel come off at speed.

 

yeah this is the first thing i always tell new 1st gen owners to just change the ball joints it could save your ass. Like a blown head gasket u can atleast limp also in a bad tranny u can limp but when thT ball joint snaps you could be walking on sunshine and kaboom u aint going nowhere

 

Method Double Standards 15x8 with 3.5” backspacing. Clears with plenty of room.

 

I had a catastrophic failure of my front passenger wheel spacer on my first gen 16 or 17 years ago. The supplied lug nuts evidently didn't thread onto the lugs enough and the wheel/tire/spacer came off together at 60mph. Luckily no injuries to anyone, my truck stopped and the tire went about 1/4 mile into a tobacco field haha. I never wanted to go back to spacers but on my 2007 ,I got me some 15" procomps and went to mount them, and like my 02, they hit the brake caliper. So I'm back on spacers until my 32s wear out and I get some good 16" wheels and 35s. BUT they have lug nuts you can get that have way more threads and use blue loctite and check torque every tire rotation 90 ft lbs is what I go with. No problems currently.
Just an example of what the extended lug nuts are like. So aside from 4 additional failure points, the wheel spacers push all that weight 1.5" outwards from your tie rod ends. So there feels like there's a little loss in control. I notice it most on sandy roads where the tire pulls you into a rut. If that makes sense. Long-winded post.. but I wanted to add my experiences with spacers.

 

@Nick Neagu - listen to these guys, 100% spot on.

Just as critical as the ball joint itself and I would actually argue MORE critical, make sure you're using the correct bolts when replacing and have the correct torque spec.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...s-wanted-about-lower-ball-joint-bolts.772506/

What's the first rule of TW? We never, re-use LBJ bolts!