Narrow vs wide tires (video)

I said it is just a pet peeve of mine. There is 2" diameter difference between 285/70/16's and 285/75/17's and that is significant on a Tacoma. It seems some people don't know what 285 is actually referring to. I will add a lot of people on these forums come looking for advice/knowledge and I feel being accurate for there benefit is best.

 

Found the thing I read recently that seems to present a different perspective.

https://www.motor1.com/news/696279/wide-vs-narrow-winter-tires-explained/

Basically suggests other factors more important than tire width, and wider tires maybe stop marginally sooner in snow.

 

I’m going out on a limb here, but I think we get more snow in the BC Rockies than you get in South Carolina. Having said that, my experience suggests narrower tires are better in snow (and ice) than wide ones.

 

@Road_Warrior this should “help” you with your tire size choice

 

I don’t care what the science says about skinnys vs wide. Wide for the win or loss.

 

Thanks for the tag! Sadly I watched this a while ago and I still can’t decide lol

 

That has more to do with wheel offset than anything else in my opinion

 

I’d consider 255/85-16 but I’m not interested in straight mud tires. Seems like mud and trailer tires are all that’s offered in that size. My truck is 99.7% street driven.

 

I mean yea, but 285s ok stock wheels poke further than my 10.50s only half an inch or so but still


And they rub the ucas a lil

 

St Maxx or Kendas RT's

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-skinny-on-skinny-tires.529656/

This thread really sold me on the idea of taller skinnier tires. Not quite pizza cutters but also not the fatboys you see on a lot of mall crawlers.

I think the wider is better came from looking at military vehicles - vehicles that weigh 10 times more than a Tacoma. They look tough and aggressive but people often don't realize that at that vehicle size and weight, those military tires are thinner - proportionally.

 

My 285's on a +1 still maintained a fully covered tread line in the wheel well never had and excessive mud slinging outside the wheel well. Now my 295's on a -25 yeah I'm cleaning everything off the hood and roof now.

 

No complaints here with my Pizza Cutters

 

The BFG A/T KO2 and Falken AT3 are among the most popular tire choices on these forums. Both come in 235/85/16.
Goodyear, Michelin, and Toyo (for example) also make some highway-friendly models in that size.

 

Presently i'm running LT235/80R17's in a cooper snow claw. I ran them the last two winters in P265/70R17 down to 4-5/32. Very much like them expect for deep snow and slow speed driving.

I ran the P-rated at 32 psi and the LT-rated at 40 psi.

i've only had the pizza cutters on for a couple thousand kms so haven't even gotten to actual winter yet and they are an LT version of the tire not P like the last ones so not exactly apples to apples.

However, my review so far is that they're better at straight line operations than turns. For example taking off on ice I just go with little sliding, braking feels a little worse but could just be in my head so we'll call that a draw. Steering is very light which is a neutral to slightly negative point that I expected. Taking a corner with the pizza cutters can very quickly turn into over steer but I'm gonna check my alignment to make sure I haven't just gone toe in a little extra along the line.

I haven't had deep snow or anything yet and haven't hand calculated my fuel consumption yet to speak to those areas but so far I'm thinking next go around i'll try a P245 size. These aren't bad but the cornering is the biggest thing that's turning my off already. However like I said i'll check my alignment before committing to that opinion.

These are just my first impressions

 

The details matter. Snow conditions very as much as anything else.

 

Virgin snow is hard to find in my area, limited offroad routes, tons of people. We basically have no where that's legal to drive thats not a designated path.

That said, the wider tire is more ideal as you float and keep the diffs from dragging. My 245s sink and I have to use 4LO on virgin runs simply for torque.

 

If your "offroading" on hard dry stuff then you could get away with skinny all terrain tires. But if your really "offroading" like in loose wet muddy, sandy and wet snow not that dry powder then a wider tire is the go to. Moab for example super dry rocky, its almost like driving on pavement, a less aggressive tire will do the job. Wet mud mountains cold with wet snow mixed in theres no way a skinny tire is going to get you through. The ones who been there know, wider tire aired down will get you through quite a bit.