Biggest tires, no lift?

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This forum is very helpful, so I am posting here my setup which no one really had. I have chrome wheels on my truck and could not find anyone with those wheels and a bigger tire. So here you go, stock chrome wheels with Falken Wildpeak AT3W 265 70 R17 tires. Stock height, light rub full locked when backing up,
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crash bars pushed forward on right side but still rubs.
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Arch Stanton

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This forum is very helpful, so I am posting here my setup which no one really had. I have chrome wheels on my truck and could not find anyone with those wheels and a bigger tire. So here you go, stock chrome wheels with Falken Wildpeak AT3W 265 70 R17 tires. Stock height, light rub full locked when backing up,
20200221_144336.jpg
crash bars pushed forward on right side but still rubs.
20200221_143339.jpg
20200222_130849.jpg
Are you running a leveling kit?
 

GTGallop

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This thread is amazing. Tons of good info - THANK YOU!

One question though.....
I see people commenting that they like the performance of upgrading their tires to the larger size.
And I know that with a lift and a significantly larger tire there can be gains in performance.
But with no lift we only get about 1" taller or a half inch wider on tire size. What performance gains did you see with the larger tires?

Is 1" if tire enough to make a difference?
Is a half inch of tread enough to improve your grip?

Looking at the BFG website bigger tires, depending on the dimensions you select, run between 3, 5, and 7ish pounds of weight on the tires. That's more unsprung weight, more rotational mass, and more to have to balance out.

Do the trade offs in weight gain give you a noticeable difference in performance that you can actually demonstrate or does it just look better / feel better?

I also notice that at our stock size, tires are meant to be run around 30PSI but if you go larger, BFG looks to have them aired to about 24PSI for on street driving. Will that trigger the TPMS?

If I'm running 30PSI on the street and 24PSI on the trails, would that mean I go 24PSI on the street with the larger tires and then air down to about 14PSI on the trails? Is that lower trail PSI where I pick up the advantage?

Help me out here... I'm not seeing too much of the performance benefit to getting the bigger tires - mathematically speaking.
 

AzScorpion

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This thread is amazing. Tons of good info - THANK YOU!

One question though.....
I see people commenting that they like the performance of upgrading their tires to the larger size.
And I know that with a lift and a significantly larger tire there can be gains in performance.
But with no lift we only get about 1" taller or a half inch wider on tire size. What performance gains did you see with the larger tires?

Is 1" if tire enough to make a difference?
Is a half inch of tread enough to improve your grip?

Looking at the BFG website bigger tires, depending on the dimensions you select, run between 3, 5, and 7ish pounds of weight on the tires. That's more unsprung weight, more rotational mass, and more to have to balance out.

Do the trade offs in weight gain give you a noticeable difference in performance that you can actually demonstrate or does it just look better / feel better?

I also notice that at our stock size, tires are meant to be run around 30PSI but if you go larger, BFG looks to have them aired to about 24PSI for on street driving. Will that trigger the TPMS?

If I'm running 30PSI on the street and 24PSI on the trails, would that mean I go 24PSI on the street with the larger tires and then air down to about 14PSI on the trails? Is that lower trail PSI where I pick up the advantage?

Help me out here... I'm not seeing too much of the performance benefit to getting the bigger tires - mathematically speaking.
I went with the Nitto Ridge Grapplers 265/70/17 which are 1" taller and WAY more aggressive than the stock tires along with a 2.5" RC level kit. I wanted to go 285's but didn't want to kill my mpg's and then you have to modify the crash bars which is no big deal but I wanted to keep it simple.

I think you might be confusing yourself with the performance....street vs off road. You're going to get better performance off road with these than the stock tires. No way I would take the stock ones off roading in rocky terrain but for fire roads and soft sand the stock ones will be fine. You're going to get better mpg's with the stock ones on the street as they have less weight,they're only 35 lbs where my Nittos are 43.65 lbs. I will say that mine are just as quite as the stock ones and I'm still averaging around 21 mpg if I drive it normal with a mix of 70% city and 30% highway driving.

We go shooting out into the desert a lot and there's a mix of soft sandy washes and some rocky stuff depending on where we go. We also go up to Sedona a few times a year and it's pretty rocky up there so having a more aggressive tire is a must. I run mine at 32psi cold and when off road I'll air down to around 22-24 psi but only in the rocky terrain,in soft sand I leave it alone unless we get into some really deep soft stuff.

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Fawnbuster

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How much bigger can we go with no lift? Looking at 265/70/17 which are 31.6 vs the stock 265/65/17 which are 30.5. so that only equates to 1/2" difference in diameter approx.
I'd also be interested in how much wider we could go before you had to add a spacer on the caliper. I love my oem rims but eventually a wider stance would be nice
 

GTGallop

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Just so we are clear here - I'm not debating stock tread pattern over Nitto / BFG. Only size.
All things being equal...
Will 265/70/17 Nitto / BFG give you demonstratable performance gains over a 255/65/17 Nitto / BFG

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If the answer is, "No, I like big tires!" Then I can't argue with that. Go get your big tires. I'm not making your truck payment for you so you get to do what you want. I'm not judging either. Just looking for evidence to support the need to change over to bigger tires.
 

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I went with 255/80/R17 Nitto Ridge Grapples. Zero rub at full lock both forward and backwards with a Fabtech 2.5" leveling kit. The tire measures 32 5/8" tall although the tire size sites list that size tire as a 33.1".

I don't know about the sizes you have listed but I can assure you the tires I am running are a almost 3" taller than stock, so 1.5" higher. That's 1.5" more of ground clearance and who knows, that maybe the amount needs to clear something or get through a deep spot.
 

TylerV76

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Just so we are clear here - I'm not debating stock tread pattern over Nitto / BFG. Only size.
All things being equal...
Will 265/70/17 Nitto / BFG give you demonstratable performance gains over a 255/65/17 Nitto / BFG

1583715537116.png


If the answer is, "No, I like big tires!" Then I can't argue with that. Go get your big tires. I'm not making your truck payment for you so you get to do what you want. I'm not judging either. Just looking for evidence to support the need to change over to bigger tires.
Late reply but...

The taller the tire the more surface contact it makes. Whether you will notice performance gains is dependent on your driving and the conditions in which you do so.

For me, I want as much contact in snow as I can get. Same with mud and rock. For someone in Arizona who drives on pavement, it probably wouldn't make a difference.

As for your comment about BFG and their tire pressure. I run mine at 38psi pretty much full time and they run great there. I was running 30 but found the traction was plenty for me at 38. I would bet going below 30 would trigger the TPMS but couldn't say for sure as Ive never gone that low yet. This summer I will when I hit some sand pits.
 

draykas

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285/70-17, no lift yet thanks to Eibach dropping the ball:headbang: But with the front/rear beams removed, everything clears. Slight rub on rear liner at extreme lock but not an issue. Liner shows no wears after thousands of miles. Caveat...I have +20 offset and you will need the same if you want the same result :)
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Okay I loved this look with the metallic grey and finally pulled trigger on the fuel shok grey 17x9 +20 wheels with radar renegade 285/70/17 tires. and woolworth 3 in level. level kit in and wheels shipping soon hope to share pics soon. not trying to steal look but loved it
 
 
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