I have two questions.
1) I currently have 265/75/R16 BFG AT KO tires on my 2003 Excursion 4x4 Diesel but I see a lot of post about people who run 285/75/R16. My truck is stock but I would really like to move up a size if they fit. Do the 285's fit with no rubbing or other modifications?

2) I'm also debating going with Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ instead my usual BFG AT KO. What are people's experiences with the MT Baja ATZ? How do they wear compared to the BFG's

I tow a 30Ft TT pretty much every weekend during the spring and summer months and do a lot of driving in Sand if this helps with your comments.

Thanks
Don

 

stick with the BFG's imho....

but im biased as I have a thing for those tires

 

The 285's fit fine, look sharp. I have the Dueler Revo's myself, been happy with them.

 

285s are a nice step up, nothing wild and crazy.
the BFG seem pretty common and they have been a proven good tire. There was a post a few days ago about someone getting the M/T's and liking them - they do look sharp. The procomp line is good too and they have sales from time to time - buy 3 get 1 free etc.

 

stick with the bfg at's and yes i'm bias also

 

285's fit with no modifications. Just did mine and love it. Watch the load rating though, I moved from an E to a D but i dont haul anything but an occasional 2 horse trailer. Go for it.

 

I like prefer Toyo Open Country tires. And now they have a 285 with an E rating specifically for towing and diesels.

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/op...y-ht-tuff-duty

The Open Country H/T with Tuff Duty is engineered for high torque diesel pickup trucks that tow trailers or occasionally haul heavy loads. Three-belt construction, multi-wave sipes, and other enhancements deliver a long, dependable wear, increased tread mileage*, exceptional ride comfort, and balanced all-season performance. The Open Country H/T with Tuff Duty is also M&S rated.
*As compared to standard Open Country H/T.

Stewart

 

The important thing regarding ANY changes to a production vehicle, is to be HONEST with yourself. Just EXACTLY what is more important to you. The FUNCTION of the change as it relates to YOUR use of YOUR vehicle ? Or are you more concerned with how something LOOKS?

I recently saw a tire ad that said "this tire looks aggressive". (to me, that is a turn off - the ad told me nothing about its FUNCTION).

Reading thru tire sales literature, you can see that tire mfgs. recognize people are people! Some of us couldnt care less what OTHER people think of our vehicles; we want the best FUNCTION. Others will go to great expense in the hopes that what they do "looks cool" and thus will impress OTHERS. Look for a tire designed to meet YOUR needs.

The choice of wheels and tires is an excellent example of this obvious phenomena. Do you want tires that are "aggressive looking" ? Regardless of their FUNCTION ? Get the biggest, meanest looking tires you can find, and if there are "clearance" issues, "raise" the truck. Obviously, this creates potential safety issues; for example - the larger the tire, the more side-wall, and the more side-wall, the less stability, especially unsafe if your primary use for your EX is really heavy towing. The higher you "jack" your vehicle's body over its suspension, the greater the "roll-over" danger is.

I personally am not as smart about the laws of physics and mathmatics as I would like to be. Wish I knew more. So, in my case, in the absence of an ability to calculate what the effects of changes to my vehicle would do, I stay with what the factory recommends. For example, the factory recommends a "towing option" which includes a rear sway bar. Not having the engineering background of the factory designers, I would tend to rely on them.

In my case, we purchased our '05 EX when it was only a year old, with about 10,000 mi. on it, essentially a new car. We now have a trace oveer 30,000 miles on it, just about all of our mileage is heavy towing ( over 10,000 lbs). I run 55 lbs tire pressure when towing, 40 on the rare occasions when we run without trailers. My EX seems stable at any speed when running light, stable up to about 60-65 mph (which is about as fast as I feel safe when pulling REALLY heavy trailers with a relatively light tow vehicle such as the EX).

My recommendation, therefore, is YOU do what best meets YOUR needs, both from a actual driving standpoint, and from an emotional standpoint (and what your budget allows !).

 

And then there are those that want functionality, that also appeals to the owners sense of aesthetics, or as you put it, "looks cool"

A lot of those type of people could care less if anyone else thinks it looks cool. They don't do it to impress others, they do it because it looks good to them.

I do agree with you though.

Back when I put a Moroso trans pan on my Lightning, people on the Lightning boards would ask why. They would invariably say that nobody could see it.

I always responded that I didn't care if anyone could see it. I didn't do it for anyone else except myself, and that it makes me smile whenever I'm under my truck, working on it.

Just because something appears to have been added more for looks, as opposed to functionality, doesn't always mean it was done to impress other people.

To the OP, sorry for the thread hijack. Check into those Toyo's I linked you to. They are a really good tire.

Stewart

 

My speedometer was off with the 265's. When I went to 285's the problem went away.

 

I just installed the MT ATZs on mine - 285/75-16's. They look great and handle well - wet or dry. I haven't had them on the sand yet - but I know they'll be fine. I tow a 10k pound Sea Ray and finally got to tow yesterday and they did fantastic. Still considerably less wander than the Firestone's which were on it when I bought it. I can't comment on the wear personally but I have quite a few customers who are running them on SD's and other trucks and unless you don't rotate them as you should they are getting 45-50k miles out of them. They will feather and cup in the front if not rotated - but I think any tire with big tread blocks, a lot of tread depth and a heavy truck will need to be maintained properly.

 

I'm on my second set of BFG All-Terrains because they haven't let me down yet. I've been to the beach a few times and these tires dig right in and keep moving. Even wet, theses tires have incredible grip, I really have to mash it to make them slide around. About this time last year the 285/75/16s came out in an "E" load range which makes them all the more attractive for Excursion and F250/350 owners

 

Thanks for all the comments. I think I'm going to go with the 285 BFG AT's as I've been using them for all my vehicles for the last 8 years and they have been very reliable. The MT Baja's look nice but I need more information on there ability last. My current set of BFG AT's have about 40K miles on them. My speedometer is already off 3MPH with the 265's so I'll keep am eye on it with the 285's. I'm also adding new bilstein shocks and a hellwig rear sway bar within the next month or so in order to improve the ride a little.

 

The 285's brought my speedo into agreement with my GPS as well.
I think I saw on here that the speedo and odometer run off different sensors, maybe not. But only our July 4th road trip, 3K miles I was checking the speedo and GPS and happy they were now in synch - but wondered about the odometer. I never checked it against the gps with the 265s, but with the 285s I was .04 off per mile, so after 100 miles the truck had gone 4 miles farther than the odometer said. checked it each 100 miles over the trip and it was pretty consistent.

 

That's stupid. I know you like to tell us you're stupid (which I don't believe for a second. ) but you have the ability to change that. Do research on tire pressures and how they correspond to the weight being carried.