My local Firestone guy made a deal with me on 2857516's. He put one on and checked all clearances for rubbing etc. If it rubbed anywhere, he was going to put back on my 2657516's. Everything was fine, the tires look good and the truck runs smooth once again.

Thanks for your help.

 

I am new to this so bear with me. I am currently running 265/70 R17's on my 2002 FX4. I can go up to a 285/70 R17 without a lift on my truck? But that is the maximum, correct?

Thanks all.
-Mike

 

If I am not mistaken a 285/70R17 is the same outer dimensions as a 285/75R16, just different rim sizes wich shouldnt really be any different for fitment.

 

Thinking about putting some 285/75/R16s on my supercab 4x4 2000 f150. My tires are factory 265/70/R16 (I think, they are 265 for sure). I have 3.73s, and I am wondering if I'd lose or gain any fuel economy by slowing down my revs?

also, has anyone had their speedo recalibrated by the dealer, and how much did it cost??

 

I cant say for sure but the particular tire has some effect also. For exapmly one brand might be 10# heavier per tire than another. When I put my 285/75 kuhmo mt's on new wheels I picked up 20# per corner compared to my 265's on facotry rims. Thats 80# more weight the drivetrain has to get spining. Just the extra weight will lower the mpg slightly. I guess that would be like putting a dana 60 on a civic and seing what the extra rotational weight would do to mpg.
Except for my recent mpg it has averaged about .5 mpg less with the bigger tires (both city/hwy).

 

hey guys I know that this thread is 13 pages long but I got a 99 250ld and id like to put 315/75/16's under it either the Baja Claw Radial or the Baja Radial MTX and if I could do it without a body lift id love it,if I gotta body lift it so be it..Is it possible?

 

When I bought my truck I knew a Ford mechanic who picked up a set of the newer 14mm wheels (that were take-offs at the dealership) and gave them to me. This has been an ongoing question in my mind as I have a vibration at speed. Gotta tell ya, if these trucks are supposed to be hub-centric, which I hear they are, then they're a real crappy toleranced hub centric design.

Anyway, I wanted to know about any type of conversion that might be available, and a local 'big wheels' place was highly recommended for their ability to convert things. What an exercise in stupidity that was. I had to deal with three different guys, one the manager, who could not have graduated high school. Eventually, being very polite and simply looking to spend money if I possibly could, I was kicked out of the store by the manager who was incensed that I dared suggest Ford trucks switched from 12mm studs to 14mm studs, as he was adamant that they had not, and that I was dreaming everything up. This, after we had a 'mechanic' take a lug off, and I showed him the gap on either side of the stud.

Lesson: Don't trust 'experts' who have taken a liking to the hip-hop 'flashy' side of vehicles these days. Sure, they're making money but, by and large, these guys aren't tire and handling geniuses by any stretch of the imagination.

After being in the car business for 15 years, working as a mechanic to get through college for three, and questioning this all along, I learned that basically NOBODY in the every-day car business realizes the dilemma you brought up, and thus nobody is really worth trusting my life to, so yet again (and as above): Don't trust the 'experts'.

Each tire has a load range, and a p.s.i. range. Using some form of educated guess-timation, always have the psi of your tires somewhere in the recommnded psi range for your tire that would somewhat correspond to the loads it will see. Carrying a max load? Max allowable pressure. Cruising empty with one person? Use the low-end of the pressure range.

Yes, some tires are made to run every day, for light loads, at above 40 psi. A common max psi, after the age of everything maxxing to 35 psi, was 44 psi. Thus 37 to 40 psi for a person or two, sans load, was the way the tire was designed. This fact has been lost on many a flunky mechanic - and I say that from experience.

It sort of drove me nuts that all cars were simply filled to the old (1970's into the early to mid-1980's) standard pressure of 32 psi by the mechanics and garage owners I've worked with. Lazy stupid *******s.

Be careful guys, don't let anyone overfill, nor underfill, your tires.

Geez, sorta makes me wonder if this was a contributing factor to all the Exploder roll-overs years ago? If that tire's a max 44 psi, and someone filled it to 32 thinking it was a max 35, that'll get someone closer to a roll-over for sure.

Best,

GD

 

I agree with you 100%. BTW, after researching the whole explorer roll-over deal there was one small fact I didnt realize in my post above. Ford wanted to go on the low side of the min pressure so the Explorers would ride better and Firestone did officialy give them the ok to do so. So I guess it boils down to both of thier faults. And as far as pressure, I like to keep it in the middle of the allowable range as printed on the actual tire(unless I am hauling). Sometimes if I go on a long trip (like 9hr drive to my folks) I might bump the pressure nearer the max end to make the tire stiffer and reduce the rolling resistance to get me slightly better mpg.

 

That Exploder fact is very interesting to know. It could mean Firestone designed a tire to work at a higher, say 44, max psi range, but then was pressured, and agreed to, print the max pressure on the sidewall as lower to appease Ford.
Or something to that effect...

I've seen quite a few tires prematurely wear in the middle from being over-inflated, including one rear set of mine from when I was a teenager, so I'm cautious about trying to save gas vs. buying expensive tires.

What I do do, though, on my personal vehicles is account for the big difference in weighting, especially on the truck, from the front to the rear. The front tires, when the truck is not hauling a load, gets two or three psi more in the than do the rears. This helps with handling through turns, and also reduces the stiff ride aspects unloaded rear could otherwise give. Depending on the tire's psi range and the owner's truck's engine, I suppose some could even swing the difference more than that - the 2002 and back diesel engines were huge beasts (and I'd rather have one of those than the newer, smaller diesels), so in an unloaded truck the fronts may need a good amount more air to balance the ride and, for 4x4's, the tire circumferences.

 

This thread being a sticky on tire size I'd suggest if we want to discuss tire pressure more then we should start a new thread. I do want to point out that my increasing pressure for better mpg was only done on long highway trips once or twice a year. For regular driving I keep em usually in the middle of the range. I have not yet tried it in my truck with mud tires since I dont typically make those trips in my truck. However when I was in college and drove my first two vehicles, an 85 corolla and then an 84 tbird, I never changed the tires throughout the time I drove the vehicle so there was no cost of replacement. Put new ones on when I got both of the vehicles, and put about 35,000 on the 'yota and 40,000 on the bird. I did do it a few times with my truck on the tires it came with. I got the truck w/ 32,000 on it and it had a set of Dunlop RR a/t's which I assume were new at the time. I was too lazy to rotate the tires on the truck yet they still lasted all the way to around 100,000 miles when I put the mudders on. And a couple of them still have some tread left. I still cant beleive the milleage those suckers got, and still performed well as an a/t (I was in some pretty hairy situations but never got stuck). Now there has been some big debate over the pressure for my current set of mudders, but for now I am keeping them around 45-50psi.

 

Ok I scanned the pages and didn't find anything exactly like my question but I could have missed it. I have a 97 4x4 with factory 265/70R17, will putting a 285/70/R17 change the dynamics of driving the truck much? Will it adversley affect the life of my suspension, or driveterrain?
Thanks

 

I had a 2003 with stock 265/70/17 and I put the BFG AT 285/70/17 and ran them for 38,000 miles with no problems at all. Actually got the same MPGs as well. I kept the gears the same and if anything it tightened the suspension (which I prefer).

 

I have a 98 with 295.75.16 BFG radial TA's, I keep 65 PSI the max in my tires. The last set I got 65K out of them and my son then used them another 10k. I am doing the same thing with this set... I ride empty all the time...

 

I should have mentioned in my last post that I sold the truck and that is the only reason I got 38,000 miles on the tires. I bet they go another 20,000 easy.

 

Seems to me that with the harder rubber on the Radial AT tires if you keep up the pressure, they last longer...