Im thinkin about getting either 33 or 35 inch tires on my F-150 with a 3-inch body lift but i heard that you can only get 31 inch tires on the stock 15 inch rims. Is this true? and if anyone has any other suggestions please help me out im somewhat new to this stuff. thanks

 

You might get 33's on a stock rim but you might be better off getting 15x8 for 33's and 15x10's for 35's if you go that big. You can get white or black waggon wheels for around 50 buck or cheaper if ya shop around.

 

the main deal with the tire sizes is the width. your stock ford wheels are mare then likely 15x7. tire widths of 10.5 are about as wide as you want to put on that. but i have seen people put 12.50 tires on 7 or 8 wide wheels. Obviously the wider rims look better, i think. You can get bigger tires like 33's and 35's with a width of 9.5 and 10.5 and they will work fine.

 

I remember reading a thread, saying that they put 285's on there
expy and had no rubbing, and with out a lift. Also would'nt
recommend a body lift by the comments i've read through out this forum.

 

Here is my take-

(From experience, my first F-150 when I was 16 many many years ago) with a 3" body lift, if you get a 15x7 or 15x8 with 0" offset, you can get a 33x12.50R15 to 'fit', but you will more then likely rub the radius arms on full turn. If you get a 0.5" negative offset wheel, you will clear the radius arms, but will almost positively contact the body or bumper under articulation without trimming the fenders.

If you want to 'clear' 33's with a full turning radius and articulation and not trimming your bumper or fender, put on the 3" body lift, get some 8" wheels with a little bit of negative offset (0.5"), and get some leveling coils under the front. Guess what though? When you do all of that, you might as well have gotten a 4" suspension lift because the cost will be the same.

If your goal is clearing 33s, you can find a base 4" suspension lift kit with radius arm drops, springs, add a leafs, pitman arm, and shocks for $400.00. That is gonna probably be cheaper then the body lift + springs + alignment.

35s, forgettaboutit unless you get it up at least 6" or have an itchy sawzall finger.

One more alternative, BFGoodrich makes a 33x10.50. Those would install on an 8" wheel with a 3" body lift and not rub at all.

If I can summarize this with some advice-

Don't focus on tire size. Focus on what you want to do with the truck.

If you want a truck to have larger tires to perform better off roading, and have a functional suspension and articulation, look at the big picture and do your truck right.

If you just want to stuff larger tires because they look cool and you don't care about the reprocussions or rubbing or mileage, well I am sure you could probably figure out a way to fit 33s with a sawzall with no lift.

Figure out what you really want your truck to do, what you can afford, and what makes sense. Course I am older and wiser now, and I have learned these lessons the hard way.

 

Thats some good advice there. It's important to establish a goal and decide what you want the truck to do and look like, then buy parts to accomplish that goal. A body lift does nothing for your suspension articulation. All it does is allow you to fit a little larger tire under the truck. A suspension lift kit will help give you a better suspension for off road use.

I have 6" lift, 35/12.5" tires, 15x10" wheels (over 4" backspace), skyjacker radius arms (designed for extra tire clearance), and I still rub pretty bad on the radius arm and the fender. It used to be marginal, but now that I put my 393 and ZF trans in, i lost about 3/4" in the front suspension (weight) and it rubs a little too much. I'm going to have to trim my fenders soon.

It's pretty much impossible to avoid the radius arm rubbing with a wide tire like a 12.5.

 

I have a 96 4x4, factory set up, factory 15" wheels, and am running 32x11.5's. Only rubbing is on full turn against the arms.... But they do look good.

 

hey guys thanks a lot for all the suggestions im sure ill figure somethin out. everythings been a great help thanks again

 

I have 33x14.5 Mickey Thompsons on my 89 F150 4x4 with 4 inches of lift and trimmed front bumper and they don't rub anywhere. I got the wheels and tires from a guy who had an older F150 not sure what year nice aluminum wheels with tires for 300 bucks. Bolted them up and drove away before I had the lift, I did have 1.5 inch leveling springs and had very minimal rubbing then. These wheels must have the needed backspacing if interested I will measure it and post. Let me know!

 

Yes with a 3" body lift you can clear 33's, but like they said, max turning is a problem. For 35's your gonna need something a little more extreme. You could get a cheap 4" suspension lift and a 70 dollar 3" body lift, then you'd clear 35's pretty nicely. Or go all out and get a 6" susp. lift and toss a $70 3" body lift under it, just for the look of added height. Thing is the body lift will require jerry rigging the bottom radiator hose, It'll rub a pulley. Well on mine it did. Plus you can see the area inbetween the bed and frame, kinda ugly from some angles.

 

I bought my F150 and it had 32's on it with no lift. I had rubbing all over, to the point where I bent my front quarter panel wheelin a little. I put a 3" body lift in and they worked ok. I then put a 6" suspension lift in with 35's and I had moderate articulation available. I then threw in an 8" suspension lift in and have room everywhere. What the main problem is is the width of the tire. You can mount anything on a 15 and it will mount. The 15 is the most common rim used in offroad due to its design. They make all sizes and widths for it. I have 44's on my other truck with 15 in rims. If you get a wider tire then yes you will have rub. But say you get a 35x10.50 you will be fine. Don't confuse height with width. A narrow tire will fit and allow you to turn with minimal rubbing. In case you are wondering I now run 38's with some sheet metal trimmed to allow full flex. If you look at the pics in my profile you will see 35's w/ a 6" lift. The wider tires rubbed. If you get at most a 32 to 35x 11.50 you would be ok. If you get a susp lift, don't go cheap you get what you pay for. I run different components from several manufacturers due to the little advantages some parts have over others. I haven't updated my profile pics because I am in Afghanistan. If you want me to give you more direct info send me a message and we can email this out. I have run alot of different parts and lifts on all my trucks over the years with lessons learned all along the way. I can help with recommendations and give my opinion on the 26 lifts I have installed on either my trucks or my buddies. And let you know what they thought too. Just give me a shout and I will be more than happy to help you in your decisions and can give you pointers on the installs. Have a good one.

cpnhgnjnky

 

Bigger tires require wider wheels for a number of reasons. Looks are one of them. But if you're lifting your truck, you raise the center of gravity. Wider wheels spread the contact patches and give you added stability.

Having a goal is a must. Too many guys want to add bigger tires for the looks, but end up buying what's cheap and are then dissatisfied with the results.