Well, I went the conservative route and got some 285's Michelin LTX MS2. I use my F350 mostly for towing and road trips so decide to go with these instead of a AT or MT. Its definetly a differnt look from the Pro Comp MT's that were on there but its a smooth ride know and feels like I gained a few HP. The MT's were 315's so no more rubbing with the 285's, just need to remove my factory blocks and put some F250 blocks under the rear to level it a little and get ride of some of the fender gap. Thanks for all you guys opinions and pics!! Adam

 

i wonder if mine would rub at full lock? i have a 2002 f350 cclb w/ leveling kit. whats your specs?

dont mean to jack the thread, but i am looking at getting new wheels to allow 315's to fit. im looking at the Mickey Thompson Classic II wheels 16x10, 4 7/16" backspacing.
would these fit my truck properly?
does anyone know the backspacing of a stock 2002 lariat wheel?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

I was not able to find that out when I was researching. The only thing I found is that the offset is around -6mm, which is about a 1/4". Since the OEM rim is 7" wide that would put the backspacing at around 3 3/4". My new wheels (8" wide) had the same offset and a backspacing of 4 1/4" (since the wheel is 1" wider than OEM the backspacing went up by 1/2").

I have zero issues with rubbing on the springs at full lock (definitely have plenty of room), but my 285s barely clear the fender liners at stock height.

I hope that helps a little.

 

i have about 1 1/2 to 2 inches on both sides front and back before i hit my leaf springs with my 285's. thats why im considering getting the 315's. i also plan on adding the Mickey thompson wheels later to help with tire wear and roll issues. im just hoping that the backspacing insnt an issue.

 

My front is bone stock, my rear is a 3" block, it cleared the with almost no problems, only thing i can tell you to do is, pay the 20$ and go to a local tire store that has your tires in stock, and ask them to test fit them first, thats what i did and it worked out.

 

Keep in mind a 7" wheel is actually more than 7" wide. If you use the advertised rim width the math will never add up. From my 7" xlt wheels: inner flange to inside edge of mounting surface (backspace) is 4.25", thickness of mounting surface .671" give or take a thou, and outside edge of that to outer flange is 3.0625". That puts that 7" wheel at an actual width of just shy of 8" out/out flanges, and gives an offset of +6mm. Take clintusaf's Mickey Thompson Classic II's: 10" advertised, 4 7/16" BS and -27mm (-1.06") offset. Backspace + offset (if negative, - offset if positive) = centerline, so that rim is essentially 11 inches wide, and the inside flange will be approx 3/16" further inside than stock. Brian42's wheels would have a half inch difference in offset from stock, and have the stock backspacing, therefore pushing the extra inch away from the truck.

 

Great info guys! Nice to find out the backspacing of the stock wheel. I was fixing to take one off to measure it. I would pay the extra money to have them test fitted, but i cant find anywhere near a decent price on the duratracs. Stopped by the goodyear store in town, and they wanted $270 a tire for the 285's! I can get the 315's for $216 a tire. Wonder what tire racks return policy is?

Interesting stuff about the stock wheel width. I'd like to pull the wheel and tire out of the wheel well to avoid any rubbing issues. Only thing is, ive been told you want to keep the load as close as possible with the center of the wheel. Moving the wheel out if the wheel well would put the load toward the back side of the wheel right?


What kind of wheel do you have brian42? Have you had any probs with hub issues?

 

My dad has BFG AT KOs on his Chevy 2500HD Duramax 4x4 and loves them. He's gotten almost 35K out of them with a little life still left in them.

I had Pirelli Scorpion ATRs and wanted something a little more capable off-road. Looked at the BFG ATs, but everybody has them. Even though they are a great tire, I wanted something a little different than what he had. I thought of the Dunlop MaxxTraction but read some reviews about it not doing so well in the wet and the treads not clearing very well. I was seriously considering the DuraTrac until I stumbled upon the new BFG Mud-Terrain TA KM2s and the rest was history. My wife loved them and that was all the approval I needed! They have been the best tire I've ever owned and I have taken them through everything but snow (not much of that here in San Diego even in the winter ) and they are AWESOME. Plus they are quiet too (more like the whoosh of a rollercoaster at highway speeds than typical mud tire road noise). I took some tread depth measurements and compared them to my spare (the same tire, never been used) and I calculate I'll get around 35K until I reach the wear bars (2/32" remaining).

If you are looking for something new, I recommend giving the KM2 some serious consideration.

Just my .02

 

I didn't want to go larger in diameter (higher price for the wheel AND for the tire) and didn't want a lot of bling, so I kept it simple. I got the Ultra Type 164. Here's a link to the specs:

Ultra Wheel

I liked the Alcoa-style dish with the holes and the polished finished looks nice against my paint and nerf bars without being too chrome-y.

The near OEM offset keeps all of the loading and stresses as the engineers intended so I will get the maximum life out of my support components (ball joints, hubs, etc.)

At 182K my ball joints were about done for (not bad for the originals ) so I went gonzo on the front end...new ball joints (greasable Moog for all 4), new inner and outer tie rods, new hub assemblies, seals and o-rings. So far everything's been working great.

When I got the new wheels/tires nothing has felt different. Everything drives/feels the same and have had no issues.

The only new things I notice is that I sit about 1 1/2" higher (larger diameter tire AND lots of tread) and that the truck seems to end up in the mud a lot more . I've forged my way through mud, sand, rocks, dirt and pavement (both wet and dry) and these tires are the best I've ever had. I've already been in situations where I would have been plenty stuck with my last set of tires, and these BFGs pull me through like it's nothing. My wife isn't as relaxed off-roading now because I seem to "accidentally" end up in these situations more ("oops, this is the only way through Honey" ), but my kids love it and it's all about keeping the kids happy, right?

 

wow those look almost identical to the M/T Classic II's!! i looked at the pro comp comparable wheels, but they just arent the same. Those sound great. I'm glad to hear you have no front end issues with them too.

how much were they?

why did you decide to go with these over the M/T's?

 

Ultra told me I had to wait 45 days if I wanted a set (backorder), but my local Discount Tire gave them to me at cost and got them from Tire Rack (they had some in stock for immediate shipment). I paid $125/wheel. I could have gotten the MT's for almost the same price (about $5 more), but I like the dish look of the Ultras a little better and the characteristics were more in tune with the OEM ones. The Ultra has an offset of -6mm whereas the MT has -13mm (the OEM offset is -6.38mm IIRC) and the load rating is 3400lbs for the Ultra compared to 3100lbs for the MT.

Pound for pound they are very similar wheels, but I refer back to going down the path less traveled. Not only did I stay closer to OEM (yes, it's a marginal difference but I'm stickin' to my story ), but I see a lot of MT Classic, Classic II and Classic Lock wheels running around here so I wanted to individualize a little more. It was a personal choice. I don't have any rubbing issues at lock and have not run into any issues off-roading so I couldn't be happier with my choice.

 

Well, looks like i found my new wheels! Thanks for all the info man. Ill post up pics when i get them. Ill have to do some shoppin around. Theres not a local discount tire around here. Ill look for them on tire rack.

 

As far as lugnuts and covers go, was there anything specific you had to order? I know with the M/T's, i was gonna have to order special center caps for the front hubs. They were $20 a piece.

 

You can order open or closed caps for the wheels. I just got a standard set of Gorilla acorn lugs for the wheels (it even comes with a free socket and curved breaker bar). I think '03 started the "fine" thread and I have 14x1.5 lugs and that '02 was the last of the "coarse" thread and your are 14x2. Here's a reference:

http://www.gorilla-auto.com/pdf/GAG10.pdf

Also make sure that they are long enough. There are not many closed acorn lugs that are long enough to fit over the long wheel studs we have. So far I can't find any locking lugs that will fit.

I got the short open caps for the front (they are metal). The rear caps are plastic. The short ones don't quite make it and the long ones stick out past the tire. I didn't care for the long look (reminds me too much of a Dodge) so I sold those on Craigslist and bought a couple of caps they had lying around at the shop. They fit great and don't stick out past the tire. You need to order the long caps if you want them to fit over the axle housing (gotta love the full-floating Sterling). If you are going to buy different caps make sure that it is for a 5.125" (5 1/8") center bore (I don't remember how long they need to be to clear the axle housing). You can find plenty of caps on the internet (Craigslist, eBay and individual sites). The caps that come with the wheel pass through from the back and there's a beveled edge in the inside of the center bore for that.

 

From what you are saying here, would it be better for me to go with a 16x8 instead of a 16x10 with 315/75 r16's? the offset on the 16x10's is
-32mm. i would like to stay as close as possible to stock as you know. 16x8 should be closer to 16x9 right? would that still cause my tires to crown?