what size tires should I be looking at ?
 

Hi Ya'll
Well I just found out I need tires, I was liking the look of the 285's but the gut at the tire store (les schwab) said i would need a leveling kit...is he just trying to make money off me? my truck is stock.
I want a tire that looks beefy :) but not going to kill me on fuel mileage.

My neighbor is selling some 33's but i think i would need a lift kit for sure??

All these wheel hurts my brain :( what the heck does 6.5 mm mean they said that's my bolt pattern huh?

sorry for the loaded question

Katie <3

mine has 285's on it with stock suspension without any problems, I would like to take the 2" blocks out of the rear axle to level it out some cause I do not haul a lot of super heavy stuff. check out the pictures of mine

I think a 285/75R16 should work with a factory stance, other might be able to confirm or deny this, or if it won't work a 265/75R16 load range E should work also. A 265/75R16 is about the same height as the factory 235/85R16, but a little bit wider. The 285 is about 1" taller. Do you know if you have 6" or 7" wide rims? The 265's or 285's might not work good on a 6" wide rim. The 6.5 mm you are referring for bolt pattern is actually 6.5 inches, your wheel's bolt pattern is 8 lug by 6.5" bolt pattern diameter. Hope this helps.

those tires look good, what's better gettinging a leveling kit or removing rear blocks ?



JB

Thanks for clearing up the 6.5 question, I can understand that, I plan on getting rims on craigslist to fit some 285's

I really want my neighbors 33's they already have nice rims and he only wants 375 bucks, if i try them on what should i be looking for I'm terms of them not giving me problems?

if you really really want it a little higher get the leveling kit but it not only comes with more cost to purchase its causes more wear on suspension parts and tires. I'm going to lower the rear 2 inches and call it good. that costs almost nothing and leaves the fronend stock for good wear on a daily driver but that would not make everyone happy so choices choices I recon :-)

i would go with the 265's. thats what i have been running on my IDI since my first one and personally I really like it. It looks good, but its not too wide so i loose a lot of mileage....

I personally really like my 255/85R16s. There actually a fraction of an inch taller than 285/75s but an inch and a half narrower. The best of both worlds, tall enough but skinny enough to cut the snow. They also fit under a stock 4X4

to be exact mine are 285/75r-16
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=98036

you want your cake and eat it too.:)
guess we all do though lol.

i like therifleman556's suggestion if you want a 33" tall tire.a 33x10(ish) is much more fuel economy friendly than 33x11.2's = 285/75/16
thats close to a whopping 5" less tire width spread out over all 4 tires.so some less rolling resistance there.
not as beefy looking,but if your after a compromise like stated......

going to a 33.1" tall tire (255/85R16) changes your gear ratio from 3.55 to approx 3.40 OR 4.10's to approx 3.93

op, what brand of tires are you looking at?

I wonder how much difference that 1.2" of width would make im getting 14 now 1/2 high way 1/2 town. I bought mine with 285 but the door jam calls out 245's and it has a 4.10 rear. I was hoping I could get 16

im not too sure.if this helps though,i lost approx 1.5 mpg (iirc.) going from SRW to DRW. keeping the same size tires of 225/75/R16 (29.3X8.9) and iv slowly been trying over the last couple years to get it back with various mods.thaks to the front air dam,iv since seen numbers when i was rolling singles! that sure made me smile.so it all adds up.don't go too wide of the tread if your after economy.
plus of course don't forget, the more aggressive tread may be great for off roading and looks,but they don't roll as easy an all terrain/hwy tire either.a lot of thought should be giving when deciding to change sizes and tread design.there are pro's and con's to every modification you make to your truck.

I didn't see an honest increase in economy with the taller tires but I didn't have a penalty versus the stock 235/85's. I think I will definitely be buying this size again. Only problem is my tires a D rated. They can be had in an E rated if you want BFG Mud Terrain KM2's but they were a little beefy for my liking.

285/75/16s are 33's and they may require lifting the front an inch or two to keep from rubbing, ie the leveling kit. 265/75/16 is a 31.5-32" tire depending on manufacturer, same height as stock but wider giving you the beef look and keeping your speedo accurate. Or you can go with a 4" lift and some 35's aka 315/75/16's.

As far as mileage, i doubt you will see all that much of a difference, even going wider you will still gain due to the better final gear ratio, if you go taller. More important than width is tire weight and profile. A heavy aggressive tire, such as the toyo M/T kills mileage, but something all-terrain still looks good is lighter, and more hwy friendly.

These are 265's on mine. But i'm going back to stock size after restoration.

http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/t...ohn/002-18.jpg