[usampduffy]

So I'm here to beat up the dead horse which is the topic of "what size tire can I fit"? I've always been a car guy, into the stance and "fitted" scene so backspacing was never an issue...it was all about stretching tires to tuck as much as possible... with that being said. I have a 2.5" lift in the front and a 1.5" shackle in the rear along with a 1.5" hub centric spacer on all four corners...I currently have 265/75/16 Toyo Open Country A/T's that wore unevenly due to positive camber in the front (I've always dealt w negative camber) affiliated with the lift prior to the camber bolt installation and alignment. Obviously I'd like to go up to a 33"(285/75/16?) at least but I see a lot of posts about rubbing issues so I figured I'd get advice. I'd prefer to keep my stock wheels since I have spacers but if it was needed I could get aftermarket wheels. So the first pics are of my fitment to maybe give you all an idea of what I'm working with...and the cars are my previous rides with said stretched tires to possibly spark some interesting conversation...

Thanks in advance ladies and gents!








and then to the off topic conversation pieces....

-had these back in 2015 right before I got my truck

(Left) 2001 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS - Off Road Toy
(Right) 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LS 6-SPD - Daily Driver


-and this was my project from 2012 when I got back from my first deployment...a 10.5" wheel with a 265/35/18 stretched =)

 

[The other Sean]

285's will fit with no issue in the rear.

The two areas you will have issues with in the front are the pinch weld area in the back of the wheel well and you will for sure have rubbing on the front air dam.

I have 285's but no spacers on OEM wheels. I removed the outer ends of the air dam (not sure if and what the Equator bumper has for air dam) and trimmed part of the front mud flaps where the hump was. I get slight rubbing when backing up with the wheels turned, but nothing I worry about.

Does your truck currently have 265/75/16 tires on it? Keep in mind the 285 is 1" taller and just a tad wider than the 265. So.... have someone sit in the truck and have them slowly turn the steering lock to lock and watch for the areas I mentioned. Once you see a tight spot, think of the fact that the new tire will be 1/2" closer. When I did this on my truck, the tightest spot was about 3/4" and it turned out it just barley rubbed (that was the spot of the mud flap I trimmed) you will probably have to do some heating and pushing on the front side of the fender liners.

Since you have wheel spacers, you WILL rub more than I am.

 

[usampduffy]

I do currently have the 265/75/16's as pictured. Also I already removed the entire air dam and mud flaps due to minor rubbing when fully locked. I suppose I'll be using the heat gun quite a bit to make my fender liners work. So I'm assuming a 295 is out of the picture then? Haha

 

[MobMechanic01]

I'm running 285/70R17's, but I'm looking at some 305/65R17's, for my next set. There seems to be far more options in tire tread patterns, with the 305/65's, than what I have for the 285/70's.
Probably not much help, since you're running 16" rims, but yeah, I went thru all the mods to make these things work, and I've got a 6" lift, and the c.o's added another 1" to 1.5" in the front!

 

[Vet Tanker]

When I first got my stock 265s upgraded to 285/75/16 they were on the stock steel wheels and I never had any issues whatsoever. It wasn't until I upgraded my wheels to slightly wider ones (fit tires better and looked better) that I had to trim that back inside corner of my wheel wells up front due to the different offset.

 

[usampduffy]

Interesting....so I guess worst case I'll just pull my spacers off....

 

[MobMechanic01]

As soon as I put these rims and tires on, with only the lift kit, they rubbed. So I removed the air dam sections below the fog lights, trimmed the inner fender liner, and bent the pinch welds flat. That seemed to take care of the majority of the rubbing (it only rubbed when I had it turned to just the right angle, with a small amount of compression on the front struts).
When I installed the coil-overs (which gave me a little extra lift in the front), that rubbing went completely away.
Now that I have the wheel spacers on, the front tires are rubbing again.

The way I see it, my 285/70's are approximately 32.9" tall. The 305/65's that I want, are approximately 32.5" tall.
It may not seem like much, but when I'm due for a new set, I'm going to try the 305's, and see if they make a difference, or not.
But I gotta say, even though the Terra-Grappler tires aren't the most aggressive tread pattern, they do pretty well for mild off-road, and have a 60,000 mile tread life warranty - which is more than anything you can get in an M/T tire.

 

[usampduffy]

As soon as I put these rims and tires on, with only the lift kit, they rubbed. So I removed the air dam sections below the fog lights, trimmed the inner fender liner, and bent the pinch welds flat. That seemed to take care of the majority of the rubbing (it only rubbed when I had it turned to just the right angle, with a small amount of compression on the front struts).
When I installed the coil-overs (which gave me a little extra lift in the front), that rubbing went completely away.
Now that I have the wheel spacers on, the front tires are rubbing again.

The way I see it, my 285/70's are approximately 32.9" tall. The 305/65's that I want, are approximately 32.5" tall.
It may not seem like much, but when I'm due for a new set, I'm going to try the 305's, and see if they make a difference, or not.
But I gotta say, even though the Terra-Grappler tires aren't the most aggressive tread pattern, they do pretty well for mild off-road, and have a 60,000 mile tread life warranty - which is more than anything you can get in an M/T tire.

Thanks for the input Mob! Not sure what you use to calculate your sizing but willtheyfit.com is what I use, its all in metric, but you can manipulate the offset of the wheel to see where that'd put you if space is an issue elsewhere...I'm definently going to check out the 305/70's on my wheels since they are the .4" shorter. My truck is half way around the world right now or else I'd look at it and make the 285's work but the wife needs new tires for the weekend grocery store-mobile so I guess that's it! haha

 

[MobMechanic01]

I got the diameter of the 305/65's directly off the site for the specific tire I was looking at, and compared it to the size of the tires I have now.
Only problem with the 305/65's, is that I'll most likely have to remove my spacers, otherwise they'll rub for sure!