Simple Yes or No needed please.....

235's fit on our XJ in the 15" rim size, BUT....

We lost a massive amount of winter traction by going that wide and they do tag the body at full turn.

The tag can be fixed with a washer under the steering stop, but the loss of traction is a piss off.

Anyone want to trade almost new BFG AT P235/75 R15's for some P225's?

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

What about in the 16" rim size?

Looking around, it seems there's more tires in the 235 size vs the 225 size.

Loss of winter traction? How's that?

flotation.

Wide tires help the vehicle float on top of sand and snow narrow tires dig down throught the snow and give more traction.

Traction basically depends on the footprint vs the weight of the vehicle.

You can sort of in a simple way look at the pounds per square inch on the ground.

If you have a tire that is 'say' for easy numbers 6" wide and has a 6" long footprint, you have 36 square inches on the ground.

Then you take a tire that is 12" wide and the same diameter so the same

6" long footprint. This gives you 72 square inches or double the footprint size.

Since you have doubled the size and kept the weight the same, you now have only half the psi on the ground or half the grab.

The tire now will break free and spin really easy.

When I off road, folks laugh at my CJ7 and it's 33x95. muds. Once.....

Then they spend the rest of the day trying to get to where I am sitting taking photos of them trying and trying and trying to climb up that pit wall...

I leave tracks up pit walls, they leave rooster tail marks....

I found the nice footprint for the XJ to be 225 or narrower for the best grab.

Next time you are in some real bush, check out what the loggers and other folks that work their drive. You will see tall skinny tires.

Same for the old military Jeeps. They ran tall skinny. You can bet if fat tires would have helped those folks getting shot at get out of there better, they would have used them....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

I lost at least 10 mph in steering stability on the highway due to the greater floatation of the 235's vs the 225's on my XJ.

It starts to lose control 10 mph lower.

On my CJ7 with 10.5" tread width tires, it lost steering about 45 mph on the highway. With my 9.5's and their 7.5" tread width, I haven't found the limit where it loses it. They will hold just fine at 60 mph which is fast enough in snow.

Just did 10 hours of that last weekend. 10 hours in 4x4, 5 going and 5 coming back. It is nice to be able to keep up to the trucks, couldn't do that with the old tires.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Aug./05 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Where does Hank live/wheel? His needs might be different than Mike's Eastern Ontario mud/snow.

ROTFL!!! A simple yes or no out of this group??!! You have GOT to be kidding!!!

BTW - I dunno.

I found out...

The answer is yes.

Someone answered in the other thread.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

New Jersey. Need them for snow, but we usually don't get any more then

12 in max in one snowing.

THANK YOU!!

I know. I was just hoping upon hope....

Thanks

Hank

NO!!

No, My thought was to try and determine, with what information I had, what type of tire might be best suited for his needs.

Your tire needs and Mike's are different because you run in different environments.

I abandoned the idea that I might be enlightened sufficiently to determine his needs so I think I will recommend that he consult an experienced Jeeper in his area, explain his needs, and ask the local expert for his advise..

Unfortunately, I don't have one of those that I know of. That's why I'm happy that I have you guys!

When I replaced the tires on my WJ earlier this year I had a choice of 225 x

75-16 or 245 x 70 -16 as factory approved sizes.

What are my thoughts now (six months later)? I am happy with the skinnier tires but I still think I would have preferred the wider ones.