I have a question regarding tires for my 02' Tacoma. The shop I went to could not get Toyo (at least not that day) tires in the same size as I had they were the original BF Goodrich tires sized at P265/70R16's. They put P275/70R16's on and told me there would be little to no difference. Is this true? They said the new tires are about 3/8" taller and only 10cm wider at the tread and that I would not notice any difference. So far it seems fine and I know it is not much of a difference but I thought I would see what others with more knowledge on this think. A friend of mine said you have to be careful when using larger tires sometimes as it can change how the truck performs and possibly cause problems. Thanks for any replies.
3/8 in diameter will make no noticable difference. Something else may be a legal point. Where you life can you use different size tires w/o losing insurance and getting legal issues?
10 mm wider could be an issue IF the tires rub, esp. when steered to one side. it should also not make a difference though.
Well I am not sure on the insurance if it changes or not where I live. But it seems like every other truck is lifted and has larger offroad tires here. The new tires do not rub at all and I had asked that before they put them on. I have driven it for a few days now and I have tried some tight turns to test it out and there is no rubbing that I can tell. The tires could be as much as half inch larger even I don't know. He said about 3/8" and he had placed them next to my old ones while they were still on the truck and you could see they were a bit larger but it was not a huge difference. He said the width difference was mostly in the tread and the sidewall width would only be about 1/4" wider. So far I have not noticed anything that would be a problem though he did say that two of them were a bit harder to balance and he had to put more weight on them. Something like 3 ounces each and they turned out to be the two front tires. He said they are balanced out to zero and there should be no problems but if when driving at highway speeds I noticed any kind shimmy in the steering wheel or anything out of the ordinary in the way of vibration he would switch the two front tires with the back ones which needed less weight to balance. Does this sound correct? As I mentioned before I am really out of my element when it comes to this kind of thing. But I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary and I have driven up to about 80 mph with them on so all seems well anyways. Oh and the tires they put on were Toyo A/T Open Country. One thing I have noticed vs my old tires which were the factory BF Goodrich Rugged Trail is that I don't seem to feel the bumps in the road as much now. There are some roads I drive over everyday and the new tires seem to absorb a little bit of the shock going over harder bumps and such. I thought maybe it was just me but even my wife has noticed it. Thanks again for any replies or thoughts.
I have to agree with Rich here - going up one tire size isn't gong to make a lot of difference as long as they fit the rims properly, fit inside the fenders and don't rub, and meet the load rating needs of the vehicle. And for every lawyer the prosecution gets alleging negligence, the defense can get another one that says it was perfectly safe.
My Land Cruiser came with P225/75R15 "D" Extra Load tires - which are hard to get and expensive. The replacement tire everyone uses is either a normal P235/75R15 "C" or LT235/75R15 "C". Or a higher load "D" or "E" LT tire that will give you even longer tire wear - if your kidneys can take the pounding.
(And on further reflection on that flippant comment, I know at least one person here who wouldn't want to do that... ;-)
Now if the guy put on cheap 155/80/14 tires that should go on a 5" wide rim onto 12" wide rims (numbers picked out of my hat as an example) to get that "Lowrider Look" without spending the big bucks for real 35-series tires - but also made a patently unsafe condition by using the wrong wheel width and driving on the sidewalls, and/or by severely overloading the tire past it's limits.
Then if he got in an accident and killed somebody when the tire blew out, the vehicle owner and the tire shop who mounted and installed those tires could easily be found guilty of gross negligence. And if the other guy's lawyer didn't try going after him for that, the lawyer would be negligent.
| >> >Changing the size of the tire from the factory size, or altering the vehicle | >> >in any way such as lifting or lowering, will come into play if you are | >> >involved in an accident and the opposing vehicle's driver and owner has an | >> >attorney that has his wits about him. It will definitely not play out in | >> >your favor. | >>
| >> He's not talking about going to 35's here. | >
| >will make little difference if it is a prying point for a lawyer... | | Pretty easily defensible, given that Toyota's factory-supplied rubber | ranges from 245 to 265 | | | --- Rich |
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Yes, and my '99 Taco came with, and still has, 31's on it. The door sticker says 225X75R15. I asked the Service Manager at my local dealer why it wasn't stickered for 31's since it came that way from the factory. His reply was that 225's is the smallest that can be put on the the truck.
Jarhead
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
On this part the recommended air pressure for the new tires is the same as my old ones being 35 psi so I don't think it is that. On feeling any vibration there is none that I can tell. I will drive these for awhile and see how it goes. The truck seems to handle the same as before other than it seeming to take bumps in the road a little better now. If I do feel any vibration in the front I will tell the guy to switch it out for a new tire vs moving it to the back based on what you have told me about vibration and bearings. But again so far all is well. I did also think that having to put almost 3 ounces on a tire to balance it seemed like alot but he said thats just how tires are sometimes. He said especially when you are dealing with the larger sizes or ones that have a more agressive tread. He pointed out that when they mount the real big tires like the big mud/offroad types they use small sand bag looking type things placed in the tire. At least I think thats what he said but he showed me one and it was labeled as a tire balancing bag. Well again thanks for all the replies and thoughts. I have learned a little here and I think I will be ok. I will just have to keep up on these and if there is anytning out of the ordinary I will go back and make them correct it.
Well I see I got a pretty good conversation going and I want to thank everyone for their replies. Just for kicks I went out and there is an ally by my house with speed bumps down it. So I made sharp turns going over them at varying speeds and there was no rubbing at all. I'm sure anyone watching thought I was nuts but what the heck. Maybe not the most scientific test but I thought I would try it anyways. Today I had also talked to a guy at work who used to build race cars in his younger days and he was of the opinion it should be fine as long as there was no rubbing and or vibration as mentioned by others. Ok again thanks to all and if there are any more ideas on this they are all welcome.
It falls back on deep pockets. Lawyers always go for the max liability limits. Little insurance, little case. No insurance, just as likely an out of court settlement and an uncollectable judgment.
Sometimes I'm happy that my credit sucks... someone once stole my identity and gave it back because they were turned down for a $100 Amazon.com purchase :)
I wish I had seen this thread sooner. I have had the same thing happen to me. My truck came with 225's and I couldn't get them later and upped to
235's. With a 4wd truck, upping one size has had only one draw back. That drawback is that your speed increases one mile per hour for every ten. So if your speedo sayes your going 65, then you are really going about 71 or so. Your larger tire may be a little different, possibly faster. I have found that the one size up actually helped the stability of the truck and that the factory 225 tires could roll off the rim in a side slope position. I've had several accidents in my 21 year old truck and the size of the 235 tire was never an issue.
Your speed was off to begins with then because if tires are the same profile (ie 70 or 75 series) there would be a larger increase in diameter (several inches) and it would raise over all gear ratio 10 to
15% and reduce pulling power also well as increase drive train strain by that much and more because of the new effective gear ratio and increase drag from larger tires unless truck is regeared properly. So many people jack up 4x4?s and put on bigger rubber to look "bad" without regearing and neuter their 4x4?s power greatly and shorten driveline components life span too. I am not agaisnst using bigger rubber with proper mods (like regearing). I remeber one time a few years ago as was taking my then 17 year old son somewhere and we ran into one of his freinds in a big jacked up 3/4 ton 4x4 ford with 38?s and stock gears and a over boosted (turbo pressure) 7.3 with propane injection and custom low restriction exhaust. He tired to show off for my son when light turned and I waxed him with a 4cyl camary with a stick and 3 people in it and AC on too. We were clearly ahead in 1st and 2nd and when I got to third we started to walk away for him and he quit. YOu have to regear if you want you 4x4 to run as "bad" as it looks.
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