My tires are nearing their last legs on my '99 manual truck. I might be able to make it though this winter on the tires as is (I work out of the house and live on a school bus route that gets plowed first thing in the morning), but I'm going to be experiencing my first mountain winter soon after living my entire life in Texas and I might not be the best judge of such things.

I fully intend to install a proper lift in the near future, but in the event I find my tires are not sufficient for the coming winter I will likely need to accelerate parts of that strategy. Namely, if I need to buy tires I'd hate to waste money on tires that I don't intend to run more than a year. I want to install either 285s or 255s (roughly 33" tires), but I won't likely have the budget or the facilities to go all the way with the full suspension setup.

From what I've been able to find, it appears that 285s (255s don't seem to be nearly as common, and thus not as easy to find applicable information) can be run with stock suspension and will rub only at full lock and/or significant articulation regardless the suspension lift. If a body lift is installed, this seems to be mitigated or eliminated ALSO regardless of suspension lift (to include stock suspension). Is this in fact the case? In the event I find my tires insufficient, will I be able to install a 1" body lift (a minor project with minimal outlay) and run the 285s without much trouble? I recognize I probably wouldn't be able to do a lot of wheeling with this particular setup, but it would keep me from having to buy another set of tires prematurely (assuming it is functional as a daily driver in the meantime).

Please advise.

from my knowledge, 33s on only 1 inch body lift will not work at all unless you do major beating and cutting. I still rub my flare's backing up and turning with 3 inch lift, i see where your coming from, buying tires twice does suck but i would honestly go with a 32 and 1inch bl for now and it wont look bad if you bumped the lift up a little with 32s. However if you dont mind trimming and banging a little go for it the new thing nowadays is big tires low truck i always like seeing big tires on low vehicles it looks mean and a lot of people dont even want a lot of flex anymore, but keep in mind 285s are going to need wheel spacers unless you have the right offset wheels

And also have you thought about 2 inch body lift? i would say 285's daily driver would be ok with 2 inch bl, your right on about the off-road though they will rub pretty bad trying to flex out

2" of body lift would require additional modifications that I'm not interested in making. I'm given to understand 1 1/2" body lift is the maximum that is possible without radiator drops and other more involved modifications. Additionally, I want to keep the frame and other underpinnings out of sight under the body as much as possible.

the_kid runs 285s with little or no lift and (in another thread) was pretty adamant that it can be done with minimal issues (he was, however, not specific about his own setup). I know there's the "do it right" mentality (to which I am decidedly a party) that requires a 3" suspension lift minimum and 1" body lift (the ultimate intention), but if the big-hammer/aesthetics-are-all-that-matter crowds can pull it off with reasonable success, given the situation I think I'd be willing to give it a try.

I'm hoping someone running this approximate combo chimes in, as that sort of feedback would be ultimately helpful.

285's will fit. The Kid was running them with no lift at all. But it will require some pounding and trimming.

with 285s 1 inch body lift will work depends on what brand tire you get some 285 are bigger than others, but having 285 with body lift is pretty much a poser look, because you gain nothing from it.

Fully aware of the poser status of that setup. However, the intent is not to look cool so much as to avoid buying a second set of tires. I'm only concerned with functionality in this case. If the combo will run without burdensome compromise, it's the best move in my situation.

understood, in that case this would be a good choice. when i had my 285 with lift it was really close to my UCA way too close for comfort, so i had to order some wheel spacer to kick the tires out a lit. with no suspension lift your uca angle is for kicked out so idk if you are going to clear that but many said it will clear. also you might rub on wheel well if you hit bumps and such but that can be eliminated by a big @ss hammer and some cutting disc.

As said, the kid, is running 285s on stock suspension and no BL. The BL (body lift) will keep the tires from doing major rubbing when fully stuffed. I almost see the 1" BL a must to eliminate that rubbing. Even a 2", 3", or even a 4" suspension lift won't eliminate that rubbing.

Read this FYI- Tire size, Lift and Fit it will clear things up.

after i took off my stock bumper and shaved down the pinch welds and pound out some sheet metal i got little to no rub at all at full stuff, i mean like so stuffed in there you cant even see the top half of the tire.

Running questionable treads in the winter is bad news waiting to happen. When you slide through an intersection when a red light nails you, you will appreciate the term "pucker factor". Another option is to find a used set of tires on CL. I just sold a set of Hankook 265s for $175 with about 40% tread left.

The previous owner of my T4R put 285/75s on the truck. I rub when I flex the truck, but they don't rub when turning the wheel, at all.

Every shop I've taken the runner to has sworn up and down it is running stock suspension. I don't know if a different set will rub, but I find that out in the next three months; when I need new tires.

I rubbed with 265/75 16s pretty badly when turning into places or backing out of parking spaces.

I find it pretty weird I'm the only person who seems 33s with no lift or with 1inch body lift is a horrible idea, maybe the limited flares just screw me cause at 3inch lift and 33s I still rub backing up and turning. If it rubs bad and cuts up the new tires or you can't deal with the rubbing your out $800+ worth of rubber and are going to need to either lift it more so they don't rub, or get smaller tires. Radiator drop is simple as the holes are already there to drop it, A body lift is a body lift wether its a 1inch or two inch IMO.

33s are going to rub at stock height or lifted. You will need to do a little cutting/pounding.

There is no reason they would rub more when backing up unless something is loose.

The more lift, the less often you will rub.