265 or 285 tires for stock trail?

[MacRunner]

I am wavering back and forth on putting either size 265 or or 285 on stock trail. I have read many tire threads and have seen that there would be some liner mod neccessary to prevent rubbing with the 285's. I do like the look of the larger tire, but is it really worth it? We are only talking about the 285 being 1 inch taller and less than an inch wider, but you add a good 6 pounds of weight. I know my mpg's would be less with the 285's. Is there actually better handling on and off road or is it more of that looks way cool with the larger tire?

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

depending on what brand 285 you would get will determine the amount of rub. Each manufacturer seems to vary a little. There is a couple of people that are running 285s with no lift and slight fender modification.

I think the 285 just looks at home with our trucks. If you want a compromise go with the 275/70x17 size. Bigger with minimal fender modification. Also you won't take as big a hit on the MPGs.

:hiding:

 

[mook21]

Have 275/70/17 with no mods

Firestone Destination A/T. Di dnot notice a big mileage hit, looks good, and performs well off road. No rubbing and did not change anything. Stock TE, 2012

 

[GrantK]

There is also the issue of load rating. Depending on the tire, the 285s should have a high load rating a stronger sidewall. That's the reason I went with 285s, not size and looks.

 

[Bobcat Sig]

I'm curious about this, as well. Ideally, I'd like to run 285 DuraTracs on XD Addict 17s.

What has been the Collective's experience running DuraTrac 285s without a lift?

 

[Vegas]

My 2 cents... get the 265's if you plan on keeping it stock... That "was" my plan so I went with 265's Duratracs and now I completely regretting it, cause now I plan on lifting it and the 265's are going to look way to small... :ybrick:

 

[Stifler]

depending on lift I think 265s still look great

 

[4RunnerTrail]

285s on stock trail look the part to me. no rubbing with fender liners moved forward.

 

[j_shoe99]

potential stupid newb question....

Would these recommendations be identical to the SR5 model?
Do the SR5 and Trail have the same clearance(s)?

 

[FactoryRide]

potential stupid newb question....

Would these recommendations be identical to the SR5 model?
Do the SR5 and Trail have the same clearance(s)?

The trail wheels are a half inch wider, but the clearances should be similar. Be careful for what tire you choose on no lift. I just put 285 Hankook MTs on and I'm rubbing on the body mount pretty heavily under compression and in reverse. Looks like i'll either be buying or renting a Recip saw this weekend and performing a BMC.

Stock UCAs wouldn't allow me enough caster to get the rub off the body mount. I also have spidertrax spacers too.

 

[MacRunner]

Tires purchased

Well it's been 6 weeks since I brought home my '12 Trail and counting the original Bridgestones it has had 4 different tires on it! I started with the Cooper AT3's P rated - stock size - nice tires - if they would have balanced correctly I would have kept them. Had them rebalanced three times - twice by the tire store where I bought them and once from my local dealer. All times I had highway vibrations that annoyed me to no end for a new vehicle.

I then decided under my 30 day satisfaction guarantee to switch to the Michelin MS2 P rated stock size. As we sometimes do in life this was an over reaction. They are very smooth tires but I knew I would be limited in my off road adventures so I swaped them out for hopefully my final set.

Yesterday I had the 265 Michelin AT2's installed, LT - E Rated. I was close to getting the same tire in 285 D rated but I just didn't want to deal with any rubbing issues, slower acceleration/braking and mpg loss due to the heavier tire weight. The stock Bridgestones are 40lbs, my LT 265's are 48 lbs and the 285's would have been 55 lbs. I do think that the 285's would probuably look better but this time my practical side won. I likely will be 98% road travel so I wanted to optomize for that and not the 2% offraod. I don't plan on a lift anytime soon, and these E rated LT tires should allow me to off road with confidence - at least to anywhere a stock Trail can go!

So far performance wise on the street I can definitly say that LT E rated tires are much better than any of the P rated tires I tried. No more floaty feeling or hesitation with curves and corners. You do feel the bumps a little more but nothing bad, the better performance greatly outweighs any negative issues.

I must say I have learned a lot and I am grateful that tire companies provide satisfaction guarantees!

One last suggestion to those Trail owners with vibration issues at highway speeds. Both of the Michelin tires have had no vibration issues - so maybe it's the tires? I would also suggest that you insist on the raod force balance - with the Haweka adaptor and a low taper balacer cone. This helps to make certain that the road force balance is working with a stable tire. I also had a different Hunter road force balancer used for my AT2 install. It was the "Hammerhead" model and the tire store manager said it was the newest technology. It uses a solid metal cone that is matched exactly to the size of your inner wheel hub. I asked to watch the install and the cone used had very little taper and fit very tight. They then secure it on the front of the wheel and place it in the balancer. All I can say is the results were perfect - highway speeds up to 80 were smooth. These Michelin AT2's are a nice compromise if you want an AT tire that will be more on road than off road!