285s or 265s? Do the 285s look that much better?

[4RunnerTrail]

I have a question. Looking to upgrade tires on my Trail Edition. I'm curious from others, do the 285s look that much better? I would have to mod the fender liner upfront and then upgrade spare or have no spare tire. Hard to tell from pics but do they look noticably different inperson? I'm on the fense. I might even have to install bilstein 5100 set at either 2nd or 3rd setting to work with 285s. i'm running stock trail wheels.

I go back and forth on this. Would like truck to look more aggressive, love the look of off road trail but with the stock hwy tires looks frail. 265s in an at or mt would help.

pics? thoughts?

 

[1engineer]

IMO, the actual tire chosen makes more of a difference "looks wise" than the size of the tire. When I change I will go for an AT tire like the Duratracs or BFG AT in stock size instead of a larger tire. I will do it because of performance as primary, looks secondary though. Function over form.

 

[joneseyyy]

That's an extremely subjective question. I've run Duratracs in both the stock 265 and now in 285 on the 4runner. Here's my feedback - the duratracs in 265 look remarkably better and more rugged than the stock tires, and perform a whole hell of a lot better. The 285's in conjunction with my lift are (from a looks perspective) significantly better than the 265 Duratracs.

In orders of magnitude, going from stock to something more aggressive in the stock size is probably the most "bang for the buck" in terms of getting the "off road look" you want, while also giving you a better handling truck (in my opinion).

 

[ChipG]

Might want to concider....

Gearing. There is a noticable difference in gearing when stepping up to the larger tire.

 

[UtahSooner]

I go back and forth on this. Would like truck to look more aggressive, love the look of off road trail but with the stock hwy tires looks frail. 265s in an at or mt would help.

pics? thoughts?

I'll x2 joneseyyy's comments here, pretty subjective choice... we're talking about a ~1" difference in overall tire height and ~13/16ths (20 mm) difference in width...That said, I put 285s (GY Wrangler Silent Armors) on my stock 2010 TE after ~ 1k miles and aside from having to move/cut a little plastic (which is no big deal), they've worked well. Now, do they look "significantly" better than if I'd put on the same tires in a stock 265 size? Well, I think they look better... "significantly" better? All in the eye of the key holder I guess... While the Wrangler SA's tread isn't super agressive, the taller sidewalls definitely fill out the wheel wells more (and I like that look personally, some don't...). From the rear I can tell the difference in tire width if I look closely, but 20mm wider isn't much. Just puts the outside wall of the tire a scosh further outboard without haveing to add spacers (which I didn't want to do).

All that said, I had the "+1" size tires on my old 3rd Gen Sport Edition (also GY Wrangler SAs) so I was used to both the look and driving performance/feel of running a slightly larger tire. While there may be some minimal differences in gearing, acceleration, on-road performance, etc, I've never noticed any significant differences while driving. Your gas mileage will take a small hit with the added tire weight, but it's a very small hit especially when you figure that any AT or MT tire will have more rolling resistance than the stock Dunlop "AT" (aka street) tires. I'll also say that I spend a lot of time driving for work, both in town and 2-4 hr trips, and the highway performance of the 285s has been great.

Next up for me is a set of 285 size Duratracs for winter. I've got 30k miles on the current tires now and while there's plenty of tread for another year of "3 season" driving, the tread is a little lower than I'd like for winter driving back and forth to ski resorts and backcountry skiing trailheads around Utah.

Last thought - I don't have any suspension mods on the truck yet but that's the next project I'm considering. At least a leveling kit to raise the front end up just a bit. Got to save up the $$ before I go too far down that road though.

Just my $0.02. I'm pretty sure it'll look great either way (once you get rid of the Dunlops of course) so good luck. And, you asked for pics so here are 2 of my truck - one with the brand new 285s on the stock wheels and the second of the same tires (after 30k miles) on my new TRD wheels. For pics of stock size Duratracs on the same TRD wheels, check out some of 453030's pics in the links below:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/95279-got-trds-off-road.html
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/94681-mag-grey-owners-have-pretty-killa-wheel-option.html

 

[Y2KSR5]

I just went with stock size in the BFG AT. Couple pics of it

 

[11TEBLK]

Depends on Lift or not!?!

I was in a similar situation as you are a few months back. If you plan on a lift then I would definately go with 285's it just looks a lot meaner with bigger tires. Nothing worse then a lifted rig with small tires on it, just dosent look right IMO. I chose to go with the stock size Duratrac's. For me their PERFECT!! Aggressive look and feel and no need to upgrade you're suspension.

 

[offroadingatc]

IMO, the actual tire chosen makes more of a difference "looks wise" than the size of the tire. When I change I will go for an AT tire like the Duratracs or BFG AT in stock size instead of a larger tire. I will do it because of performance as primary, looks secondary though. Function over form.

Agree with this. AT tires have 'squarer' sidewalls, so give a much bigger look.

I plan to put stock sized duratracs on mine within the next month or so. My reasons for staying stock size:
-I dont think they look overly small now, and going AT should sort that out
-I dont want to mess up my odo/spedo, and dont really want to go to all the work of a speedohealer
-I like my fuel mileage
-I plan to use them year round, and wider is worse in snow.

Either way you cant go wrong

 

[harper7]

Looks are subjective! Literally hundreds of pics for you to look at in the lifted sticky section being 2 years into production and many have lifted with and without bigger tires for you to look at.

On road, performance wise you will definitely take a hit in the fuel mileage and quickness as the gearing is better suited to stock size(31.6") and the tires generally weigh more .

However the trade off is better performance offroad with bigger diameter tires by having more ground clearance.There is no substitute for clearance when your offroading and the only way to gain clearance with our 4 link suspension in the rear at the rear differential(pumpkin) and axle is by getting bigger tires.

Stock 265's are ~31.6" diameter and 285's are ~33" which breaks down to about .7" more ground clearance or radial difference. Doesn't sound like much ,right,but I do have plenty of scrape and gouge marks on my pumpkin,lower links and hitch reciever even with the bigger diameter tires. If I had .7" less clearance I would have scraped more or possibly gotten hung up?? For that reason I will eventually have even bigger diameter tires when I get better suited(4.56) gearing.

With gearing,a body mount chop and minor body lift I don't see any reason many people will be running 35's before too long in a 5th Gen.Just look at the 4th Gens and especially the FJ's where 35's are common with basically the same suspension/frame set up as us.

:trophy: Ground clearance is king in a 4 wheel drive and it also applies to deep snow,logs ,ditches, mud holes and not only rocks. Bigger diameter tires is the only way to gain it in the rear.That's the kind of performance I personally am looking for. They do also look better of course IMO!

 

[4RunnerTrail]

I was in a similar situation as you are a few months back. If you plan on a lift then I would definately go with 285's it just looks a lot meaner with bigger tires. Nothing worse then a lifted rig with small tires on it, just dosent look right IMO. I chose to go with the stock size Duratrac's. For me their PERFECT!! Aggressive look and feel and no need to upgrade you're suspension.

that looks great. C or E rated tires?

now if i could see 285s on stock wheels stock height!

 

[Will733]

that looks great. C or E rated tires?

now if i could see 285s on stock wheels stock height!

I doubt you'll find anyone with 285 Duratracs on a stock height 4Runner... I just put on a new set a few days ago (will post pics soon) and have more rubbing again. I had already trimmed the plastic fender liner enough to prevent any rubbing with 285 BFG ATs but these must be just a tad bigger and will require me to trim some more.

 

[user name:]

check out the 265/70r17 cooper stt's

 

[desert pirate]

Hi all, new to the forum and a new TE owner! I have been reading a ton on here but still remain confused about fitting 285s on my rig. The stock tires just dont cut it here in the NM sand with the extremely small contact patch. I dont plan on upgrading the suspension for a while but would love to run 285. I dont mind moving the liners for a bit more room, but dont want to have to trim them. Is this unrealistic?

It seems like Utahsooner is running them fine, but do they rub when off road?

Harper7 can you disclose your rim specs that allowed you to run 305s with just a spacer lift up front? And did that set up rub off road?

I can live with 275s if that is all i can fit stock, but would love to run the 285s (33s) if possible, willing to do the leveling lift if needed and move the liner a bit. Any help on achieving this would be lovely. Like i said i have searched and been reading on here daily for a month, thank you all for the wealth of knowledge already. Loving my new TE!

 

[4RunnerTrail]

I believe from the research i've seen you will be fine with bilstein set at 1.75 upfront and moving the fender lining with 285s

 

[Jtraskell]

Hi all, new to the forum and a new TE owner! I have been reading a ton on here but still remain confused about fitting 285s on my rig. The stock tires just dont cut it here in the NM sand with the extremely small contact patch. I dont plan on upgrading the suspension for a while but would love to run 285. I dont mind moving the liners for a bit more room, but dont want to have to trim them. Is this unrealistic?

It seems like Utahsooner is running them fine, but do they rub when off road?

Harper7 can you disclose your rim specs that allowed you to run 305s with just a spacer lift up front? And did that set up rub off road?

I can live with 275s if that is all i can fit stock, but would love to run the 285s (33s) if possible, willing to do the leveling lift if needed and move the liner a bit. Any help on achieving this would be lovely. Like i said i have searched <and been reading on here daily for a month, thank you all for the wealth of knowledge already. Loving my new TE!

Much of the rubbing occurs due to "castor" in your alignment. I have 285 Michelin's all season Radials Light Truck tires, Load range D. When first installed no rubbing at all. But after I had the castor changed to a more positive position (for a better steering feel), I got a "little" rub but only in reverse and only if I had the steering cocked all the way left or right. My original Castor was at around 2.0 and I moved it to 3.0.

I moved the inner wheel fenders forward about 1/2 inch or so, no more rubbing. Based on what I have read on this forum, 285 AT tires seem to rub a bit more, but again, I think it depends on your castor position and it seems all have solved the problem by either moving the inner wheel well liners forward, or installing a small to moderate front end lift. So, my suggestion is to put the tires on you want, if rubbing occurs, take a close look and if just moving the inner wheel wells solves the problem, great. If not, then go to a lift. I hope this helps.
Be safe.

 

[H2O_Doc]

255s?

I have been struggling with the same question and am leaning toward a much different consideration. I am thinking of 255/80s (R17). It sounds odd, but what i really want is the height and am probably not in need of the width of a 285 (although they look very cool). I have seen a few photos here of 4th gens with 255s, but no 5th gens yet. I'll post if I get the 255s.

 

[Will733]

Here are some quick parking lot pictures of the recently installed 285 Duratracs:

 

[4RunnerTrail]

Here are some quick parking lot pictures of the recently installed 285 Duratracs:

that looks sick. The duratracs do ilke big in 285s. How do you like them compared to the bfg All terrains?

 

[Will733]

that looks sick. The duratracs do ilke big in 285s. How do you like them compared to the bfg All terrains?

Thanks man... So far I'd say I like them much better. They are a bit larger even though they are technically the same size.

I took a road trip up to the mountains over the weekend (No offroading) and they handled on road just as well as the BFG's and didn't notice any change in MPG but the Duratracs just look WAY better IMO (And I've had 3 sets of BFG AT's from past vehicles that I loved so I was a bit biased).

Here's a BFG AT 285 (before) pic:

And a Duratrac 285 (after) pic:

 

[desert pirate]

Will733, do you have bilsteins in just the front or all around? And are you getting any rubbing when wheeling?

truck looks mean btw, really like it