are 35s really worth it?

[Rushingman]

when i get a lift and new wheels and tires for my 4runner, im considering getting 275/70/17 tires or 35.
it seems like with 35s theres so much tire that just gets stuffed into the wheel well when flexing.
so people with 35s, is it worth it to get them?

 

[sogoood]

Is losing MPG or power worth it? is the cost or maintenance worth it? its up to you

 

[t-man]

when i get a lift and new wheels and tires for my 4runner, im considering getting 275/70/17 tires or 35.
it seems like with 35s theres so much tire that just gets stuffed into the wheel well when flexing.
so people with 35s, is it worth it to get them?

I would never go back! The power difference between 33's and 35's is negligible I have the V8 though. They aren't the easiest to fit, lots of trimming involved, but I go everywhere with them and rarely bottom out now. Many will say no they aren't worth it, my answer is they've never had them! lol Do what you want, it's your truck. I think the 4runner looks so much better with them too.

 

[Rushingman]

Is losing MPG or power worth it? is the cost or maintenance worth it? its up to you

What do you mean by maintenance?

 

[having fun]

I would never go back! The power difference between 33's and 35's is negligible I have the V8 though. They aren't the easiest to fit, lots of trimming involved, but I go everywhere with them and rarely bottom out now. Many will say no they aren't worth it, my answer is they've never had them! lol Do what you want, it's your truck. I think the 4runner looks so much better with them too.

Hey Tony, you say a lot of trimming, was that mainly on the front section of the wheel well area, I notice you have stock bumper and rims.

Thinking on jumping up in size. I have the aftermarket bumper so should have clearance there, just no body lift.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

when i get a lift and new wheels and tires for my 4runner, im considering getting 275/70/17 tires or 35.
it seems like with 35s theres so much tire that just gets stuffed into the wheel well when flexing.
so people with 35s, is it worth it to get them?

Uhm, I hate to burst your bubble; but a 275/70R17 is a hair over 32" tall. I'm running 285/70R17's which is a hair under 33's. So are you asking if 32/33's are worth it or 35's? I would say the 32/33" tires are an easy upgrade (stock is like 31.5") worth doing if you can fit them comfortably. I plan on my next set of wheels & tires being setup for 35's tires, but I still need to do a 1.5" body lift. body mount modification, and some trimming and tucking to make them fit fine with flexing and such.

But if are going to off-road your rig and plan on setting it up with a quality lift, skids, bumper, ect. 34 or 35's wouldn't be a bad idea. Keep in mind that the only thing that really gives you more overall clearance is tire height, everything else is a compromise (i.e. go beyond a 3" suspension lift and you need a diff drop bracket usually, even at 3" your LCA are still roughly the same height from the ground, ect.)

There's also the whole bigger, heavier tires do munch up the gas a bit more and you'll need to correct the speedometer (I made a thread on one way to do that.) There's also the fact that if you're going for 35's you're probably going for a more aggressive tread pattern, which usually mean more road noise, it may feel a bit stiffer (depending on what type of tire and pressure you run) and there's a lot of prep to fit 35's a J120/J150 platform. I would say 35's are about the maximum you can run on a 4th/5th gen 4Runner without starting to get into serious mods like bracket lifts, custom work, ect. 34's seem to be a good number for many and I love the way my 4Runner runs with 33" Nitto Terra Grappler LTs.

I would never go back! The power difference between 33's and 35's is negligible I have the V8 though. They aren't the easiest to fit, lots of trimming involved, but I go everywhere with them and rarely bottom out now. Many will say no they aren't worth it, my answer is they've never had them! lol Do what you want, it's your truck. I think the 4runner looks so much better with them too.

That makes me feel better, I didn't notice a significant loss in acceleration and grunt going to 33's, but I was worried that the V8 might chug a bit on the 35's (I know the V6's tend to get very sluggish feeling without regearing at that size.)

 

[t-man]

Hey Tony, you say a lot of trimming, was that mainly on the front section of the wheel well area, I notice you have stock bumper and rims.

Thinking on jumping up in size. I have the aftermarket bumper so should have clearance there, just no body lift.

I had to trim in front of the front tires only a little, with an aftermarket bumper you'd be golden. I had to remove the plastic behind the front tire to get to the pinch weld. I had to go up about 18" from the bottom of the truck. Again, I don't have as much lift as many of you guys, which I'm fixing now. ;-) lol
For the rear bumper I had to cut about 2 inches back at the bottom and it goes up about 8 inches where it zeros out. I flexed it out, marked then trimmed, repeated til it didn't hit anymore. Front too, That's why I just finished trimming the front. Everytime I thought I had it I'd hit it again! I'll take pics tomorrow. Rained all day and I wasn't able to work on ol' Gertrude at all. :-(

Uhm, I hate to burst your bubble; but a 275/70R17 is a hair over 32" tall. I'm running 285/70R17's which is a hair under 33's. So are you asking if 32/33's are worth it or 35's? I would say the 32/33" tires are an easy upgrade (stock is like 31.5") worth doing if you can fit them comfortably. I plan on my next set of wheels & tires being setup for 35's tires, but I still need to do a 1.5" body lift. body mount modification, and some trimming and tucking to make them fit fine with flexing and such.

But if are going to off-road your rig and plan on setting it up with a quality lift, skids, bumper, ect. 34 or 35's wouldn't be a bad idea. Keep in mind that the only thing that really gives you more overall clearance is tire height, everything else is a compromise (i.e. go beyond a 3" suspension lift and you need a diff drop bracket usually, even at 3" your LCA are still roughly the same height from the ground, ect.)

There's also the whole bigger, heavier tires do munch up the gas a bit more and you'll need to correct the speedometer (I made a thread on one way to do that.) There's also the fact that if you're going for 35's you're probably going for a more aggressive tread pattern, which usually mean more road noise, it may feel a bit stiffer (depending on what type of tire and pressure you run) and there's a lot of prep to fit 35's a J120/J150 platform. I would say 35's are about the maximum you can run on a 4th/5th gen 4Runner without starting to get into serious mods like bracket lifts, custom work, ect. 34's seem to be a good number for many and I love the way my 4Runner runs with 33" Nitto Terra Grappler LTs.



That makes me feel better, I didn't notice a significant loss in acceleration and grunt going to 33's, but I was worried that the V8 might chug a bit on the 35's (I know the V6's tend to get very sluggish feeling without regearing at that size.)

Well said!
I still surprise people with the power I have. I always tell them to wait till I can regear! The only times I notice a power loss is climbing long sandy hills. Mud, trails, even towing my work trailer, (~5800 lbs) mean little to the V8 torque. My tire and rim combo weigh in at 108lbs a piece! Those TRD forged rims are super heavy. Like 38 lbs a piece.
If I had the money and I wanted 35's, I would either go with a good quality coilover system and 2-3" of lift in the rear, 3" in front then a 1-1.5" body lift, or just use the FJ cruiser 6" drop bracket lift, which I'm going to do when I can. The Bilsteins are nice but I don't think they handle the weight of the tires very well. I get chatter over certain bumps because the shocks just can't handle the weight I believe. Of course, that could be my stock springs too.
Some notes. You will have to do the following:
Hammer pinch welds flat
Chop body mount, a ton
Remove mud flaps
Trim front and rear bumpers
I ended up removing the driver side fender lining completely now, and the only thing left on passenger side is to help keep water out of the intake.

 

[Troymclure]

I would never go back! The power difference between 33's and 35's is negligible I have the V8 though. They aren't the easiest to fit, lots of trimming involved, but I go everywhere with them and rarely bottom out now. Many will say no they aren't worth it, my answer is they've never had them! lol Do what you want, it's your truck. I think the 4runner looks so much better with them too.

^this. I thought itd be so slow and Id get terrible MPG's, but the difference between a 33 and 35 is minimal. If you wanna go bigger tires and are willing to trim the body mount (which I had to do with 33's anyway) then I say go 35's.

 

[Rushingman]

Thanks guys!
Do you think a shop is smart enough to do the trimming?
If they would even do it, cause I'd liability.
I'm not good at all with the mechanics of a vehicle.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Thanks guys!
Do you think a shop is smart enough to do the trimming?
If they would even do it, cause I'd liability.
I'm not good at all with the mechanics of a vehicle.

You'd have to shop around for the right shop. It's one of those things where you can easily cut off more than you want and weaken/damage things (one member who I have gone off-roading with cut into the cab and then welded plates over the hole to fit his 39's, then 44's, it wasn't pretty but it did give him clearance; that being said I don't remember if he welded together all the sheetmetal ends under those plates before capping it.) That being said, I am sure any experienced off-road oriented shop or fabricator could help you out without an issue. It's not rocket science to cut, weld, and smash on things with a hammer; it just takes more than two inbred neurons to measure twice and cut once.

 

[t-man]

Personally, trimming the plastic and hammering the pinch welds was as basic and easy as it gets. Literally, after you cut the body mount and put the tires on just start cutting. Knife, jig saw, Sawzall with short blade, or an oscillating tool is what I used all will work great. Some of the trimming is very obvious, and for other parts you just take it for a ride and drive on a little Hill, rock, log, stump, anything that will make the suspension work. Go slow and as soon as you hear a tire rub get out and find where. Take your tool with you if it's battery powered, or a marker to mark with. Do all 4 corners, trim, then do it again. Just keep doing it until you don't get any rubbing anymore.
One other thing, and please don't take this as a personal attack. If you don't learn how to wrench on it, then it makes it harder to learn how to wheel it, find limitations, and come up with more mods and even find things that will work for you. Find a club or some buddies into this stuff to help walk you through the basics. If you take it to a mechanic for everything you'll get raped. Just good, honest rates are a huge dent in the wallet. For example: replacing a wheel bearing is less than $200 in parts, but I've seen quotes on here of upwards of $600-$700! It's easy to do! Between here and the toyota 120 forum there's detailed right-ups for everything you could want. Read them, print it out, see if you can find someone to help you. Come here and ask for help, there's a shit ton of active members on here to help. This is one of the most friendly offroad threads I've come across, use it to your advantage. I have, and look at my truck now. I literally don't have $2k into my truck other than the purchase price. My tires were a grand! So I have less than a grand into my lift components.
Don't be scared, just do it!

 

[having fun]

So I guess all of you guys that went with 35's, all have v8's.

 

[t-man]

So I guess all of you guys that went with 35's, all have v8's.

I do of course. One thing that always cracks me up is when V6 guys say they have almost as much power as the V8. Horsepower means very little in an offroad truck. It's all about the torque and the V8 has gobs of it! Lol

 

[having fun]

I do of course. One thing that always cracks me up is when V6 guys say they have almost as much power as the V8. Horsepower means very little in an offroad truck. It's all about the torque and the V8 has gobs of it! Lol

I know that torque has a lot more to the power side. Me having the 6, I did notice the decrease in the response and acceleration when putting the hammer down, going from stock 30.5 to 32s. It didn't change any when rocking as in low 4 anyway. Even with a m/t tire pulling the horse trailer over grades it didn't make any change as I have learned when to manually shift my gears when on cruze control.

I'm debating on a m/t 34-35 right now, just wondering how sluggish it might be, not that I use it as a sports racer.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I know that torque has a lot more to the power side. Me having the 6, I did notice the decrease in the response and acceleration when putting the hammer down, going from stock 30.5 to 32s. It didn't change any when rocking as in low 4 anyway. Even with a m/t tire pulling the horse trailer over grades it didn't make any change as I have learned when to manually shift my gears when on cruze control.

I'm debating on a m/t 34-35 right now, just wondering how sluggish it might be, not that I use it as a sports racer.

Budget at least a rear axle re-gear (both front and rear wouldn't hurt, but since you can just drive in 2WD with the V6, it's not as important) when going to the 35's. Best case scenario you can live with the "sluggish" feeling of the heavier tires with the V6, worst case scenario you have the money set-aside to fix it pretty quickly (hell while you're changing the gears might as well throw a locker in there too!)

Something I notice when people mod things in general (not just 4Runners) is they fail to understand what they are modifying and why. The reason that's important is because you can better tune/modify something if you understand what it is you're actually doing vs. just "oh everyone else does this so I will too!" For example, some people will buy an off-road bumper for their 4Runner, but fail to realize that all that extra weight is sitting on the front end and should be complimented by at the very least stiffer springs if not a good suspension lift kit (since you'll also gain clearance and a stronger suspension if you do the latter.) Or buy a winch, lights, and/or heavy duty stereo system; but fail to realize that they're pushing the stock alternator to it's max and the battery can only do so much; a beefier alternator would go a long way from leaving you stranded in the middle of no where with a dead battery and an alternator that can't keep the car running.

It's good that you're asking these questions and planning out your mods. Sure it gets expensive fast when start taking into consideration supporting mods and repairs, but the it goes back to the old adage "measure twice, cut once." You don't want to be in a position where you're going, "I wish I didn't put these 35's on until I re-geared and now I'm stuck with this sluggish mush ball until I save more money up" vs. "well, looks like I'm gonna have to dip into the savings to re-gear next week because this is too slow for me!"

Post Note-

Also you may want to at least learn a bit more on how to work on your vehicle; it's a very empowering and useful set of skills to have. Once you understand the basics like leverage, electricity, ect. you can apply them to areas outside of just the 4Runner. It's not exactly a training guide, but the Toolbox sticky is a good starting point to learn more about how you'd go about working on your 4Runner and learning more about the process: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/132953-toolbox-how-use.html

 

[having fun]

Budget at least a rear axle re-gear (both front and rear wouldn't hurt, but since you can just drive in 2WD with the V6, it's not as important) when going to the 35's. Best case scenario you can live with the "sluggish" feeling of the heavier tires with the V6, worst case scenario you have the money set-aside to fix it pretty quickly (hell while you're changing the gears might as well throw a locker in there too!)

From what I have read, when re gearing you have to do both as to run at same rotation speed. This should apply to even the 6's when in 4x4 mod?

I have wanted to do the rear in a locker setup personally, would give me a reason to if I grenade the rear, LOL.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

From what I have read, when re gearing you have to do both as to run at same rotation speed. This should apply to even the 6's when in 4x4 mod?

I have wanted to do the rear in a locker setup personally, would give me a reason to if I grenade the rear, LOL.

Well theoretically speaking, if you're doing a V8 you need to do both front and rear axles since the T3 Torsen Center Differential will be working too hard with the biased torque split of one axle being geared differently than the other in day to day driving (due to the All-Time 4WD set-up on the V8 4WDs.) While the V6 can be put into 2WD via the Multi-Mode 4WD system, the way that system works is by putting the transfercase in 2WD and then decoupling the ring & pinion gears from the front driveshaft; essentially isolating the system completely and allowing it to freewheel without any torque on the pinion shaft of the front differential. It could and probably would cause some torque biasing in 4Hi and 4Lo at the center diff with the Torsen working a bit hard. But theoretically you'd only be in 4WD when you need it and you'd be going at relatively low speeds and gears so the torque transfer isn't as forceful as it would be say rolling down the freeway at 80mph.

In the real world... I couldn't tell you for sure, most of the guys I met in person did both axles at the same time and I don't remember some of the threads from waaaaay back about re-gearing. It's been a while since any one mentioned regearing any 4th gen seriously V6 or V8 and I haven't heard of many people who did do just the rear axle. That being said I do recall hearing that the front differential on the V6 4th gens is actually geared differently than the rear axle because of the slightly different front differentials used in the V6's because of the ADD (Automatic Differential Disconnect) system.

Bottom line, as long as you're in 2WD the physics seem to indicate you could get away with just a rear axle regear if you didn't have the money to do bother and rarely used the 4WD until you got the front regeared to relieve the extra stress on the front differential. But in practice I don't how the 4WD system would react with such a big bias in torque split...

 

[Troymclure]

So I guess all of you guys that went with 35's, all have v8's.

Not me. V8 would be nice with the 35's, but the V6 holds it own pretty well

 

[t-man]

My experience with the V6 was that it was all high rpm power. So I think big heavy tires would affect that quite a bit. I feel it down low on the V8, but the torque curve is so low that it compensates very quickly. And when I hit 3000 rpms she comes alive in wicked ways! Lol
With the V8, I've made the traction control kick in on many occasions turning at a stop sign and getting on it. Never hot, dry asphalt, but on wet or dirty and cold roads definitely. Also, on dirt roads I can get it pretty sideways, but with full-time 4wd is not the same. It slides sideways, the ass end doesn't kick out.
I think it was Nathana that said after regearing to 4.88's he could chirp the tires easily with his V8. He now has a supercharger on it too. Pre VVT-I motor.

 

[having fun]

Not me. V8 would be nice with the 35's, but the V6 holds it own pretty well

Thanks Jake, I thought you where a 6 also. I have some Taco buddies running the 35s also and said no problems " as of yet". Most of the guys I torcher my ride with are monster gen3's and tacos.
[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] Thanks for that info there. Might have to do some research on this also.


Just knowing my tires are getting a little thin and Black Friday coming up, been looking at the Kelvar MT/R's. Comes in 34.1 &34.8