[MENTION=108965]cowtown[/MENTION], at the risk of taking this thread into a "who's bulge is bigger" nosedive, complete with obligatory Spaceballs references, can we compare tire bulge measurements of your 265s vs. my LT285s? (are yours the LT or P rated versions?)
I also have my old LT285 Duratracs (with ~45k miles on them) mounted on my stock 7.5" wide TE rims and was going to do a bulge measurement, both on the truck under load and with no load, so I can get a rough comparison between how the tires mount up on the new 7" and old 7.5" rims. Obviously there will be more bulge on the new 7" rim but I'm guessing it's not more than 1/4" or so. Not that it makes it ideal to run 285 tires on a 7" rim, but all the research I've been doing the past few days indicates:
1) it's a pretty common practice (my local tire shop confirmed this and said they didn't have any concerns with my setup)
2) at worst the center tread will likely wear a bit faster than the shoulder tread.
Doubt this will put to rest the 285s on a 7" rim debate but it'll at least give us some real data of how different sizes of a common GY tire choice behaves. So far my tires have been handling pretty much the same as they did on the old 7.5" TRD wheels.
Oh, I'm running my tires at 44 psi normally so taking your measurements at that pressure would be awesome. If you're running a different pressure normally I can take measurements at another pressure as well if needed. Also, for reference I'll be using a small level held against the tire sidewall to get the vertical measurement line and a small ruler to measure the distance from the level edge to the rim.
Sound like a plan? May the Schwartz be with You!
