Tire size help?

[colton1219]

Tried this on tacoma world but I guess they dont want to give advise .I Have a 2006 Tacoma. I bought it with 285 70 17 KM2 tires ,they rub to much even with my lift so they gotta go . I have 4.88 gears and a 6 speed to boot so my rpm get a little high.I have considered a 255 85 16 but they are pricey and they will still probably rub?I want to know if I went from a 32.5 tire (my 285 70 17 s') to a 235 85 16 or a 265 70 16 that is only 31.5 tall if it would help or hurt my MPG. I will be going to an A/T tire and also saving about 15 lbs each wheel. My RPms' will go up about 200 RPM'sbecause of a smaller tire but what do you guys think ,will I help myself with fuel consumption?Thanks

 

[nucktaco]

i dont know enough to help you but interested in selling the tires?

 

[bat]

How much lift and are they stock Toyota wheels

 

[tanglefoot]

From your size to a 265/75R16 (another option you may be interested in) is only a 2-3% difference in tire circumference, if my calculations are right. That's something you probably won't even be able to feel.

Do you know where your tires are rubbing? Do the 17" wheels have stock backspacing? You might be able to keep the same diameter and eliminate the rubbing if you do a little detective work.

If the tire outer edge is rubbing the fender, you can try a wheel with slightly more backspacing. If the tire inner edge is touching the inner fender or frame, you can try a wheel with more backspacing. Also, a tire with less section width can help either situation.

You can also just trim away a little of whatever surface the tire is rubbing against.

 

[bat]

Body mount

 

[colton1219]

Backspace is 4.5 and no trimming witch I really dont care about the rubbing, the issue is I want to better my mpg . My question is more about running the different tire sizes and gear ratio I have to get the best MPG?

 

[tanglefoot]

Oh! Well, for MPG, I would shoot for the as close as possible to the stock final drive ratio. I don't know which axle ratio and tire size yours originally came with but with your 4.88's, your fuel economy would probably suffer a little bit if you went with a smaller tire. You probably don't want any higher revs. If you are willing to change gear ratio as well, you'd probably get the best mileage going back to the stock ratio and stock-size tires. It would likely take a prohibitively-long time to pay for those changes with the small increase in MPG though. You'd probably be better off using a light foot and lots of space in front of you to keep your speed constant and reducing how much you drive.

 

[tacollie]

Staying below 65 and a light foot is going to make a bigger difference in mpgs than tire size, at least in my experience. 235s with 4.88s will be nice and torquey.

 

[Tim A]

You said you have 17" wheels on there now so what about 255/80 R17 KM2s? They're $186 apiece from TireRack and I would think that 4.88 would be a nice combo with these. I ran them for a while on 3.73 gears and city MPG suffered but highway MPG was really good.

I think 265 is too small but I don't know how to calculate the ratio vs stock.

EDIT: I ran those^^ tires on an 2010 Tacoma w/ about 2" of front lift, aftermarket wheels (17x8, 4.5 backspace, 0mm offset) and zero rubbing on the control arm or body mount.

 

[colton1219]

I thought about 255/80 R17 KM2s but I am not real fond of the noisy tread pattern . If I run a 16x7 wheel instead of a 17x8 wheel I will have a little more rubber on the sidewall for a better ride when I airdown and also keeping the sidewalls a little straighter with the 16x 7 wheel and whatever 16 tire I run. I have adjusted to driving very mildly and am doing pretty good ,Best is 17 MPg but in the woods it suffers pretty bad. I cant help but think that a lighter and narrower set up will help me alot more though, thanks for the opinions . Keep em coming . 235's or 255's