Tire size recommendation for lifted Tacoma? "Skinny" or "normal"?

[ashooter]

Hi folks.

I know this is splitting hairs, but since there are a lot of "skinny" tire lovers here, I thought I'd run this by you and see what I get.... Redline, oh Redline, wherefore art thou Redline?

FIRST, some background info, so you'll know where I'm coming from:

I have had a set of LT235/85R16 Yokohama Geolandar G015 tires on stock steel wheels, on my stock 2015 Tacoma (not TRD pkg) for the last 35,000 miles or so, and just last week had an Old Man Emu "light load" suspension installed, which gave me about 2.5" of lift, and in my opinion a MUCH nicer ride. That's another story, though...

I have been VERY happy with the performance of the Yokos! Mostly highway miles, but maybe 1,000 or so of those miles have been on dirt/gravel/rocks. I could probably squeeze another 5-10,000 miles out of the Geolandars, but I like some tread depth on my tires, so I am going to replace them in the next week or two. DEFINITELY going with another set of the Geolandar G015's, but am wracking my brain trying to decide whether to go with 235/85R16 again, or be more "conventional" and go with 265/75R16???

The ONLY reason I'm even considering the 265's is because my wife drives the truck most of the time, and she says it feels "twitchy", like steering is over-responsive. BTW, I'm only running 38psi in the 235's, so I don't notice that "twitchy" issue like I did when I had the same size tires installed on my '92 Land Cruiser and the tire shop put 65psi in them.

I guess the ACTUAL questions I have are:

1) Will the 265's give more lateral stability, less "twitchy" feel in the steering, especially for highway driving?

2) Will the 265's mess with the alignment, and/or be more likely to give me screwy wear patterns on the tread?

Thanks!

 

[luthj]

What is your rigs trail weight? What surfaces do you predominately drive on? That will influence tire width selection.

 

[billiebob]

1) Yes, part of that will be correct rims and pressure.

2) No, but screwy tread wear patterns are a Geolander specialty.

235/85R16s are a pretty industrial tire. And built for long service life in industrial settings.
265/75R16s are pretty boy tires. Priced and styled to get those with an ego. You will get a much shorter life.

The 235s often come with a mileage warranty.
The 265s will likely not.

 

[ashooter]

Rig weight? Stock shortbed Tacoma with Snugtop cap, plus 500 lbs or less of people + gear, 99% of the time.

Highway driving 90+ percent of the time. The rest is rough, rocky roads/trails.

Primarily, I'm interested in highway performance.

@billiebob - I must have been lucky! I've run this tire on 2 different trucks, for a total of 70,000+ miles, and they have been the most forgiving tires I've ever used, in terms of screwy wear patterns!

 

[4xdog]

Any pix of the Tacoma on 235/85-16s? I run that size (BFG AT KO) on my OME-fitted 2003 Tacoma and I'm quite happy with them. I'm considering 235/85-16 for next boots on my OME-fitted 2015 Tacoma, just like you are!

The 2015, with stock 265/70-16 BFG Rugged Trails:

The 2003:

 

[shade]

If it feels twitchy after a 2.5" lift, I'd take a look at the alignment numbers before concluding it's related to tyre size. It's likely running too low of caster angle now. +3° of caster feels pretty good with that amount of lift, but you'll need aftermarket upper control arms to get there. I used to use SPC/Light Racing UCAs, but changed over to JBA Heavy Duty UCAs for a stronger design.

https://jbaoffroad.com/toyota.html

As for tyre size, if you don't feel the truck is too sluggish with the larger circumference, stick with LT235/85R16 . I'm happy with the Cooper S/T MAXX in 265/75R16.

 

[ashooter]

I'm not unhappy at all with the 235's... This is not about "looks", for me. I'm just wondering if the 265's would be "better" for my use...

@4xdog - Here's what it looks like today:

 

[roving1]

I am running 235/85R16 Cooper STMAXX. I very much like these tires but the size is absolutely perfect for a 1st gen Taco in my opinion. Especially with a 2.7 and 4:56 gears. From less unsprung weight, to less drag at highway speeds, to butter performance in rain at speed and some types of snow and sand where a skinnier tire is just better. I can pull 20 MPG at 70MPH loaded to the absolute max now. Something I could not do at all with wider tires that were literally worse in every aspect of in and off road performance (BFG AT's).

Twitchiness is more a function of brand new or worn old off road tires or bad alignment. Size isn't as big a deal although wider tires can act weird in rutted out asphalt.

To be fair my new ST's wandered at highway speeds for about the first 500 miles. Then have been super stable for 15K miles and driving all the way from MI to Mexico and back.
235/85R16 album
Vid driving

 

[shade]

I should've answered your questions more directly.

I guess the ACTUAL questions I have are:

1) Will the 265's give more lateral stability, less "twitchy" feel in the steering, especially for highway driving?

2) Will the 265's mess with the alignment, and/or be more likely to give me screwy wear patterns on the tread?

1. No. If you're using OEM UCAs, twitchiness and lateral instability are more likely an alignment issue related to lifting the truck (too low of caster angle), especially for highway driving. Even if the alignment numbers read as "in specification", since the truck has been lifted, those numbers no longer necessarily apply.

2. No. Your lift changed the alignment and could create wear issues related to misalignment, not the tyre size.

I'm not unhappy at all with the 235's... This is not about "looks", for me. I'm just wondering if the 265's would be "better" for my use...

Good, but I don't think anyone mentioned "looks".

If you were considering a move from a 235 to 285 series tyre, there may a noticeable difference, but 235-to-265 probably wouldn't be different enough to feel behind the wheel. There's only about an inch of difference in tyre width.

 

[ashooter]

Thanks. I had it aligned right after the suspension was installed, but didn't think to ask for a printout. I've been researching alignment specs for the past couple of hours over at tacomaworld.com, so now I know what to look for... I'll take it back to the shop and have them check it, and adjust as necessary.

 

[shade]

Thanks. I had it aligned right after the suspension was installed, but didn't think to ask for a printout. I've been researching alignment specs for the past couple of hours over at tacomaworld.com, so now I know what to look for... I'll take it back to the shop and have them check it, and adjust as necessary.

TW will be a help. You may be able to have the shop look up your alignment sheet and give you a copy for reference.

 

[roving1]

Oh Toyota specs have stupid wiggle room in them too. It helps to take it to a shop that cares instead of just doing it to "spec". On my 2002 2wd Taco the camber can be from something like .3 positive to .4 negative. So you can have almost a whole degree of cross camber and be in spec. My truck was pulling and was at the maximum range and the shop kept my truck for a whole day to hook it up to the rack and then never put a wrench on it because it was "in spec".

 

[4xdog]

When I had the 235/85-16 BFG AT KOs on the Gen 1 Tacoma without the OME lift, the fronts would rub on the inner fender at full or near-full lock. The approx 2-inch lift from the Old Man Emu kit fixed that.

Both 2003 and 2015 Tacomas were able to be aligned in-spec using standard control arms, but I'll agree it's probably pretty close under those conditions. Neither one is twitchy at highway speeds. I have real difficulty hitting 20 mpg in either Tacoma -- more like 18-ish over many thousands of miles on Western trips with very good data. But then, that's a V6 double cab, not a 4-cylinder single cab.

 

[ashooter]

Thought I'd post this, in case it helps anybody else in the future:

I got the shop to send me the printout from the alignment they did immediately after installing the OME kit, and caster is about 1deg lower than it should be, which I guess would account for the "twitchy" feeling my wife is noticing at 70mph+.

According to apparently competent members over on tacomaworld, with 2.5" of lift and 32" tires, I should look for:

+2.5 caster (left side) and +2.8 to +3.0 (right side)
+0.2 to +0.3 camber
+0.05 to +0.06 toe-in

 

[shade]

Thought I'd post this, in case it helps anybody else in the future:

I got the shop to send me the printout from the alignment they did immediately after installing the OME kit, and caster is about 1deg lower than it should be, which I guess would account for the "twitchy" feeling my wife is noticing at 70mph+.

According to apparently competent members over on tacomaworld, with 2.5" of lift and 32" tires, I should look for:

+2.5 caster (left side) and +2.8 to +3.0 (right side)
+0.2 to +0.3 camber
+0.05 to +0.06 toe-in

That's a good target. I was happy with:

L R
+3 Caster +3
+0.1 Camber +0.1
+0.05 Toe +0.05

That was with SPC/Light Racing UCAs. The JBA HD UCAs I have now added more caster, so both sides are at +4. It doesn't need that much, but it feels fine and isn't hurting anything.

Out of five alignments, only one has gone well, and that mechanic was sharp enough to quickly move on to something better than doing alignments. Once, the guy wanted to hack off the threaded male end of a tie rod because he was too dumb to realize he needed to clean some chips out of the female threads. "It's too long! I gots to cut it to make it fit!" Hey, at least he asked before hitting it with a grinder.

I'm going to start doing alignments myself. The tools pay for themselves after a few uses, I can take them on trips in case I need to make adjustments, and I won't waste hours at a shop, only to be rewarded with a truck that pulls to the right. I hate tyre shops.