Revco
Adventurer
My '93 K2500 Suburban 454 has Nitto Terra Grappler AT 265/75/16's on the stock steel wheels. I took the wheels and tires off because I was going to have my Treadwright Guard Dogs put on the wheels (even though they were bought to use on my other truck) and I bolted on a temporary set of 245/75/16's on stock steel wheels off my neighbors stock '94 C2500 parts truck. I ran around on those for a week because I was too busy to have the Guard Dogs mounted and didn't notice any bit of difference in the way it drove, handled, or stopped with the shorter, narrower tires. My little brother comes up to my place to buy a race car project nearby and we get to talking about my plan to install the 315/75/16 Guard Dogs and how I wasn't sure how much they'd rub, or if I could get away with a torsion bar crank to clear the rubber. He offered to let me toss his 285/75/16's on stock '05 K2500 Aluminum wheels onto my Suburban to see how the 285's fit. Again, no noticeable difference in the way my Suburban handled, stopped, steered, etc. I realized the 285's were pushing it with no lift, so I put my 265's back on, gave my neighbor his 245's back, and put the 315 Guard Dogs back in the garage.
There's simply not enough difference in tire weight or tire diameter to even remotely affect a big block 4x4 Suburban. I've decided that if I can't sell this thing in the next 6 months, I'm just going to put a Dana 60 under the front and put it on 37" tires and have some fun with it. I'd be willing to be that even with those 5" taller tires, the mileage still won't change enough to worry about.
There's simply not enough difference in tire weight or tire diameter to even remotely affect a big block 4x4 Suburban. I've decided that if I can't sell this thing in the next 6 months, I'm just going to put a Dana 60 under the front and put it on 37" tires and have some fun with it. I'd be willing to be that even with those 5" taller tires, the mileage still won't change enough to worry about.