Tire Dilemma

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Check your tires. They will tell you if you have 16" or 15" wheels. Width is another issue. Best measure with the tire off, and if should be stamped on the inside as well. Many folks at the tire stores can simply look and make an educated guess.

hth's

gb
 
Sooo... when it comes time to trade in the ol mudders... what do you all think is a fair asking price for them?

BFG 33x12.5x15 Good condition... 1 plug... 50 ish% tread

Thanks fellas





And no... its the smile :flipoff2:
 
I agree that it would be preferable to run 16's; however, I have never had any problems with the tall skinnies on my 15's, and I am particularly fond of stock alloys from 91-93 80 series cruisers. The 9.5's work very well on a 7 inch wide rim.
 
dieseldog said:
I agree that it would be preferable to run 16's; however, I have never had any problems with the tall skinnies on my 15's, and I am particularly fond of stock alloys from 91-93 80 series cruisers. The 9.5's work very well on a 7 inch wide rim.
Click to expand...

Hi dieseldog. Do you air down and run back roads with the 15's? Any issues? Looking for your experience...I never have.

I have some stock 15" powdercoated steelies that a buddy gave me. I would not hesitate to run 33x15's on them on my BJ42, full street pressure, as it does not go off road any more. Here, we typically have long sections of backroads to travel to get to a trailhead. Standard practice is to air down as soon as the pavement ends, and speeds are not crawling to the trailhead. I would and have run at 20lbs on backroads in the 16" tires. I would not feel as confident in the equivalant 15".s...not tall skinnies anyway.

gb
 
I don't do slick rock or other rock crawling. I generally stick to what I refer to as "Colorado" offroading, as well as hunting, and camping. I love to travel old mines roads and back trails but am not a hard core wheeler. I will almost NEVER be caught in mud. But that's just me. I air down much less often than others do, and when I do, I never go as low as others.
 
Greg_B said:
Hi dieseldog. Do you air down and run back roads with the 15's? Any issues? Looking for your experience...I never have.

I have some stock 15" powdercoated steelies that a buddy gave me. I would not hesitate to run 33x15's on them on my BJ42, full street pressure, as it does not go off road any more. Here, we typically have long sections of backroads to travel to get to a trailhead. Standard practice is to air down as soon as the pavement ends, and speeds are not crawling to the trailhead. I would and have run at 20lbs on backroads in the 16" tires. I would not feel as confident in the equivalant 15".s...not tall skinnies anyway.

gb
Click to expand...
i must be weird or something (okay quite laughing) but i have a hard time understanding this 16" to 15" debate. a 16" rim is only 1 inch bigger so the sidewall above the rim is only 1/2" shorter verses a 15" rim with the same overall tire size. do you really think that 1/2" is going to stiffen the tire up THAT much so you can air one down better than the other?
i do not htink so. if you run the same strength sidewalled tire then you can air a 15" down the same as a 16"
please correct me where i am wrong...
cheers
 
no.. but a 16" tire usually has a higher load capacity and that generally means a stiffer tire. A 15 in a c and a 16 in a d I think you would notice a difference. Probably depends on the tire too. I'm kinda like Dieseldog in my wheeling lately. I was out in Utah and I got kinda stuck it a fun and nasty rut. Perry mentioned I should air down, which would have helped but I said I think I should put it in 4wd :)
 
crushers said:
i must be weird or something (okay quite laughing) but i have a hard time understanding this 16" to 15" debate. a 16" rim is only 1 inch bigger so the sidewall above the rim is only 1/2" shorter verses a 15" rim with the same overall tire size. do you really think that 1/2" is going to stiffen the tire up THAT much so you can air one down better than the other?
i do not htink so. if you run the same strength sidewalled tire then you can air a 15" down the same as a 16"
please correct me where i am wrong...
cheers
Click to expand...

Morning Wayne.

As mentioned, afaik in most instances the equivalent sized 16" tire will be load rated higher (better sidewalls, heavier composition etc). Sidewall height does play a factor too. Remember, I am talking about 33x9.5 here.

Ya gotta wonder why very few manufacturers make a 33x9.5 in 15" but there are many brands that go 255/85R16. There are exceptions, however dollars to donuts the manufacturer has beefed up the sidewall if they stayed 15". Simex comes to mind as they have tall/skinnies (going even larger to 35x10.5 in 15's and 16's) and Super Swamper as well.

I was out yesterday in the Poo Vagon, and ran the day at 22 lbs all round. 35x12.5x15 and I felt stable. Had some pretty big tire flex and bulges when going over some rocks, and with the weight of the 60 I would not want to go too much lower without different tires (military come to mind).

Looking simply at 16"; Take a 8.25R16 military and a generic 255/85/R16. I bet you could safely run much lower pressure in the military simply due to sidewall and overall tire construction.

http://www.bronco4x4.com/newsport.html
http://www.intercotire.com/html/special_service.htm

gb
 
Last edited:
After all this great discussion, and driving around on the big 33's... i am thinking that i might see if anyone is interested in swapping tires and rims altogether. I am think what might suite my needs best is a 33X10.5X16... or similarily sized wheel/tire. I like the look of the skinnier tire, and I really like the idea of the fuel savings.

Anyone know what size rim (being lazy asking) the old 4 runner aluminum's were?

They might do nicely... :o
 
Here is a pic of my 61 on 255/85R16. My favorite tire size for a moderate lifted vehicle and daily driver.

Picture012.jpg
 
Lots of stock 15x7 rims out there on 4Runners. Like I said, I personally like the Toyota alloy from 91 to 93--it was on Land Cruisers, Tacomas, and 4Runners. When I put them on my Cruisers, I use billet aluminum spacers from Marlin Crawlers. The spacers have new lug studs and are NOT just thick shims.
 
Greg_B said:
Brad, were those spaced out with bolt-ons?

gb
Click to expand...

Nope, at the time of that pic I did not have the IFS hub on or the spacer in the rear. If I was going to ryun that tire combo I would definately purchase a set of spacers. I have been very impressed with my 1.5" spacers so far.

bt
 
The spacers that I have bolt on to the existing lug nuts and have a new set of lug nuts to bolt your tire on to. They are 1.5" thick and provide an extra 3" of width to the truck.

they look like this from Marlin Crawler .

5lugspacers_500.jpg
 
Ahhh.... got it! Otherwise the rig looks funny with the skinnies riding all up inside the wells... not to mention the 6 bolt to 5!! :o
 
Ya, those are a 5 bolt but they make them in the standard 6 bolt, good catch I din't even see that. :doh:

The skinnys aren't to bad on a truck without fender flares. Both my brothers run 255/85R16s on their 60s without spacers and it looks oK.

If you want pics let me know.
 
Ya... I am still torn between 33X12.5X15 and 32X11.5X15 Pro Comps. I will be getting a Belton suspension shortly.... I know there is not much difference between the tires, and the 33's might look better... but the 32's will get better milage. .... grrr. No replies to my tire/rim swap yet.
 
I like to use the Marlin Crawler spacers so that I can run rims that don't have the proper backspacing/offset. It's not so much a factor of the skinny tires as it is wanting to use a broader selection of rims that is readily available for Cruiser-specific needs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom