Yes, sorry for yet another T4R lift & tire thread... I have spent what seems like countless hours researching the right lift and tires for my usage/budget/desires/etc. on this site along with others and have settled on the OME kit (Front- OME885/ N140S & Rear- OME895/ N142) from Slee Offroad that should be in early next week. Ben at Slee was a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend his services.

The 4runner is a 2006 Limited 4x4 V8 that I bought used a few weeks ago. No pics yet, but it looks the same as member blue2006's rig:


My question is in regards to rather or not I should go ahead and install the lift without tires or wait until I have purchased new tires to go along with it. Since my truck has the oem 18" wheels the BFG AT KO 265/65/R18 tires I am looking at will be close to a grand total after mounting and balancing. I am still not sure these are the tires I will be going with but will need to save up a little more before making this purchase. It would be nice to go ahead and buy/install the spidertax spacers as well even if going with the smaller 31.7" 265 BFG tires over the 275 or 285 since I feel this would also help with the appearance and performance.

Would my truck look awkward with the OME lift and stock Michelin tires until I can purchase the larger tires?? Should I just wait until I have the tires to install both at once? If anyone happens to have any pics of their lifted rigs with stock tires that would be great!

I already have a set budget each month that is quickly blown through with my MX racing hobby and buying this 4Runner has simply shot that budget out of the water. It seems every day I log onto this board I end purchasing something else!! (Terk XM direct, spare tire lock, Platinum 100k warranty, rear diff breather mod parts, front window tint, hitch step bumper, treo phone mount, weathertech floor/cargo liners, engine bay hole plugs, cabin air filters, hitch mounted motorcycle carrier, etc., etc.) I need professional help!!

Thanks in advance for any help,
Paul

 

it's going to look a little funny with lift and small tires it always does but if you want to do that you can I would just suggest being carefull when driving around becuase you will have a higher center of gravity and it would help if your tires were a little wider. I would just wait untill you get you new tires. Go with 275 or 285. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the reply. It seems each day I am flip-flopping between the 265, 275, and 285s!

 

Do you plan to offroad your 4Runner? If so, how much? That'll help in making the decision of tire size.

I think you'll be fine for now with a lift and the stock tires. It'll look a *little* funny, but not much.

 

I will probably have it on light offroads every week getting back to some of my motocross riding areas but no frame dragging rock crawling. Will also have it out in the sand a few times per year at the coast.

On one of the other boards one guy was commenting that the BFG AT's have terrible wet weather handling due to the lake of sipes. I didn't notice this in my Tundra, but it does weigh a considerable amount more than the T4R. Could anyone else comment on this?

 

Well he was right and wrong. I still think it has terrible wet weather handling, but it has tons of sipes. The reason it doesn't do any good in the wet is that there is NO directional channel. There is no straight path through the tread at all. The BFG AT's have tons of sipes, so he was right and wrong.

This of course was based on my own experiences.