RebuiltRunner

This q is for those more inclined toward making your rig more streetable that trailable.
PreRunner came with 265/75/15 Firestone Wilderness AT's on it. Put plainly, they're crap. I tried them in the mud - bad. I tried them in the rain bad bad. Since I'm not a fan of these I'm getting some smaller tires that will help with the MPG (2wd off road with no locking rear diff...what's the point?).

I'm ordering some Yokohama Avid ST's for them. I wanted to get some 245/60's for it but was told by a TireRack guy that he "wouldn't recommend that fitment" - to get the 70 series instead.
What do you all say. You think going with the smaller size will cause problems? Advantages of the bigger size?

L33T35T 4Runner

what's the point? it's still fun!!

chances are it'll mess up your odometer and speedometer. plus your gearing will be off

dunno how much though

it will be hard to calculate your gas milage savings as i said before, your odometer will be off so it'll show a much better gas milage report than what you're actually getting

only way you could really test your gas milage is find out exactly how far it is from point A to point B (a full tank, or half a tank and turn around) on regular tires, then go for the smaller ones and test it.

Todd E

Well, for starters, the tire size you want to go with are 26.5" tall (compared to 30.5" tall stock). That in itself is a very big difference. Your speedo will be reading 70mph when you're actually doing 60.
Yes, you'll get better off the line performance, but you'll be turning some high rpm's just to keep up with highway traffic.
I think in the long run you'll be happier with a taller tire. Maybe something that is about 29.5" tall. Just enough to help your off the line but not enough to jepordize your highway mileage.
Hope this helps,
Todd

RebuiltRunner

Todd, what about a 265/70 (28.5)?


thanks for the input, ya'll.

RebuiltRunner

I mean a 245/70.

Todd E

The 245/70/15 tire is , like you said, 28.5" tall.
Your speedo will read about 64mph when you're doing 60. Not too bad.
If you travel above 75mph (speedo reads 80) consisently, you may want to think about a slightly taller tire.
You can also go with a 255/70/15, that is 29" tall. Difference in speedo readings will be smaller (multiply actual by 1.05 vs 1.07 with the 245/70's and 1.15 with the 245/60's).
Or if you want the short sidewall look, you can increase your wheel diameter to 17" and get 255/60/17 (29" tall).
I currently have 17's on my 2wd (lifted, see website ) with 27" tall tires. I am currently undergeared (stock tires are 25.5" tall) and my performance suffers a bit.
I'm looking into getting taller tires (probably about 29-30") and regear my diff.
While at Tire Rack, when viewing the tires, there's a tech section for each tire.
That will tell you how tall each tire is, and a bunch more stuff.
Although, I'm not sure how accurate it is, it's a good guide.
Hope this helps,
Todd

RTdawgs

dont get smaller, but get a street tread instead. like a michelin ltx m/s. my pennies...

doink

ditto:alien:

RebuiltRunner

After being utterly conflicted by you all's suggestions and my utter belief that if I put 5 tires on my Taco it'll get 42 m's to the g (you guys all made good point, thx) I've decided to forego the tires just yet and concentrate on getting my air intake situation straight (who's got an extra airbox the wanna give me). I may just wait to get the tires after I take the truck in to get the frome straightened a litle bit more.

Thanks again.

keisur

The wife had these on her old taco. I can't say I liked them too much either. I hit the brakes just last week on the interstate and skid to a stop against a volvo's back bumper. we both got out and laughed, he realized he was on the cell phone and wasn't paying attention and had to brake suddenly which cause it all and we shook hands and drove away since there was no damage except two scrapes where the front plate screw heads scatched his plastic rear bumper cover. I hated those tires.

YoungFeller

Smaller tires might give you WORST fuel economy on that truck. On an underpowered truck, a smaller tire can improve fuel economy so that it doesn't have to pull so hard to move it. But on a newer Taco (4 or 6-cyl have lots of power compared with earlier ones), the smaller tire might just have the engine spinning so fast that it uses more fuel. You might be better off with the larger, stock size. Just like the principle of overdrive, a slower-spinning engine generally uses less fuel.

Eric

RebuiltRunner

yeah, once I finally get around to changing them, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a 29 inch at least.

Dag, I really wasn't spelling on that previous post.

Victor

I agree with YoungFeller, going with a smaller diameter tire will raise your RPMs and you'll actually use more fuel. Start looking for a stock size tire that has a narrower tread - manufacturers can have different tread widths. My new 265/75r16 MT/R's are actually almost an inch narrower than my old 31x10.50 bridgestones. Even though the 265's have the same width the tread is definately not the same.