I have a 96 Tacoma extracab, manual, 2.7 4clyinder, not lifted, stock except for my wheels- currently run some old 15 inch Centerline rims which were on the truck when I bought it which according to my tire shop are a bit bent and not hub-centric.

I'm thinking of getting some new rims and tires.
I currently have 31 x 10.50 R15 tires on there and feel they are a bit too balloon like and big for my non lifted truck. The stock tire size is P225 75 R15.

The guys at the Toyota dealership think that going back to a narrower, stock tire and rim size will make my truck run much better. I'm kind of thinking they are right. The guys at the tire shop think I am nuts and say I should stick to my bigger wider tires because they handle better according to them. To be honest I think they tire shop guys all think that because they are trying to sell me big tires which are obviously more expensive than smaller tires. LOL

I am considering going back to a stock Toyota rim and was wondering if anyone could share their experiences either pros or cons on going back to the old tire and wheel size. I'm thinking either the stock Toyota 15x7 or 15x6 inch rim. Any thoughts?

 

I would stick with the 31s unless you want to get some power back or fuel economy (bigger tires make the motor work harder if on stock gearing)

 

Thanks for the response. So I did some conversion and the stock tire that came on my truck was a 225/75/R15 (metric) which is a 28 x 8.86 x R15 in inches.

Man! there's a big difference between a 31 and a 28. I almost can't imagine what 28 inch tires would look like on this thing- almost too small???

I definitely want to go down in tire size. I want my engine to work less and I've also heard that running the non stock tire size is harder on your suspension and steering components.

My brother swears by a 30 x 9.5 x R15. Maybe I'll go that route. Thanks

 

Thats what I am curently running, and am soon going to upgrade on my 4runner to 31s or 32s. In my opinion 30s look to small on a 1st gen 4runner, not to sure about a taco though. If you really want to downgrade that badly, then I guess 30's would be the best choice. Goodluck

 

Its really the width of the tire that kills the power. Get a skinny 31" tire....

 

man, i bought my truck used with 31 X 10.5's already on it... i thought the yota assembly guys just threw on 28" - 33" tire sets on at random intervals as they rolled off the lines...

Ive driven 3rze tacos with stock tires, and ive obviously driven my rig, and i prefer the feel of wider tires. you gotta keep that beast planted firmly to the ground lol.

as for rims, it might just be me, but i would replace them if they are bent. if they have an imbalance, you will go through tires a bit quicker.

 

One more vote for a wider tire making a huge difference. I have a set of 33x12.50s and they are a lot harder to turn over than my 34x9.50s. But the 33s are on 15x10 heavy steel wheels. And the 34s are on 15x7 aluminum wheels. So that makes a big difference too.