Has anyone had any problems mounting 285/75-16 tires on the nismo wheels? i read in another post that bf-goodrich does not recomend installing these on the 7" wide rims. I was looking at some dunlop radial mud rovers on my truck, but didn't want to risk any problems.
what kind of off roading though? i have the dunlops on my jeep but i wouldnt want to DD the thing. the tires are a little on the loud side. i would look into a good AT like a geolander or yokohama also makes the geolander mt plus that is kind of a hi bread. an at may be better because of wear and road manors.
most of the off roading will be done on trails. i live on maryland and will be doing some light off roading in western maryland and some in pennsylvania. just looking for something that will get some decent mileage for the most part at a lower cost. i really wanted to go with the bf goodrich, but since the minimum for the 295/75 is a 7.5" rim, i'll be looking for different choices.
For the best road handling the tread width of the tire should be approximately the same width of the rim. If you have a 10.5 - 33 - 16 tire, then the combination would work best if the rim was 10.5 inches wide. With a 10.5 inch wide tire and a 7 inch wide rim, the rim tends to "float" between the edges of the tires. This makes your vehicle handle like crap on uneven roads or if crosswinds are blowing. Look at performance tires for the track, if an Mazda RX-7 has an 8 inch wide tire, they will be running 8 inch rims. They will also be running very low profile tires because it helps prevent lateral shift in tire and rim position running in and out of corners. That converts to better handling. Performance wise that is a proven fact. With that tall of a tire used on 7 inch rims, the road manners would be horrible even if aired up to the max rating of the tire. If you go with the 285 - 75 tires, make it handle good and spend money on a set of rims equal to the tire width. You will really appreciate it down the road.
gotcha littlefish. it really sucks , i just put the 2" lift on my truck and have the cash for the tires, but not for the rims & tires. i'll probably just hold out and get them both at the same time.
thats not entirely true. the factory tires are wider than the rims. that is the case with every car, truck, and suv i have ever owned. have you tried finding a standard size instead of the metric size? more than likely if you go bigger than a 31-32" tire your gonna have to go with a bigger rim.
I've read in off roading magazines that your section width (usually a little wider than the tread width) should not be more than 4" wider than the wheel width. That said, sites like TireRack.com have the manufacturer's recommended wheel width range.
As far as tire pressure, I usually go a few pounds less than the MAX pressure listed on the tire. It's a bit rougher ride, but should result in less sidewall flex and better MPG. The recommended pressure listed on the vehicle itself (usually in the door jamb) is usually pretty low; I'm assuming that's to allow for a smoother ride. Plus, my stock tires had a 44 MAX psi rating. I've forgotten what the door jamb says, but I would think it would be related to that 44 psi MAX versus the 35 psi MAX on my replacement tires. So, that's another reason I would think it'd be good to stick with the pressure listed on the tire.
I'd think you could find some good advice for trail tire pressure in the 4x4 section. I thought you typically ran normal tire pressure off road unless you were in the rocks or the sand (in which case I believe you need to "air down").
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Jerry
2004 Frontier, King Cab, XE, 4x1, 4-cyl, 5-spd My Frontier Page
the factory reccomends 35psi but when i got my frontier all 4 were at 44psi. you are correct about airing down on rocks and in sand. the only way i dont air down in sand is if it is really hard pack sand. everything else or somewhere i have never been gets aired down.
One advantage to higher air pressure is a cooler running tire. The tire flexes less. One disadvantage is a rougher ride. Same answer, the tire flexes less. One advantage to higher pressure is slightly crisper handling. One disadvantage is less miles per gallon fuel milage. Your personal level of satisfaction is the deciding factor. I have always believed the door labels were for a better overall ride and not for tire durability or crisp handling. Just my opinion.
How far above the recomended tire pressure can you go before it starts to eat away on the middle of your tires. I know it will change from tire to tire, but just a general estimate. How would higher pressure give you less mpg? I thought if you increase the pressure, you will be decreasing the contact patch of the tire.
Look at the dynamics of what you have - If tire pressure was the major cause of wearing the center of the tread, all the 285-45-16 would be bald around the middle. I believe they recommend what 50 PSI for that kind of tire?
The cords used to wrap todays tires stretch very little and prevent 95 percent of the wear in the middle of the tire on a straight road. The major contributor to wear is the corners and rims that are narrower than the tread surface of the tire. As a rim "shifts" from side to side on a tire when it goes into a corner, there is a little lift of the inside contact area of the tire from the pavement and the tire tries to "roll around" the rim. If the beads did not seat good and tire pressure not sufficient, the outside of the tire would slide toward the middle of the rim and you would have a flat. If you are running a light load and the tire width is approx the same width as the rim, I would drop the pressure to the door label and watch for any wear. If it wears the outside edges, I would add 2 pounds until they seem to wear somewhat evenly. This pressure will change depending if you are carrying sand or a case of beer in the back. Lots of luck on finding the magic pressure - sufficient
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