Wider vs Narrower Off-Road Tires Comparison

[markal49]

Truth is, most people pick their car/truck and after-market modifications for the look and coolness factor. I see so many “overland” builds that are always sparkly clean. The wide tires are part of the aggressive look.

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[superj]

Thats so true. Same here, a million big lifted trucks without a scratch anywhere, and many many 1 ton 4 door 4wd without a scratch in the receiver hitch. Why buy 100k truck built to tow stuff just to go to walmart? What a waste

 

[megamillionDeluxSlime]

The Ko3’s are garbage just like most of BFg these days . I’m sure people on here have noticed that when you have that tire balanced seems to have a lot more weights on your wheel than normal ?! Also the shape of the tire is hit or miss . Talking to my good friend that has a shop just dedicated to building off-road set ups . He has said more than once that the K03’s are garbage and wouldn’t put them on any truck . After having mine for 1k miles I was annoyed with the sound on the road and now that I know what was going on the tire not be able to be balanced correctly even with a road force machine . Switch to nitto ridge grapplers and they have been a dream on the road - very quite , the ride is super smooth and have noticed I have not had my back hurt as much driving for a long period to a job site . Also they will last an easy 60k miles my mechanic says has seen many sets at 75k with regular rotations. Get rid of those garbage tires and get some ridge grapplers or Mickey Thompson Baja’s - going to try these next have heard amazing things as well. Once or if I ever get my truck back I will finally be able to hit some sand trails where I live and can give a update on the tires off road .

 

[Nuke]

Old school knowledge is narrow for mud and wide for sand...rock climbing..i got no clue

 

[CrustyNoodle]

Ahh, the other point missed on the narrow vs wide comparison is that for a given tyre pressure, a narrower tyre bags out more than a wide tyre. This means that with wider tyres you need to run lower pressures to get the same amount of "bag" as narrower tyres. Low pressures are the number one reason tyres come off the rim.

So... Narrower tyres = higher pressures for same bag = less chance of de-beading the tyre.

For example, to get the amount of "bag" needed to clear an obstacle (sand, rock, whatever) you might need a 12.5" or 315 to be at 10 psi but a 285 at 13 psi making the 285 less likely to de-bead. That's a win for a narrower tyre for me.

When choosing your next tyre size, why not go the same width but larger diameter? You can get some tyres in 285/75R17 which get you to 34.6" (ish) giving you about 1/2" more clearance than stock without loosing the benefits of the 285 over the 315/12.5. And if you are on stock offset you probably don't even get any clearance issues (I haven't personally checked that though).

 

[Lion77]

soooo, what if the 315s you went to are 5-12lb less in weight than stock or at stock and the replacement tires are actually cheaper than k03s, andddd you sold your old rims and tires for more than it cost to upgrade and lift the truck 2in?

thats what I did, I got 6ob lighter a tire, but with a different rim choice could have gone to 12lb lighter.

also I don't think a 10% increases in width from a 285 to a 315 is going to drastically reduce perform offroad but will help with slicker surfaces like wet pavement, snowy roads and doing 70+ on washboard.

But...you could have moved to that "other tire" in the stock profile and ended up even lighter yet...just sayin'. Not really an apples to apples, now were talking different tire not the same tire in different sizes.

 

[Lion77]

Ahh, the other point missed on the narrow vs wide comparison is that for a given tyre pressure, a narrower tyre bags out more than a wide tyre. This means that with wider tyres you need to run lower pressures to get the same amount of "bag" as narrower tyres. Low pressures are the number one reason tyres come off the rim.

So... Narrower tyres = higher pressures for same bag = less chance of de-beading the tyre.

For example, to get the amount of "bag" needed to clear an obstacle (sand, rock, whatever) you might need a 12.5" or 315 to be at 10 psi but a 285 at 13 psi making the 285 less likely to de-bead. That's a win for a narrower tyre for me.

When choosing your next tyre size, why not go the same width but larger diameter? You can get some tyres in 285/75R17 which get you to 34.6" (ish) giving you about 1/2" more clearance than stock without loosing the benefits of the 285 over the 315/12.5. And if you are on stock offset you probably don't even get any clearance issues (I haven't personally checked that though).

That might be an option. It all depends on weather your willing to trade off handling / braking / acceleration as the taller tires also increase CG which reduces lateral grip, the increase in rotating mass is also at the WORST spot, mostly in the tread / carcase where it has the greatest impact on acceleration and braking.

But for some it might be worth the 0.8" in ground clearance, the asthetics and possibly slightly more grip for crawling / rough trails. If I ever did go to 35's, I would probably go that route.

 

[Lion77]

Why does ford racing put 35s on their stock Baja and Finke desert race trucks then?

Ground clearance. Since they cannot raise the ride height of the truck, the race team felt that the slight increase in ground clearance was worth the trade-off in handling. They even noted that it reduced handling some.

That doesn't mean that was actually necessary. The reality is that it was simply their opinion that the slight increase in ground clearance was worth the loss in acceleration, brakeing and cornering because their concern was rock damage to the underside of the truck, particularly on Baja 1000 course which can be very rough.

They didn't change it for Finke because that's what they already had even thought hey may have been faster at Finke with 33's. Don't assume because a race team does something that it's automatically "better" or "faster".

Some times they are more concerned about just finishing a race without major mechanical failures, especially in production classes, than they are about raw performance. We will never know if they could have been faster on stock 33's with Methods.

Also note they don't run your standard Methods, they ran custom Forged MR207's with a bolt patter compatible with the RR. They are not production wheels either, I asked Method about their MR207's and they don't make any with a RR compatible bolt pattern.

Racing is racing. UTV's that do a variety of things, including going fast, is something else. I can gaurantee you a RR with 33's, 703's and a FP cal, no other changes would be FASTER than the race truck that had 400lbs of safety equipment. Not safer, but faster, possibly more durable suspension wise as well since there's less mass. So why not run without a roll cage?

Obviously the rules require certain safety equipment just for racing. The Ford Performance Pro Cal offers more power, better shift points and trans tuning. Why didn't they use that? Because the class rules don't allow for post production PCM retuning. Why did they run different shock tuning profile than factory? Because the class allows you to compensate for added weight of safety equipment, spare parts, aux fuel tank etc.

 

[RaRaRaptor]

But...you could have moved to that "other tire" in the stock profile and ended up even lighter yet...just sayin'. Not really an apples to apples, now were talking different tire not the same tire in different sizes.

I was more just talking with the idea of stock in mind. If stock if 'perfect' as some say, and most of your cons being weight, a lighter than stock 35 beyond rasing CG is just right. If not Ford botched the stock rims + tires making them too heavy. I don't think it matters too much. People can do whatever they want to their rigs and if they are happy, great. I feel like half the people complaining about 35s being too much or the stock not enough are just trying to justify their resolve. 35s will be better for some use, stock will be better in others. and a different tire size all together will beat both in a different category. There's a lot of 'this works best in these specific situations so everyone who chose X is dumb', especially when very few drivers are reaching the extremes in any scenario.

alot of owning any vehicle is if it puts a smile on your face when you get in it. if that's skinny, stock or 35in tires who cares. if it's a black raptor or blue one who cares. People can do stuff that makes the truck functionally worse in some scenarios sure, but maybe it's better for things that driver actually does, or they don't care if the sacrifice whatever performance here for some there or just liking the truck more.

 

[AlloyPony]

Yeah just simple physics. If you push an ink pen into your leg, it's going to hurt worse than pushing a baseball bat into your leg with the same force. Why? Because the smaller ink pen is applying more contact pressure. Same reason a smaller tire will grip the road surface better.

 

[Lion77]

At the end of the day, everything is a trade-off. My point wasn't that 35's don't have a legitimate application on the RR. My point was that those claiming "it needs 35's" and act like you can't even drive it on a trail without upgrading is just absurd.

My experience with the K03's also has been very positive. Some people have had issues, probably a bad production run. You get that with every single thing made by man at various times. I'll stick with the stock tire size because my focus is not crawling, it's normal touring on the roads, sand dunes, towing, camping and gravel / dirt trails, so I prefer the handling dynamics, acceleration and braking.

Eventually I'll move to a set of Methods to reduce the weight further and that's about as good as I think it gets or that I'll need, but there is a legitimate reason to use a factory width tire, weather 33" or 35" diamter, at least when it comes to performance.

 

[BuenaRaptor]

Ground clearance. Since they cannot raise the ride height of the truck, the race team felt that the slight increase in ground clearance was worth the trade-off in handling. They even noted that it reduced handling some.

That doesn't mean that was actually necessary. The reality is that it was simply their opinion that the slight increase in ground clearance was worth the loss in acceleration, brakeing and cornering because their concern was rock damage to the underside of the truck, particularly on Baja 1000 course which can be very rough.

They didn't change it for Finke because that's what they already had even thought hey may have been faster at Finke with 33's. Don't assume because a race team does something that it's automatically "better" or "faster".

Some times they are more concerned about just finishing a race without major mechanical failures, especially in production classes, than they are about raw performance. We will never know if they could have been faster on stock 33's with Methods.

Also note they don't run your standard Methods, they ran custom Forged MR207's with a bolt patter compatible with the RR. They are not production wheels either, I asked Method about their MR207's and they don't make any with a RR compatible bolt pattern.

Racing is racing. UTV's that do a variety of things, including going fast, is something else. I can gaurantee you a RR with 33's, 703's and a FP cal, no other changes would be FASTER than the race truck that had 400lbs of safety equipment. Not safer, but faster, possibly more durable suspension wise as well since there's less mass. So why not run without a roll cage?

Obviously the rules require certain safety equipment just for racing. The Ford Performance Pro Cal offers more power, better shift points and trans tuning. Why didn't they use that? Because the class rules don't allow for post production PCM retuning. Why did they run different shock tuning profile than factory? Because the class allows you to compensate for added weight of safety equipment, spare parts, aux fuel tank etc.

I understand this and it’s why I went that route. For my use I’ll take the trade off

 

[jacksdad]

Also note they don't run your standard Methods, they ran custom Forged MR207's with a bolt patter compatible with the RR. They are not production wheels either, I asked Method about their MR207's and they don't make any with a RR compatible bolt pattern.

Forged 74W207 Wheel | 74Weld Motorsports

Unsure if same offset and width, but 207's are for sale.

 

[purdyd]

Forged 74W207 Wheel | 74Weld Motorsports

Unsure if same offset and width, but 207's are for sale.

Good looking wheels

 

[HighDesertRanger]

• +45mm offset narrows the vehicle compared to other aftermarket wheels

It looks like it's designed to work with their portals. Which I'm assuming push the hub out.

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