How drastic do big tires affect performance?

[azaizai]

I'm torn on the tire debate. I think I know which way I'm leaning but I would love some weigh in's on either side.

1) I love the way the pathy behaves right now. The low-speed performance is awesome. I like how little throttle it takes to get the big beast moving, slow rolls uphill are almost as good as my old explorer in 4Lo (in my opinion). I like the highway manners in terms of power and shift-response.

2) I want my pathy to stand out. I feel like the way I would do this (And have done this on every 4wd vehicle I've owned) is to upsize the tires. I used to offroad quite a bit but tended towards cheaper vehicles. I dont plan on doing any real offroading in the pathy because I dont want any Midwest racing stripes on my big girl. I love the look of the R51 on 33's, in particular Doctor's rig with the 18's.

So this leaves me, every day, debating if I should stick with what I like (stock tires, 16" wheels) or save up and move up (33's and 18" wheels). I know that performance will take a hit but the look is so amazing.

Thanks for the read! Appreciate any opinionated responses! Love the forum!

Azaizai

[disallow]

I definitely noticed a difference when I moved to 265/75/16 ATs from 265/70/16 All Seasons. More throttle required to get moving. But you do get used to it, and the beast became much more sure footed in deep snow and mud.

[volvite]

I definitely noticed a difference when I moved to 265/75/16 ATs from 265/70/16 All Seasons. More throttle required to get moving. But you do get used to it, and the beast became much more sure footed in deep snow and mud.

I will agree with the above statement. I actually sold my 18 LEs and bought some frontier 17s and put some 265/70/17 duratracs on. They made the stance of my pathfinder more aggressive, but I didn't have to put a lift on it. It also made it perform much better in mud and snow.

[BigEz]

I have 33s on 18". One issue I have noticed is to get the best MPH on highway, you may need to run them at 40psi...which feels pretty hard. These tires are able to carry almost 4000lbs each, so they are really too much tire for the light little Pathy. They weight almost 70 lbs each + Rim. Add the inherent increase in body roll with most quick lifts, and this puts a lot of strain on suspension parts. They are great in the mud, sand and snow. But almost grip too well on bumpy city streets.... IMHO.

I get a lot of compliments, but I may go to a wider, smaller tire/rim setup that rides better soon.... But that might be a while, as these big ass tires are refusing to wear. At 30000miles they look barely used.

[not on the rug]

A 285-75-16 is 32.8" and will fit a lifted or non-lifted pathy with just a little melt mod.

A must-do mod is the intake manifold spacer from www.extremetruckperformance.com. that will keep your throttle response how you like it for sure.

[Path-Less]

I will agree with all the previous statements.

I personally went with 275/65/18 as this size kept me from getting an LT tire which is significantly heavier and rides harsher then my SL tire. The tire weight is only 5lbs. Over the stock tires at 43lbs.. Plus at only .5" smaller (32.1") in size then dochtahjones/bigez the look is very similar.

I think the tires I chose are a perfect compromise. U gain the Looks without the excessive strain on the suspension put still reap the benefits of the off roading tire.

GENERAL GRABBER AT2 276/65/18..... Ftw!!!

Keep in mind these tires carry a 60k warranty and have the snowflake rating if you need the snow capabilities.

[azaizai]

awesome! thanks for the replies!

I've always lived in the standard tire world with 15" steel wheels so I'm still getting used to the massive custom size world of metrics.

That being said: getting away with a 285/75 sounds amazing for a cheap upgrade but I wonder how many of the setup's I like are about the larger tires or the larger wheels lol. Maybe I'll have to find a set of the LE 18's.

Weight is another factor I hadnt really thought about. I knew that bigger tires meant slower/weaker performance...but I guess I always attributed that to the contact patch.

To the research! Lol, thankfully tire information is a lot easier to get ahold of these days (weights, actual dimensions, etc)

thanks again

[not on the rug]

Who's setups do you like? I run a 285-70-17 which is also 32.8"

[azaizai]

Your setup definitely looks good. What are the stock 17" dimensions? Does the 11" wide tire look silly on the wheel? I just remember my old 31x10.50 on a 7" wide wheel looked like balloons at times.

I've got the SE 16" wheels so I've got a little research to do on pricing to see if going up to a 17" is worth it or if the price difference between that and an 18" is close enough to just move up. Thats assuming I go for aftermarket wheels.

If I can find a logical stock alternative (Frontier, Pathfinder, Xterra) I may just do that.

[not on the rug]

The '07 17" rims are 7.5" wide. I believe the tires are 11.5" wide. Those dimensions are within the specs of a the 7.5" rim though. The tires look great and don't look silly at all.

Here is a shot from the rear before I put the lift on
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[BigEz]

I think the width looks great.

[alivette]

I, too, have noticed it takes a bit more to get going, but in the end I love the stance that my Pathy has. Oh, and my MPG has definitely gone down, but I think it was worth it.

[not on the rug]

I, too, have noticed it takes a bit more to get going, but in the end I love the stance that my Pathy has. Oh, and my MPG has definitely gone down, but I think it was worth it.

The intake manifold spacer changes the acceleration immensely. Best bang for your buck mod on any pathy running bigger tires.

Before all mods, I was getting 18mpg. Lift and tires put me down to about 15mpg. IMS, muffler and intake mod/k+n filter have me at 17mpg. Not bad at all

[azaizai]

I'm really starting to lean back on keeping it roughly stock (maybe up to a 31" or 32") and try to keep things simple. I drove it about 200 miles this weekend and was really happy with the ride, the highway manners and getting close to 20 mpg @ 65mph.

I think if I get a nice looking tire with decent tread (Duratrac, AT/TA KO) and maybe a bigger/flashier wheel I can accept that over 33" tires and a big power loss/mpg hit.

I dont know that I'll ever take this thing offroad enough to warrant the clearance of 33's and a lift...even if it looks pretty damn sweet!