Wheel Height.

[lo-lyf]

Im going by the tire calculator on Discounts website. Your 275/45/20 comes out to be 29.74" so I guess we can say give or take an inch and be in the ballpark. It does sound like a big tire for that amount of a drop though.

Well, I bought it with 275 all around. The 275s rubbed terribly so I put 245/45r20 up front after I bought it and they don't rub at all. The Discount Tire calculator is what I was using too.

[polos954rr]

The stock tires are General 255/70-16's. I would be running a 50 series due to towing. And the total tire height on them right now is 29". I would be running either a 285/50-20 or 275/50-20. Would that ten mil. really make that much or a difference?

[lo-lyf]

The stock tires are General 255/70-16's. I would be running a 50 series due to towing. And the total tire height on them right now is 29". I would be running either a 285/50-20 or 275/50-20. Would that ten mil. really make that much or a difference?

You won't be able to get away with that big of a tire on a 3-4 drop unless you are 4X4. If sidewall is that important then you either need to only do a 2-4 or get 18's, or stagger and put smaller tires up front. You would be surprised at how much difference even a 1/2" on either dimension makes. They tires I have now are almost 1" shorter and 1" narrower than the 275/45/20 that rubbed up front like crazy on my 4-6. That 1/2 inch on either side made all the difference in the world. you gotta remember, even the 275/50 is going to be 1"bigger and 1" taller, which means it will be 1/2" wider on either side, and 1/2" more at top and at bottom. Once again, you would be amazed at how much of a difference that is. You might want to think about doing the 275/50 in the back and a 275/45 in the front, that may work with a 3-4.

[randomhero]

You won't be able to get away with that big of a tire on a 3-4 drop unless you are 4X4. If sidewall is that important then you either need to only do a 2-4 or get 18's, or stagger and put smaller tires up front. You would be surprised at how much difference even a 1/2" on either dimension makes. They tires I have now are almost 1" shorter and 1" narrower than the 275/45/20 that rubbed up front like crazy on my 4-6. That 1/2 inch on either side made all the difference in the world. you gotta remember, even the 275/50 is going to be 1"bigger and 1" taller, which means it will be 1/2" wider on either side, and 1/2" more at top and at bottom. Once again, you would be amazed at how much of a difference that is. You might want to think about doing the 275/50 in the back and a 275/45 in the front, that may work with a 3-4.

This man speaks the truth.

Speaking again from experience I ran 285/50/20s on a 2/4 drop for about a week. They were 20x8.5s with an 18mm offset. They rubbed like crazy and cut the tires up pretty good.

Now like I said earlier, if you have optimal backspacing/offset you MAY be able to get away with it, but in my opinion it's pretty ridiculous.

Also if you're worried about towing, JonyB on gmfullsize used to tow a full-size wakeboard boat on a 255/45/20 tire and a 4/6 drop. There are plenty of guys running a 29" tall tire on a 20" rim that tow a good amound.

I would save yourself the massive headaches though and ditch the 285/50/20 or 275/55/20 idea.

[lo-lyf]

This man speaks the truth.

Speaking again from experience I ran 285/50/20s on a 2/4 drop for about a week. They were 20x8.5s with an 18mm offset. They rubbed like crazy and cut the tires up pretty good.

Now like I said earlier, if you have optimal backspacing/offset you MAY be able to get away with it, but in my opinion it's pretty ridiculous.

Also if you're worried about towing, JonyB on gmfullsize used to tow a full-size wakeboard boat on a 255/45/20 tire and a 4/6 drop. There are plenty of guys running a 29" tall tire on a 20" rim that tow a good amound.

I would save yourself the massive headaches though and ditch the 285/50/20 or 275/55/20 idea.

For shizzle, I would think that the sidewalls on the lower profile tires are stronger anyway since they cost more. Theoretically it makes sense. The smaller tire cost more, it has less rubber than the larger tire, therefore it must have more reinforcement since it is a higher price? I could be way wrong but it does make sense. BTW I drove 2 hours with an engine at the very back of the bed the other day with no problems, I had to put some air in my helper springs to keep the truck at ride height but my tires didn't look like they were stressed at all. the engine dropped my arse end down about an inch and a half. same drop I saw with my GTO on the trailer in my old truck.

[randomhero]

For shizzle, I would think that the sidewalls on the lower profile tires are stronger anyway since they cost more. Theoretically it makes sense. The smaller tire cost more, it has less rubber than the larger tire, therefore it must have more reinforcement since it is a higher price? I could be way wrong but it does make sense. BTW I drove 2 hours with an engine at the very back of the bed the other day with no problems, I had to put some air in my helper springs to keep the truck at ride height but my tires didn't look like they were stressed at all. the engine dropped my arse end down about an inch and a half. same drop I saw with my GTO on the trailer in my old truck.

You may be right about more expensive tires, but usually a larger tire is able to carry a heavier load. It's why there are light duty truck tires, passenger car tires, semi tires, etc. I haven't done much research on the matter, but with a smaller tire the load capacity is generally decreased due to less air in the tires.

I just looked up on Nitto's website and their 420s tires(the ones I currently run) carry a load rating of 2039 lbs per tire for a 255/45/20 and a load rating of 2756 for their 285/50/20 tires.

Now their 255/50/20 is a 30" tall tire which almost for sure would work for what you need has a 2271# load pressure.

Bottom line is that there's probably not going to be 2500 extra pounds added by towing a trailer unless it's massive. Most of our trucks weight less than 5500 pounds so 2039 per tire should be more than enough.

[lo-lyf]

I was pretty sure I was wrong about that. I just wanted to sound smart........