Newbie Questions On Tire Size & Lift

[BOBBYSTYLZ]

I Have Just Recently Purchased A 2002 Trailblazer Ltz 4x4. I Was Looking To Get New Tires For It And I Want To Get Rid Of The Low, Almost Car Like Stance Of The Vehicle. I Will Not Be Doing Any Major Off Roading With The Vehicle, Just Some Minor Trail Riding / Sandy Places. At First Thought I Wanted To Put 265/70-17 REVO'S On My Stock Wheels With Suspension Maxx Spacers On The Front (1'' = 1 3/8 Of Lift) To Just Level The Vehicle Some. I Definitely Want A Larger Tire Than The 245/65-17 That Is Stock, But I Would Like To Avoid Cutting My Bumpers And Using Wheel Spacers. I Did Research Some What, But I Wanted To Ask The Exact Questions I Had. Its Seems To Me That "the Roadie" Is Most Educated On This Topic, So If You Could Please Help Me Out, Or Anyone In General It Would Be Greatly Appreciated.

Thank You,
Robert Schiffer

[KEVIN9880]

Ive done some trail riding and mudding with mine....the only real problem ive come across is the air dam on the bottom of the bumper. I broke one of the clips when i went to go up a steap hill a little to fast. Keep up to date if you find a good way to get more ground clearance.

[ghoster]

Ive done some trail riding and mudding with mine....the only real problem ive come across is the air dam on the bottom of the bumper. I broke one of the clips when i went to go up a steap hill a little to fast. Keep up to date if you find a good way to get more ground clearance.


Your avatar is one dirty TB!!! :laugh:

[the roadie]

Ive done some trail riding and mudding with mine....the only real problem ive come across is the air dam on the bottom of the bumper. I broke one of the clips when i went to go up a steap hill a little to fast. Keep up to date if you find a good way to get more ground clearance.
Look closely and you can see my air dam hanging down: (apologies to the regulars who have seen these pics all too many times)
http://www.roadie.org/borrego2.JPG
So I got annoyed at the damage I was doing to the bumper and rocker panels and this was the result:
http://www.roadie.org/collins8.JPG
http://www.roadie.org/collins9.JPG
Now they're just stored in my garage waiting for bullet-proof replacements

[the roadie]

I Have Just Recently Purchased A 2002 Trailblazer Ltz 4x4. I Was Looking To Get New Tires For It And I Want To Get Rid Of The Low, Almost Car Like Stance Of The Vehicle. I Will Not Be Doing Any Major Off Roading With The Vehicle, Just Some Minor Trail Riding / Sandy Places. At First Thought I Wanted To Put 265/70-17 REVO'S On My Stock Wheels With Suspension Maxx Spacers On The Front (1'' = 1 3/8 Of Lift) To Just Level The Vehicle Some. I Definitely Want A Larger Tire Than The 245/65-17 That Is Stock, But I Would Like To Avoid Cutting My Bumpers And Using Wheel Spacers. I Did Research Some What, But I Wanted To Ask The Exact Questions I Had. Its Seems To Me That "the Roadie" Is Most Educated On This Topic, So If You Could Please Help Me Out, Or Anyone In General It Would Be Greatly Appreciated.

Thank You,
Robert Schiffer
DUDE! What Kind Of Editor Capitalizes The First Letter Of Every Word?!?:no:

265/70-17 will NOT fit without bumper cutting and wheel spacers, at least 1" and preferably 1.5". Sorry to bear the bad news, but in my case it was good news. Now I have the incentive to put this bumper on:

http://www.hansonenterprise.com/images/IMG_0519.jpg

Do you have the G80 automatic locker in the rear? If so, you'll LOVE it. Any other questions?

[BOBBYSTYLZ]

Sorry about all the first letters being caps, the forum did that .. I think i wrote it in all caps and thats the way it turned out. Anyway, so what size tire should I run? 265-65/17 or 255/65-17 or are there any other options? If you could please let me know I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Bob

[the roadie]

Sorry about all the first letters being caps, the forum did that .. I think i wrote it in all caps and thats the way it turned out. Anyway, so what size tire should I run? 265-65/17 or 255/65-17 or are there any other options? If you could please let me know I would appreciate it.
Wow. Well, email etiquette equates ALL CAPS with yelling, so please don't do that either. :x

Anyway, take a close look at your current tire and how close the edge is to the upper control arm. Expanding either the tread width (265 versus 245) or the diameter is going to move that edge toward the control arm. SuspensionMAXX spacers do not affect that geometry, only wheel spacers can move the rim outward and give you more room. There are other posters besides me who have tried some other tire sizes and not needed spacers. Search out those posts (try searching for "245", "255" or "265") or lets see who chimes in with tires that fit without modifications.

For practice, measure your current setup and let us know what tire brand you have and how much the clearance is (including the angle from the closest edge of the tire to the control arm). Then you or we can plug some proposed tires into the on-line calculators, do the trigonometry, and see if it will hit. Without trying on every kind of tire, we use the tools we were given - math.

But my usual advice is to fit the tire to the mission. What's your mix of use, on and off-road? Is quiet running a factor you value? Then Goodyear Silent Armor Fortera or Wrangler might be your choice. Is price a consideration? Mud versus sand versus rock for your off-road travels? Dry versus wet. Rain versus monsoon? Snow and ice ever?

Size is almost a secondary characteristic of a good tire compared to tread design, belts, sidewall and tread compound, and price. I recommend not pushing to decide on size first - get a handle on your mission first. Then choose a few tire styles, and see what sizes they're made in. Not all tires are available in all sizes that might fit, and if you fixate too soon on a size, you might overlook a better compromise of a tire.

I've learned ever so much while on my own quest for off-road mods. Good driving technique can make up for a bit of shortcoming in ground clearance, as can a good rock spotter. Good maps and knowledge of the trails can keep you out of trouble even more than fantastic equipment. And recovery equipment (winch, straps, snatch blocks) is there for insurance, not to be used regularly for us, and shouldn't give you the overconfidence to take on a trail that will break the vehicle.

So back up a bit, describe more of your intentions, and the Zen masters will prescribe some suggested solutions, a solution of the whole thing, not just the small issue of size. It's not just size that matters, it's texture, and how you use the rubber you put on. :eek:

[rcam81]

I am running 255/70R/16 and haven't had any rubbing issues. I am running Toyo Open Country A/T's. They are a little noisier than the stock BFG's but a good sound system takes care of that.