Tom n N
Advanced Member
After several thousand miles, most of which were off road, I’m happy to report the major changes I made to the toyota’s wheels and tires turned out even better than I expected.
Like most of you with a Four Wheel Camper on a Toyota, I was overloaded. This meant I needed to ditch the stock 15” tires in favor of 16’s in order to get an E rating. I was able to get some used factory Toyota 16 hole steelies from OriginalWheels.com. The quality of both the product and service was outstanding. Although used, the rims looked brand new, and my local tire store verified they were straight and true.
The next problem was tires. I have been successfully using BFG Mud Terrains for my offroad trips with this truck for the past 30 years, but unfortunately they no longer make them in the 235/85-16 size. They do offer their new HD Terrains in that size, but I could find absolutely no good unbiased reviews of this new design. With time running out before some important trips, I bit the bullet and ordered a set, figuring I’d be the Guinea Pig.
So how do they work?
Before putting them on the Toyota, I was headed up to the Sierras to join the annual ‘Vintage 4x4 Expedition’ in my old Chevy, so installed them on it first. (BTW this a really fun group if you have an old 4x4). The tires did great in both mud and deep offroad snow. While this was that trucks first time in the snow, I could not get it stuck. Even wound up pulling an old Land Rover out of a drift on the second day.
A month later I was heading out for a couple weeks in the Death Valley and Mojave deserts in the Toyota, this would be the real test. My first concern was clearance on my unlifted truck. While this size is taller than the stock 31x10.5-15’s, they are narrower. Even at full “stuff” there was absolutely no rubbing. From my experience I’d have to say the fit is even better than the stock size.
As for the tires themselves, while they were no quieter than the old Mud Terrains (really didn’t expect them to be, despite the sales literature) in every other way they more than met my expectations. They aired down very nicely. Having a twin stick setup, I spend most of my time offroad in 2wd low range. I also take great pride in NOT spinning my tires going up hills, and I can say these tires, when aired down properly, stuck to the trail like glue. The factory literature also claimed the rubber has higher chip resistance. When I inspected the tires after the trip I was surprised to find no chips at all, despite having spent the majority of time on very sharp desert rocks. In all my years I can honestly say I have never returned from a trip like this with my tires in that good of shape.
Overall a very positive outcome. Hopefully this will help others.
Tom
Like most of you with a Four Wheel Camper on a Toyota, I was overloaded. This meant I needed to ditch the stock 15” tires in favor of 16’s in order to get an E rating. I was able to get some used factory Toyota 16 hole steelies from OriginalWheels.com. The quality of both the product and service was outstanding. Although used, the rims looked brand new, and my local tire store verified they were straight and true.
The next problem was tires. I have been successfully using BFG Mud Terrains for my offroad trips with this truck for the past 30 years, but unfortunately they no longer make them in the 235/85-16 size. They do offer their new HD Terrains in that size, but I could find absolutely no good unbiased reviews of this new design. With time running out before some important trips, I bit the bullet and ordered a set, figuring I’d be the Guinea Pig.
So how do they work?
Before putting them on the Toyota, I was headed up to the Sierras to join the annual ‘Vintage 4x4 Expedition’ in my old Chevy, so installed them on it first. (BTW this a really fun group if you have an old 4x4). The tires did great in both mud and deep offroad snow. While this was that trucks first time in the snow, I could not get it stuck. Even wound up pulling an old Land Rover out of a drift on the second day.
A month later I was heading out for a couple weeks in the Death Valley and Mojave deserts in the Toyota, this would be the real test. My first concern was clearance on my unlifted truck. While this size is taller than the stock 31x10.5-15’s, they are narrower. Even at full “stuff” there was absolutely no rubbing. From my experience I’d have to say the fit is even better than the stock size.
As for the tires themselves, while they were no quieter than the old Mud Terrains (really didn’t expect them to be, despite the sales literature) in every other way they more than met my expectations. They aired down very nicely. Having a twin stick setup, I spend most of my time offroad in 2wd low range. I also take great pride in NOT spinning my tires going up hills, and I can say these tires, when aired down properly, stuck to the trail like glue. The factory literature also claimed the rubber has higher chip resistance. When I inspected the tires after the trip I was surprised to find no chips at all, despite having spent the majority of time on very sharp desert rocks. In all my years I can honestly say I have never returned from a trip like this with my tires in that good of shape.
Overall a very positive outcome. Hopefully this will help others.
Tom
