New Tires on my K2500

[jc1097]

Hello everyone,

Well after much thought I bit the bullet and bought some tires after a near castatrophe last week going up to Mt Baldy.

With my tail between my legs I had to chain up to make the last asent into the parking lot as my Nittos Terra Grapplers with 40,000 miles could not make the last push. A wild ride backwards down the mountain finalized my decision for new tires this winter season.

So, after much thought and research I went with the Toyo M55's. They were hard to find but a local dealer was able to come up with 4 in a few days.

Initial thoughts are, the steering actually feels quite a bit lighter even though the tire is a heavy one at about 60 lbs a pop. I do notice the talked about Hummm and at 65-70mph it is noticeable but not annoying by any means.

The tire for a 285/75/16 is a bit taller than a normal tire of the same size and fills the wheel well quite nice.

I'm looking forward to a trip to mammoth next week to see how the tires do in the snow.

Attached are a few pictures I took today.

 

[EdoHart]

A few things to consider with those bigger tires:
1) Those tire have about 33" diameter, and your stock tires (provided they are stock LT245/75R16) have about 31" diameter. Therefore, you need to multiply your speedometer by almost 10% (31/33=.94). That is, when your speedometer indicates 60 MPH, you're traveling about 66 MPH.

2) From your pictures, it looks like you are running stock Chevy wheels, which are only 6.5" wide. A 285 tire is too wide for that rim (the commonly accepted rim width for 285's is 7.5-9"), therefore expect a lot of tire role while going aroung corners. Go slow around corners and you should be fine.

3) By increasing the diameter of the tire, and increasing the size of the footprint of the tire on the ground, you are increasing the amount of force applied to the steering components of your truck, and Chevy is known for weak stearing components, especially in the 2500 series trucks. I suggest you look into strengthening your steering components - Cognito Motor Sports has a very good, simple bolt on kit to address this weakness.

Edit: I just saw JC1097's signature. Please disregard bullet item 3.

 

[jc1097]

Thanks,

I do have the Cognito Pitman/idler arm brace and Tie rod to beef up the front suspension. I actually had that set up on my 2001 K2500 and just swapped it out when I got my 2007 1/2 K2500. I ve been very happy with that set up so far.

Dumb luck or grace of god but I have been running 285/75/16 on the stock 16x6.5 for the last 10 years and have not had one problem. Usually getting around 40-50 thousand miles on each set. I have not noticed any unusual roll but maybe Im just used to it by now and I'm pretty mellow when driving around.

I ve also got a programmer to adjust for the larger tires. These new ones are 33.2" in diameter!

 

[Silvertip47]

You're going to love them!!! I had them on my last TC setup, Dodge dually and 9' camper. The unloaded dually was helpless in the winter with the stock Generals. The new Toyos made such a difference I rarely needed 4x4!!!

 

[jc1097]

That's good to hear and reasuring despite the cost of the new tires.

 

[SunMan]

I ve also got a programmer to adjust for the larger tires.

What is this programmer you speak of?

 

[Ted]

jc, we'll be tooling around 395 this weekend. I'll keep an eye open for you. Those tires do fill the wheel wells nicely. They look good. It will be nice to enjoy your drive without the worries you had recently.

 

[Silvertip47]

That's good to hear and reasuring despite the cost of the new tires.


LOL Just think if you had to buy SIX!!!!!

 

[jc1097]

Six tires would have put me out of the market for these tires thats for sure!

Sunman, I have an Edge programmer. You can adjust for alot of different things and tires included. I have it set on the lowest economy setting and it helped a bit in gas milege as well.