Tyre Sizes

[jonathan.viki]

So having had a few problems with clearance over the weekend it seems evident to me that bigger tyres are in order. Given I have 31x10.5x15 size tyres would it make sense to go wider as well as taller? Does using a 33x12.5x15 tyre give any practical advantage over a 33x10.5x15 ?

[maverick01]

33x12.5 would be the better option in my opinion, as taking into accoun if you plan on doing alot of beach work then having the wider tyres will give you a bigger foot print in sand and also mud.

But on the other hand if you are going wider tyres then you will need to go to a different rim with a decent offset such as -23mm which is the typical toyota offset and most nissan drivers that run wider tyres also go the toyota offset.

Going the offest and wider tyres will give it a tougher look, although your not chasing that but if your going wider tyres then i would highly reccomend the offset rims as previously stated and also with going the wider tyes and if you chose not to fit the offset rims then take into account you may lose some steering such as going from full lock to full lock as the tyres may foul on steering components or springs.

Take into account if your also fitting wider tyres with the offset rims then you will also need to fit wider flares/mudguards to your vehicle as the tyres will stick out past the guards and im sure you dont want to attract unwanted attention.

Another thing to take into account is the performance of the vehicle now because if you plan on fitting the taller tyres no matter what size in width then you will lose about 15percent in performance, that will only come into play if your running these tyres daily. The taller tyres will also increase load on the driveline and what i mean by that is just to take of from a set of lights on a hill it could be almost embarrasing.

Im not bagging out cruisers or any make of care in particular but if you do fit taller tyres you will want to try harder tracks eventually which could result in breaking differentials or CV joints..............

I think i have covered pretty much every aspect of fitting taller tyres and feel free to add more.

Once you start modifying vehicles it never ends and i seriously mean it never ends, no matter how hard you try.

[Dilligaf]

As Jonathan is saying, the hardest part is were to start, without spending to much money to go to hard to quick, best to build slowly on what you have as you dont want to spend $10k on a vehicle then sell it to upgrade,

First thing before you start spending to much money on the truck is a good set of tools, as these will/should still be around at the end of days,

tyres are a hard subject, i have had a few different types and styles and even though they look good feel great can be very scary in the wet on black top(olympic overlanders and toyo) but everyone to themselves. Speak to people in the car park, ask everyone you run into, everyone will add their 10cents worth to make you make your own opinion,

Considering the tyres you had on the weekend i think you did really well, comes down to how much you respect your truck and how you want to treat it, they are a beast and have an animal inside that will open your eyes to the power it can release when needed,

You have a good truck with a little tinkering you could unleash more enjoyment for minimal $$$$$$$$$$.


So dont think you have a bad truck. it is up to you how bad it can get ... ohh an this 60 is on an 80 chassis with the same engine you have Jonathan

[jonathan.viki]

Thanks for the feedback guys, especially the details in terms of the offset and the requirement to fit flares.

I guess I was figuring that tyres would be transferable between vehicles anyway, so if we did move on to something else it wouldn't be a huge loss, but probably one thing I hadn't factored in was rim sizes as the 60 has 15" rims and most newer vehicles have minimum 16" (correct me if I'm wrong there...)

I was aware of most of the implications of fitting taller tyres and given that the performance of the 12ht is pretty good and I don't use this as a daily driver I wasn't too worried about that.

So I guess the answer to my question is that fitting wider tyres is better, but perhaps complicates things a bit more than fitting the same width as before.

I guess while we're here another question in regards to fitting taller tyres is how much would a 2" increase influence engine braking when going down hills? Given that I have the auto gearbox it's already reduced at the moment compared to a manual so I would want to be careful in this respect.

[Capella_Ben]

There is no real way around the engine braking issue with an Auto. You can go to the trouble of "crawler" gears but you'd probably still have to do a fair bit of breaking. The best bet is to lock it in gear, if possible, and use as little breaking as you can get away with while still going at the correct speed.

I found that when I changed tyres it had a good effect on the gearing in high range; that is it seemed to be geared better (was a bit low before). I haven't really noticed too much of a change in low range. I don't need to use 1st gear - low range all that often.

I'd suggest that you learn from some of the experiences of other 60 drivers. Look at the 4wd action forums: http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewforum.php?f=68&sid=694e96f85cf71b5a8f6dcf9bf5d24035 I know for the 80 that my size tyre is the standard "best practice" as with a 2" lift they fit straight on with a minimum of fuss.

[Capella_Ben]

Here is a thread to give you inspiration....
http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=66431

[maverick01]

Well i know with fitting taller tyres to the nissan the engine braking got worse as you have a bigger rolling diameter and once the vehicle is rolling especially down a hill then its much harder to stop.

You are correct in saying most newer vehicles have 16inch rims and if you do decide to upgrade your rims make sure you get 16inch rims to suit a nissan as the nissan rims will fit a landcruiser but standard landcruiser wheels wont fit over a nissan hub, that way if you did decide to upgrade to a nissan or even had to seel the tyres then you have more of an option.

In regards to crawler gears they will only come into affect when you lock it in low range and it does not affect high range driving at all.

Another thing to consider is that once you fit taller tyres then your speedo will also be out. My nissan running 33x12.5x 15inch with a diff ratio of 4.11 the speedo is out by about 6klms at 100kmh.

Correct me if im wrong but isnt the 6oseries spare wheel hung under the vehicle the same as the 80series and if so when you fit taller tyres and if your planning on only having 1 se of tyres then the spare tyre may not fit underneath which will result in having to either buy or build a steel rear bar.

[Dilligaf]

sorry maverick, with the 16" 80 series cruiser steel rims they fit straight onto the nissans. have been asked by some GQ owners if i would sell my rims to them for the offset, 16" nissan and toyota are similar, i think the cruiser sit out wider on the nissan. but i think the nissan ones scrub on the cruiser or are closer on the inner side. My brother used my spare 285/75/16 to drive from Cairns to StGeorge, he had 33/12.5/15 , same height diff rim. did the job all the same.

Yes i would go the 16" tyre as they are a more common tyre in later model 4x4, this means getting new rims, ebay, talking to people on websites, or even at the pub there is always someone with a set of 2nd hand rims lying around for a good price.

I'm running 285/75/16 Mickey Thomson MTZ on steel rims with 2" ironman lift with foamcell shocks, It has taken me a few years to get the Dilligaf to where it is now and i still have a few things to go, I am very happy with what i have in this truck,

Rome wasnt build in a day, you will always get there one way or another

[maverick01]

Sorry Dilligaf but standard 80series wheels defiantly will not fit onto a nissan hub as the hubs on nissans are slightly bigger than cruisers and the size different is only like 1.5mm all up.

The only way i know that 80series wheels wont fit is because i have tried them as i wanted them many years ago.

16inch are way better than the old 15inh wheels and plus the price of 15inh tyres are getting dearer as not too many people are running them anymore.

If your concerned about fitting these tyres shoot me a pm and your welcome to come around and try 1 of mine on for measurements.

Standard Cruiser wheels have a bigger offset to standard nissan wheels.Therefor you would be best getting the nissan rims with the maximum cruiser offset

[jonathan.viki]

As it stands the 60 series speedo is already off running the 31" tyres by about 5% so at about 105km/h on the speedo I'm doing 100km/h on the GPS. So I would assume that the bigger tyres would make it virtually spot on. Also, my truck actually has a long range tank so already has the spare wheel hanging off the back. Thanks for the heads up re: the Nissan/Toyota issue, that's one I hadn't heard about.

I guess to put it in context, I don't have a spare couple of grand lying around at the moment anyway, so this isn't going to be a rush out and purchase next weekend (or probably even next month...), but in terms of budgeting and being aware of what I'm getting in to this is a really helpful discussion.

Btw, thanks for the links Ben. I've been on the 4wd Action forums a fair bit but even so wasn't aware they had model specific pages. I probably just didn't notice...