Looking for the largest tire for stock wheels

[sm26391]

I have a 2004, 4 X 2 Eddie Bauer. My tires are almost shot and need to be replaced. I'd like to find the largest tire I can fit on the standard wheels. The tire stores are useless. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[smo0othride]

largest tire as in the tallest tire or the widest?

 

[mustangrfast88]

tallest i would say not much over a 285 and widest i would say not much over a 10 inch wide tire somebody correct me if i am wrong and that is on stock rim and for a aftermarket rims i am sure it is totally different

 

[Keydo]

The stock wheel size on a Ford Expedition is

17x7.5

The stock tire size is 265/70/17.

With that said, the largest tire you can mount on that size wheel is

285/70/17

I just recently installed tires on our truck (08-19-06) and ran into a problem.

I had purchased the tires on tirerack and when I went to the shop for mount and balance, they said they could not do it. I asked why because a 285 tire will fit on a 7.5 inch wide wheel.

According to the service rep, most of the major chains (Discount Tire, Big O Tire, etc) will not mount a 285/70/17.

He mentioned something about that size tire on that size wheel failed some kind of bead test. However, I've known plenty of people who have ran this size tire on this wheel with no problem.

Don't know if what the service rep was saying was true, so I left and went to a smaller mom/pop independent store and got the wheels mounted.

I'll report back if there are any problems, but I doubt their will be.

In any case, you may run into the same problem that I did.

 

[mustangrfast88]

sounds liek they might have been feeding you a line but it would make sence about the beads since you are going wider and the rim aint any wider to spread the tire out as far as it should be for all the beads to hit the ground and they just dont want to be the cause of a wreak i mean a wider rim would be safer but a 285 should work on a stock rim no problem

 

[Keydo]

Yes, a 285/70/17 tire has no problems mounting onto a 17x7.5 wheel.

Granted, for a 285 size tire, 7.5 inches is the lowest you can go.

I've seen others do it and Discount Tire Rep said they've done it in the past, but a company policy was supposedly handed down from on high that they couldn't do that anymore.

Whatever....

The tires are on and rolling fine.

I'll report back here every once in awhile to let everyone know it's progress.

 

[Keydo]

Just an update. The tires are rolling fine. Some slight rubbing issues when turning, but very, very, very, very slight. Nothing to get worried about and definitely not rubbing on any major component.

The one thing is this tire size has made the speedometer much more accurate (compared it to my GPS system). It's accurate with the GPS up to 65 MPH. After that, it's only off by 1 MPH. Not bad.

 

[Keydo]

Tire Update

Just a tire update again. Nothing spectacular to report. Tires are holding up fine. Approximately 55,000 miles on the truck now. Vehicle has done several 400+ miles trips already with no problems.

 

[mustangrfast88]

question about the rubbing is it just when yo uturn it all the way one way or the other just woundering since i am wanting to replace my tires and put the biggest mud terran tires on it i can

 

[Keydo]

The tires do not rub at full lock, they seem to rub when I partially turn the wheel. I haven't had time to check, but I think it's the tires rubbing against the aftermarket mud flaps that I have.

Nothing serious though. I see no damage on the tire or the mudflaps. I'll check it more thoroughly this weekend.