Tire size expedition

[Expy2475]

Hello everybody

This site has been very helpful in upgrading my expedition. I have x police 2000 ford expedition awd with no air ride an 4.6 l engine. I bought this truck a year ago and i have added 3 inch body lift and 2 inch leveling kit. I have 285/75/R16 tires on factory rims. I want to buy 17x9 chrome helo maxx rims and i was wonder what size tire i can put on this. The tires that are on the truck now are ok but they look a little small on it. What is the biggest i can go with no rubbing or mods and what is the biggest size with some moding and where will it rub.

I would like to here your guys suggestions and what would be best set up

I bought the pa 5 inch kit which came with 3 inch body and torsion keys and i also purchase daystar coil spacers rear 2 inch

 

[mindgame]

Hello everybody

This site has been very helpful in upgrading my expedition. I have x police 2000 ford expedition awd with no air ride an 4.6 l engine. I bought this truck a year ago and i have added 3 inch body lift and 2 inch leveling kit. I have 285/75/R16 tires on factory rims. I want to buy 17x9 chrome helo maxx rims and i was wonder what size tire i can put on this. The tires that are on the truck now are ok but they look a little small on it. What is the biggest i can go with no rubbing or mods and what is the biggest size with some moding and where will it rub.

I would like to here your guys suggestions and what would be best set up

When I had a 3/2 lift I ran 305x55x20s without problems... I'm now running 35s and the tires looks just right now

 

[Expy2475]

The rims i want are helo maxx 17x9 so i need to know how big of a tire i can go with these rims with out rubbing. With 285/75/16 people have commented that the tires look a little small for truck.since im upgrading and need new tire i need to find the size that works and looks the best. I believe 35 are two big and will rub so maybe somthing in between?

 

[mindgame]

Well...
285/75/16 are 33" wheels... And if 35"s are too big...

Then I guess you'll need to try and look for 34" wheels...

I'm not a wheel guy, so hopefully someone will step in to help you out

 

[BANGEREXPO76]

265/70/17 is what came on my expeditons.
I'm running 275/55/20 and Im going up to 295/60/20 in another month or so.
I was told there would be no problem with rubbing.

 

[FordandPolaris]

Do 35's and put spacers on the rims. It depends on the backspacing of the rim you are looking at as well.

 

[Thermo]

Expy2475, without any mods, you have about the biggest tire you can go with. You might be able to step up to say a 295/70R17, but you may or may not get any rub. That seems to be hit and miss.

As for where you will rub, the first place will be the front valance. Odds are, you have already trimmed this some to make the 285's work, but you will need to trim a little more to make the 295's work. After that, your next place to rub will be the back of the front wheel well. This can be fixed for around $5 and about 2 hours of your time, but you have to be willing to take a 3 pound hammer to the body of your truck (not joking). If you want more info about this, let me know.

After these two places, your next source of rubbing will be the bottom corner of the metal part of your bumper. You may also find that during extreme twisting up of the truck, using the 9" wide rims, the tires will touch the top of the rear wheel wells. But that will be the only place for rubbing.

All of this assumes no modifications except where I mentioned. But, all of these mods are fairly easy to do and cheap too.

Now, if you are looking at doing the 5" lift like you are looking at, you can run up to 37x12.5's with a few limitations. I am running 37x12.5's with only a 4" suspension lift. But, running the 9" wide rims, you are going to be limited to about a 35x12.5" tire because the backspacing of the 9" rim is going to push the tire out too far and you are going to run into issues with the tire touching the rear of the front wheel wells (even with the mod I told you about) and you are going to have the rear tires touch the body of the truck during max articulation. If you plan on keeping the truck just on the asphault, then that opens things up just a little bit. You step back to an 8" rim and you can get up to the 37's like I have.

So, what is more important to you, the bigger tire or the rim you want. With my setup, that is as big as the truck can handle without SIGNIFICANT modifications. My rear tires fill up the wheel wells with hardly any gap at any point in the rear wheel well. Going larger would involve sheetmetal work.

If you have more questions, let me know.

 

[mrazndead]

got new set of tires last weekend. 265/70/17 i think, the standard.

 

[mrazndead]

picture of tire attached

 

[babysilk]

37's here. A little rub on the frame but other than that Im clear.

 

[Expy2475]

I like to thank everbody for there replys and if anybody else has any info please keep posting

Thermo i already have the 33 on the truck and i also have the 3 inch body lift and 2 inch level and 2 inch rear coil kit already done. I have been driving around for almost a year with the truck lifted. I am not set on 17x9 rims but there are not alot of choice out there for that bolt pattern and i can get this set for cheap with one of my supliers. The 33 that are on the truck are like new but i havent found a rim in my area that i like in 16 inch. The reason for tire upgrade is becuase people have said the tires look a little small on the truck with the lift i have. My wife love to drive the truck but she would be paranoid if the truck made rubing noise when turning. The info on the tires and where it will rub is a big help but i am willing to choose a tire that is smaller so there is no rubing. I agree that my current tire size look a little small on the truck and if i am going buy new tires i wanted to choose a size that doesnt look out of place on the truck. I do go offroading with the truck during camping season. From what i have heard the 35 tire could rub or not rub. Once i buy the tire there are no returns. So i am trying to find out if i should maybe pick a tire in between 33 and 35 or go with the 35 inch tires.

 

[Expy2475]

 

[FordandPolaris]

Bigger is (almost) always better. If they have good tread then keep them but if you are looking for new ones, go with 35's. Just my .02

 

[Thermo]

expy2475, 35's would work on your truck, but like I said, it will require an 8" rim. That extra inch in the rim width creates a lot of hardship unless you are willing to do some mods. I wish the answer was better, bu that is the short of the story. You do the wheel well mod, then you should be good with the 35's using the 9" rims. The only caveat I will put to that is you may find that under extreme 4x4ing and getting the front wheels turned about half way, you may still have a little bit of rubbing on the front bumper. But, that would be so infrequent, that I would not worry about it.