285 tires

[moorepowercoatings]

Is there anyone out there that wishes that he or she would have gone with 285's instead of 315's ? I am thinking that the 285's would fit a little better with an aftermarket wheel and ther would be less chance for rubbing. I read that alot of guys say the 315's don't rub with the 2'' leveling kit, but this is going down the road, not going off road where the vehicle is articulating while turning. I don't want to rip off my air dam while I'm turning the wheel going over a ridge or thru a ditch! I may still end up using the stock rims, but I really don't like the looks of them! The weld tech guy said wait untill after SEMA and they may have a 8-9" wheel with proper "stock backspacing", but I'm not holding my breath. The Alchoa guy said It will Probably be a year and a half befor they have out a wheel that is correct . Any thoughts, any pictures with 285's

 

[ShannonPhillips]

FWIW, I have the 315's with a 2" kit, and don't rub. I didn't rub before the lift either.

 

[moorepowercoatings]

Is this not rubbing when off roading or when driving? Also, the only wheels available will stick out more, I don't like the styling of the aluminum wheels on the truck. When going thru the twisties and turning, the relationship between the tires and the fenders change alot!

 

[nickleinonen]

just took a look at the tirerack.com website... they have the bfg a/t 315/70/17's avalable for $119. 00 usd. . sounds like a good price to me... now they also have the bfg a/t 285/70/17 avalable for $182. 00... not so good a price for a smaller tire... $315 more expensive for a set of 5 tires...

 

[silverram03]

See my gallery I have 285's but just had 17"x8" American Racing Pythons put on and the look sweet (no pictures with new wheels just stock ones). And only stick out about an Inch or so.

 

[RankRam]

silverram those 285's look very nice! I don't plan to lift mine so the 285's are my tire of choice. Thank's for the pics.

 

[RodneyNichols]

Who has picture of there truck with the 2" leveling kit and 285's or 315...



I want to see... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .

 

[moorepowercoatings]

silverram I'd like to see a picture with the new wheels. I am real concerned about off road clearance with the 315's. I got a 4wd mag this week and it had a 4" lift install and with 305's, I think, and centerline 17x8 wheels and they had to trim the air dam because it was hitting so hard on low speed "5mph" off road driving. I do not want a 4" lift, I will probably go for the leveling kit though. I know that the stock wheels would help a ton on clearance, but I am not crazy about the looks, and for now no one is making a wheel that has the same offset.

 

[RAMINSPEED]

Take a look at my ride. I’m running 315’s on 9” wide with 5” backspaced wheels and a 2” leveling kit. And yes, they DID rub a little due to the offset. But with a little help from my heat gun, I pushed back the areas of the front wheel liners that were rubbing. I also trimmed just a little of the inner front air dam with a grinder (you wouldn’t even notice it). I checked for rubbing by jacking up the end of each axle individually. In-turn, articulating the suspension and turning the steering wheel while spinning the tire. If I would have stayed with the stock wheels (which I don’t like the look of), I’m sure I wouldn’t have had any problems with rubbing. I can also turn the steering wheel lock to lock with no rubbing anywhere. I think there is a chance of mild rubbing when you’re out driving way too fast for the terrain or during heavy throttle or braking with the suspension heavily compressed due to body movement on the frame and/or compression of the suspension arm bushings.



I went wheeling, not the Rubicon or anything major, but more than just a dirt road and had no problem rubbing. I will take it out this weekend and intentionally “cross it up” and see what happens. I’ll report back the findings.



Keep in mind, the lift you saw in the magazine article has longer arms. So basically it will push the tire into the front air dam under articulation. That’s one reason to use the stock arms with little or no lift up front or trim the air dam, its only replaceable plastic.



If you are seriously concerned with rubbing, stay with the 305’s or 285’s instead of the 315’s and defiantly don’t go off road because you might get your truck dirty or even scratched. LOL



Be very careful of what tire you pick. The BFG A/T’s work well and don’t catch the wheel liners as easy as a mudder, especially Swampers, due to their tread shoulder design. If you get them too tall and wide, they will rub on everything including your suspension components. Not a good thing.



These things aren’t jeeps. In stock configuration they are 6000+ pound full size trucks with limited articulation due to the heavy springs, over load springs and short front wheel compression travel. If you want a nice suspension, but don’t want to jack it up a bunch, check out the T-REX Engineering suspension system, it’s very off road capable, but still no rock crawler. You can always wait for the new 6” rock crawler suspensions from Superlift, but you would probably still rub the tires.



Just giving you my 1. 5 cents

 

[moorepowercoatings]

I am not looking to go rock crawling, but I do hunt and I love to go on the fire roads and such in the national forest's like the Black Hills which do rock your truck even at 5-10mph. I am not into high speed running with my $42k truck but I do want the capability to do some mild wheeling without tearing up my truck. If I want to get real nasty I'll take my lifted Raider with the M/TR's and not care if I get the dents. FYI I grew up farming and I drive my truck on rock roads and dirt roads every day, and some people "my wife" says I don't wash my truck nearly enough, so... . I also have 3. 73 gears and I don't know that I really want the 35" tires. I like the looks, but I am not sure I want that much loss in gearing. I do love the looks of the M/T classic II wheels! I am leaning to the BFG A/T's even though I love the looks of the Goodyear M/TR's, cause the are kind of loud compared to the A/TS tires I had on my Raider.

 

[silverram03]

Hello again everyone I just updated my gallery with some pictures of my new wheels for you all to see. Enjoy. Let me know what you think of them or any questions you may have.

 

[dnitzel]

I have the BFG ATs 285's and they have been GREAT so far. Great ride, handle decent, reasonable traction, seem to be wearing well. The local tire shop traded my stock Michelins for $500 mounted and balanced. The are a tad bit noisy, though, but they are an agressive tire. I like the white letters too!



THE BEST looking tire on a Dodge HD (in my opinion) is a Goodyear MTR. MUCH better traction than the BFG, about the same amount of noise if not slighty less, handling at 80 mph needs more attention. Nothing else compairs in mud and snow. They can be had in 285's and 305's. They are one of the most agressive tires out there, but wear faster than a BFG.

 

[Duck]

Lots of pics here:

03 2500 larger tires

 

[RAMINSPEED]

Update

Rubbing doesn't seem to be a problem when articulated unless the tires have mud on them.