[needmorelift]

hey gang i'm interested in upgrading my tyres soon and am kinda keen on running those 7.5r16 road gripper or similar tyres...now i just wanna know what you guys think is better. having wider chunkier tyres or tall skinny tyres that can be aired out to be wider?

[lordfury007]

when you air out, you don't want your tires to be wider, you want them to be longer... getting your sidewall on the ground will significantly increase your chances of irrepairably damaging your tyre.

As to what type of tyre to use, it depends what terrain you want to be driving in... mud, sand, rock?

[SiKiD_01]

7.50R16's are a bit tall for a stock sierra.

the road grippers i think are a 6 ply tyre, which makes them extremely tough on a sierra. you may have trouble with bagging at lower psi.

are you restricted by funds? or do you have a budget to work with?

i can get you some cheapy muddies for a good price (brand new)
you just need some 15x7 rims.

[jdk81]

Jumping in on the band wagon,

I too am looking at getting a set of DD and semi agressive tyres. For DD, and summer use etc, also bit of mud and stuff when I cant be bothered putting the pedes on.
Cheese cutters are out of fashion, which makes it really hard.

(I want a tyre with a close inner pattern, and good sidewall lugs).

The goodyear wrangler TG are 7.50R16, but are about $300 each.
There isnt much choice, its all light truck stuff.

The 235/85R16 is quite similar in size (unsure of prices).

Goodyear duratrac is an option im looking at, but need to inspect in person.

With pedes as play tyres, and bridgestone d693 now, the bridgies are great on road, but suck off road. I want some serious sidewall on skinny tyres.

My other zook has super grippers/desert deuller/bfg AT style lugs... not overly impressed with them at all.

I am doing the calcs trying to maintain the same mean maximum ground force pressure, to ensure i get good off road performance whilst having the same braking ability in the wet (need the pressure to disperse the water).

[needmorelift]

i currently run goodyear silent armors in 30x9.5 BUT i've been doing some reading about running tall skinny tyres and them being better on such a light car at cutting through mud and such easier just wanting opinions of the seasoned variety...

[2stroker]

Most people on the site would never have driven on bar treads or similar

[Ben_Sierra]

2stroker wrote:

Most people on the site would never have driven on bar treads or similar

I have...

They can be a bit scary on the road

[needmorelift]

no ones really answered anything in relation to skinny vs wide

[jdk81]

[TZAR]

Okay ground force pressure may be a part of the equasion but you are looking at sticking a light truck tyre on to a passenger vehicle. Big heavy sidewall with no deflection.

You need to understand that a tyre isn't just a black round thingy it is an integral part of the suspension and braking system of the vehicle.

Get yourself a copy of the tyre and rim manaul of australia the one they use when designing and building vehicles and what they look at when writing road regulations and have a read of it. You will see that tyres have a minimum tyre pressure they can be run at you will understand that you will not be getting the "perfect" ground pressure anyway

[jdk81]

TZAR wrote:

Okay ground force pressure may be a part of the equasion but you are looking at sticking a light truck tyre on to a passenger vehicle. Big heavy sidewall with no deflection.

You need to understand that a tyre isn't just a black round thingy it is an integral part of the suspension and braking system of the vehicle.

Get yourself a copy of the tyre and rim manaul of australia the one they use when designing and building vehicles and what they look at when writing road regulations and have a read of it. You will see that tyres have a minimum tyre pressure they can be run at you will understand that you will not be getting the "perfect" ground pressure anyway

Indeed.
My spread sheet only included base deflection. The deflection is controlled by pressure.
Going further into your input is a simple sketch of what you are adding.
Selecting tyres different to standard size is such an incredible pain in the ass.
Makes me cringe when I think about the damper, spring and tyre modifcations people do, let alone when they mix and match to save coin.
EDIT: The brakes needs upgrading too.

Quite frankly, there is no easy solution. Thats why there are specified tyres, and australian standards.

To the OP getting pissy about not getting an easy answer... the narrow stock tyres are the best option.

[atari4x4]

wow, what tech.... most of that makes sense


thanks heaps for sharing this info.

[jdk81]

atari4x4 wrote:

wow, what tech.... most of that makes sense


thanks heaps for sharing this info.

I was just getting into the offroad type stuff, where TZAR was correct to add the complexity of on-road use.

For choosing an all round off road tyre, i'd suggest to follow the trends of the military, they spend a lot of money and do a lot of testing.

Ignorance is bliss, so much easier to buy new tyres and go driving and hope for the best.