How I fit 295/70/18 with SCS Ray10's on leveled Tundra

I spent the last few days scouring the interwebs and especially this forum to see "What's the largest tire I can fit" on my leveled tundra. Just like everyone else - I had specifics to meet so I thought I'd post my exact experience in case someone else wants to do the same.

First, I was hit by a car on the back passenger wheel last weekend and they destroyed my TRD OR wheel and left a pretty good mark on the mud flap and bumper. So, instead of buying another TRD wheel - I upgraded all four to SCS Ray10's which are 9x18 +25 offset. Before all this, I had already been running 275/70/18's on the TRD wheels with Bilstein 6112 @ 1.9" and had only trimmed the skid plate and removed the little front mud flap in front of the tire to avoid rubbing. Rear is stock.

From what I read I was pretty certain I was going to have to do something about moving the front plastic liner forward a bit and cut or remove the mud flap behind the front tire. So, last night I removed the front liner and cut a little bit of bumper plastic and metal right on the liner mounting tabs - like just right up to the nut. It probably ended up just being 1/4" removed. Did this with a dremel tool. The liner has one hole that has some play in it for adjustment where one of the larger bolts goes. I put the liner back in and pushed it as far forward as I could and bolted that one bolt down. There's some more plastic around this liner hole that blocks the washer a little so I just cut that away with some tin snips. This one bolt and the plastic tab holder thingy in the back of the wheel well seemed like plenty to hold it so I just left it like that. Then I heated the liner up near the bottom and rolled it with a small kids football to get the liner to go in just a little more. The entire process took about 45 minutes and that was with my 9 year old "helping" me.

I went in to the tire shop today and first we test fitted the new 295/70/18's (Cooper AT3 XLT) on the new wheels and verified there was no rubbing on the front liner, but there was a little on the mud flap. All good. Then we test fitted the spare wheel with the new tires in the front wheel position and it cleared the UCA by a little less than 1/4" - good enough. Then we test fitted the spare with new tire under the truck - no problem and no mods necessary.

Wrapped up the install and drove it around town today. Definitely enough rubbing on the mud flap to bug me. I went home, removed the mud flaps and hit em with the heat gun and football right around the rub area to sort of invert that bulge. I did this a few times to make it stay in that position and then remounted with just the two outside bolts. The re-shaping made it so the inside bolt doesn't line up so I just pushed it in and set a new hole right below the existing. Hit it with some heat and ball again a few times and done.

I tested full turn forward and backward both directions while driving and zero rubbing.

I love the new look and can't wait to take it out on some trails.

 

These tire threads just confuse me.. some fit, some don’t, some trim, some don’t, some fit 37’s, other’s not...
I have the pro suspension all around and Coachbuilder’s +2 in the rear. I really want to go 295/75 but am tempted to just go 275/70 to avoid any trouble...
It’s interesting to hear that you had some rubbing with the 275s as most say they can fit that on stock with no issues..

 

I was a bit confused by all the different experiences too. I think tire tread and wheel offsets have a lot to do with it.

As for the 275's - I originally installed them with stock suspension and did not have to modify anything. It was when I leveled the front that the widest part of the tire started rubbing the skid. Not even sure if I needed to remove the front flap or not at that point.

 

Love that wheel and tire combo.

 

I also just went from 275 on stock height to a 2.25” level and after the alignment have a skid plate rub.

 

I need to figure it out quick. Pulling the trigger on something next week..either 275s or 295s

 

Ol’trusty rubber mallet fixed my skid rub fast.

 

Your truck looks awesome btw! 295/70 vs 285/75? What motivated your choice between these two sizes?

 

Thanks. I wanted all the additional clearance I could get without more suspension change. The 9” wide wheels would work with 275, but a little wider would protect the rim better. And, I still found myself feeling inadequate when I saw 35’s - This is close enough to make me feel like a man now

Edit - sorry, realizing you asked about vs 285. Too close to the body mount chop size, seemed more expensive, and available tires.

 

Looks good! I’m gonna stick to 275/70/18 on my leveled Tundra. I can’t justify the price difference for minimal gains.

 

That looks really good OP!.

 

Thanks. I think the 275/70 look good too and was really close to staying with them. Protecting the new wheels a little more was the final push.

 

Thanks.

 

what tire are you running. Im looking at the falken wildpeaks and the 295 is cheaper than the 275.

 

Cooper at3 xlt. Had them before and love them. I tried to go with the wildpeaks too for the price but they weren’t avail. I’d get the cheaper of the two as I think they’re pretty similar.

 

I’m running BFG KO2 but I’m going with Cooper ST MAXX. I’ve never shopped 295 only 285 so I appreciate you pointing that out.

 

The Cooper in 295 is 30 more per tire. I wonder what that would do to my gas mileage?

 

Pretty sure the 295 is 6lbs heavier than the 275. I think my new wheels are lighter than the old ones so I’m hoping they cancel each other out.

 

I’m leveled as well and wouldn’t mind filling out the wheel well a bit but I’m not wanting to mod much to do it. My wheels are +20.

 

Very nice set-up. Almost exactly what I am doing (just different tires)...dropped the truck off this morning.

 

Make sure to post pics..

 

The perfect morning - got a little mountain biking in with Lucy the trail dog and a little bit of off roading in the sand and rocks.

 

Nice bro!

 

Thanks @lowball . Good to see you on here - but better watch that wallet!

 

thanks for putting this together!! I am about to pull the trigger on the same exact setup and was wondering how much work i would need to do to get them to fit. I have bilsteins 6112 set at 1.9” in the front and 5100s stock in the back. About to purchase my SCS ray 10s in gunmetal and do 295/70/18 ridge grapplers.
now that it has been a few months, any regrets with that tire size? Would you have gotten 275s in hindsight? Here’s a pic of my truck currently, what ya think of the gunmetal rims on black truck?

 

Food for thought, you can get the Ridge Grapplers in a 285/70r18 and they are 10LBS lighter per tire than the 295 and the size difference is very very minimal.

 

I'm not sure, but I think the Ridge Grapplers may have a more aggressive tread - so that may cause a little more rubbing.

No regrets. Mileage seems close to what I was getting with TRD OR Wheels and 275/70's. I'm really happy with this size. As LogCabins pointed out, you might have a little less work and better mileage with the 285's, but I wanted to get as close to 35's as I could without major mods. Good luck and post pics after.

 

Thanks for pointing me to your write up. Best one I’ve seen for exactly what I want to do. I’ve spent days searching for this exact information. The 295/70 setup looks the best imo. Not going to buy $1300 wheels and put small tires on just to avoid a little trimming.

 

I'm glad it's helpful. Even though there is a ton of info on here, when it comes to what rubs and what needs to get trimmed there are a lot of variables. Good luck with the upgrade.

 

Exactly fuel tank size and numerous other variables. I also think some people just take it to a shop and don’t really know exactly what they’re talking about when they get tires to fit. The off-road shop by me said I couldn’t install 5100 in the front because I have struts so I just left and will install myself thanks to this forum.