Debating larger tires

I head off-road with my 2020 Tundra at least once a year mostly consisting of running down “gravel” roads in the Grand Staircase, Death Valley, etc. Pretty coarse roads but not rock crawling. I just got a set of 18’s and am contemplating going up in tire size over the stock setup. My question is what happens if I use my original wheel/tire size as my spare (smaller OD)? Do the nanny alarms kick in, limp mode, destroy hardware?

For those that tow a fair amount, what did going up in tire size do for/against towing? Make a dent on fuel mileage?

Matt

 

I would not worry about the spare....spare is short term use and many cars use space saver spares these days which are significantly smaller than the actual tires, so a tire slightly smaller is no big deal for short term use. Not recommended for long term or 4wd use.

Pay attention to tire weight and load rating. Not sure what size you want to run but most often moving to a larger tire for 18s on a tundra means moving to E load, but that will depend on the brand and size you want. Standard load tires, which came stock, weigh less and are not as heavy duty, so will ride softer and being lighter, have less hit on MPG.

Tundras come with 31/32inch tall tires typically, in standard load.

Popular size for upgrade is 275/70-18, 33inch tall, fits stock truck just fine. Most of those will probably be e load, but look around at offerings/brands. Tire weight can vary greatly among brands in the same size so if MPG is a concern look for the lighter options. Discount tire, tire rack and similar sites will list the weight of the tires in the specs.

When I ran 275/70-18s, I saw about a 1-2mpg hit and the ride was firmer due to the E load rating and heavier weight of the tires.

I did like the E load for towing however, felt more stable.

Regarding MPG and performance.....I ran some heavier 33s before, now running 35s but they are lighter than the previous 33s....my MPG and performance actually improved a bit on the highway with the bigger tires, due to lower weight of them. So unsprung weight of wheels/tires does have a noticeable impact.

 

THIS IS GOOD INFO! What 285/75's are you currently running?

 

265/70-18 light weight/load ATs will do you fine to drive down a dirt road once a year.

 

I am running Nokian Outpost AT. Chose to try them because they were one of the lightest in the size. They have been my favorite AT tire I have ever run! Perform amazing, wearing like iron, ride much softer than other e loads I have run. Considerably better ride and MPG vs the 33inch wildpeaks I ran prior.

Mine are the previous gen tire, no longer available. New one is the Outpost Nat and I would expect that tire would perform as well.