Help, 275/70/18 or 285/75/18 ?

[Jeff_]

Hey guys, I know this is probably a beat to death topic so I apologize in advance.

I'm about to pull the trigger on some new tires for my Tahoe and I'd love some advice or personal experience input here.

Right now I have the factory 265/65/18 Michelins on the factory 18" wheels.

I'm wanting a beefier and taller tire for a few reasons.
1. Looks - duh
2. I spend summers in Idaho and rural dirt and gravel roads and occasionally some muddy fields.
3. I spend winters going to ski resorts

I'm going to buy some new BFG KM3's from costco and have them mounted up in the next week or so.

I have some Bilstein 5100's set to the highest setting up front to bring the truck to a perfectly level stance.

I'm unsure if I can fit a 285/75/18 tire or if 275/70/18 is as big as I can go without running into significant rubbing at full lock?

Anyone have any info they care to share or any personal experience with these tires on their Tahoe?

Pic for attention..

 

[Tiki]

With stock wheels rubbing is a large concern due to the positive offset of the wheels. I went with 275/70R18 and can say that I’m quite happy with no rubbing.

 

[hcvone]

275/65/18, worked for me for years

 

[Jeff_]

With stock wheels rubbing is a large concern due to the positive offset of the wheels. I went with 275/70R18 and can say that I’m quite happy with no rubbing. View attachment 280129

Yeah good to know. I remember you posting that pic for me before. Maybe I should just be happy with that. I think 275/70/18 still fills the wheel well nicely based on your pic.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Regarding wheel/tire combinations that will fit your truck without rubbing, no 2 trucks and their suspensions are exactly alike, due to a number of factors including accumulated wear on the suspension components and different wheel widths and offsets, so there is no guarantee that what fits with no rubbing on one truck will automatically fit with no rubbing on your truck. Other folks' experiences can guide you in one direction or another, but the final test will be when you mount the wheel/tire combination on your own truck.

To assist you in getting a good idea on whether or not specific alternate wheel/tire combinations 'may' fit your truck with no rubbing, I recommend that you use the wheel/tire comparison app at the URL listed below. You can use this app starting with your existing wheel/tire combination as a benchmark, assuming that there are currently no rubbing issues with it, and measure the actual critical fender and suspension component clearances as directed by this app. Then, you can enter alternate wheel/tire combinations, and this app will give you the projected changes in these critical fender and suspension component clearances.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

I used this app for determining whether on not I could use my current alternate wheel/tire combination, and it accurately projected the changes in critical clearances. Again, the use of this app in not an absolute guarantee that an alternate wheel/tire combination will fit without rubbing, but it provides a much better assessment, or projection, than simply an educated guess on your part, or a statement from others that it worked on a truck other than yours.

 

[Jeff_]

Regarding wheel/tire combinations that will fit your truck without rubbing, no 2 trucks and their suspensions are exactly alike, due to a number of factors including accumulated wear on the suspension components and different wheel widths and offsets, so there is no guarantee that what fits with no rubbing on one truck will automatically fit with no rubbing on your truck. Other folks' experiences can guide you in one direction or another, but the final test will be when you mount the wheel/tire combination on your own truck.

To assist you in getting a good idea on whether or not specific alternate wheel/tire combinations 'may' fit your truck with no rubbing, I recommend that you use the wheel/tire comparison app at the URL listed below. You can use this app starting with your existing wheel/tire combination as a benchmark, assuming that there are currently no rubbing issues with it, and measure the actual critical fender and suspension component clearances as directed by this app. Then, you can enter alternate wheel/tire combinations, and this app will give you the projected changes in these critical fender and suspension component clearances.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

I used this app for determining whether on not I could use my current alternate wheel/tire combination, and it accurately projected the changes in critical clearances. Again, the use of this app in not an absolute guarantee that an alternate wheel/tire combination will fit without rubbing, but it provides a much better assessment, or projection, than simply an educated guess on your part, or a statement from others that it worked on a truck other than yours.

Appreciate this link and your info. I’ll use it and bust out the measuring tape and get a rough idea!

 

[vcode]

275/65-18 is nearly identical to the 275/55-20 tire. 275/70-18 is an inch bigger in diameter, and the 285 almost 3 inches bigger. I have at most 1" of clearance to the wheel wells when I turn the wheel. A 275/70-18 would probably fit, but the 285's would definitely not on my 2010.

 

[Philpug]

I'm wanting a beefier and taller tire for a few reasons.
1. Looks - duh
2. I spend summers in Idaho and rural dirt and gravel roads and occasionally some muddy fields.
3. I spend winters going to ski resorts

IMHO, you have these in reverse order of importance

 

[Jeff_]

275/65-18 is nearly identical to the 275/55-20 tire. 275/70-18 is an inch bigger in diameter, and the 285 almost 3 inches bigger. I have at most 1" of clearance to the wheel wells when I turn the wheel. A 275/70-18 would probably fit, but the 285's would definitely not on my 2010.

This is great info as well. Thank you.

IMHO, you have these in reverse order of importance

Haha I think you’re right now that I’ve re-read it.


UPDATE: So I went ahead and ordered the 275/70/18’s through Costco today.
Once they come in and I get them mounted up, I’ll post pictures!
Thanks again everyone who helped with input!

 

[Jeff_]

Well, I went to Costco today because my tires came in. They declined installing them on my Tahoe because the 275/70/18 tire size is 5.1% bigger than the factory 265/65/18.
That's a joke if you ask me, but I get it, they're a large corporation blah blah liability blah blah.
I went back later and asked them if I brought in wheels, would they mount the tires I ordered, they agreed to.
So now I'll have to put the Tahoe on jackstands in my driveway and take the wheels out in another car to have them swap the tires and then put them on the Tahoe.
So that'll have to wait until my next day off...

 

[Philpug]

Well, I went to Costco today because my tires came in. They declined installing them on my Tahoe because the 275/70/18 tire size is 5.1% bigger than the factory 265/65/18.
That's a joke if you ask me, but I get it, they're a large corporation blah blah liability blah blah.
I went back later and asked them if I brought in wheels, would they mount the tires I ordered, they agreed to.
So now I'll have to put the Tahoe on jackstands in my driveway and take the wheels out in another car to have them swap the tires and then put them on the Tahoe.
So that'll have to wait until my next day off...

Yeah, they won't deviate from OEM specs.

 

[Jeff_]

Well I finally got the tires mounted through Costco. I had tried lying to them that the wheels I was bringing them were off a 2500 silverado so that they'd not give me a hard time about the size difference. My hope was that they'd be so unaware of the 6-lug vs 8-lug difference that they would never know. I think the service manager at my local Costco Tire Center doesn't like me, so he went out of his way to look at the wheels and determine they weren't the right ones. They said they'd mount the tires and explicitly write on my "file" that they have no warranty through Costco. So good for them on protecting their giant corporation I guess, and at the end of the day it's whatever. I tried what I could, I can't be mad.

I think the 275/70/18's look great! Fills out the wheel wells much better than the factory tires, and no rubbing even at full lock.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Corporate liability.... Gotta love it!

Similarly, a while back, I went to Town Fair Tire to get my tires balanced. The Tech came out of the shop and told me that they would not re-mount the newly-balanced tires on the rear of my truck, since it had wheel spacers. The only way that I could get my truck out of their shop, is if I would authorize them to remove the spacers, before they re-mounted the tires.

 

[Jeff_]

Corporate liability.... Gotta love it!

Similarly, a while back, I went to Town Fair Tire to get my tires balanced. The Tech came out of the shop and told me that they would not re-mount the newly-balanced tires on the rear of my truck, since it had wheel spacers. The only way that I could get my truck out of their shop, is if I would authorize them to remove the spacers, before they re-mounted the tires.

Yeah that's terrible. On one hand I understand because I work for a big company too, but like come on, there should be a middle ground. But ultimately, it doesn't matter to the service manager if I give my money to Costco or not so it is what it is.
Given that I didn't sign anything saying that I had no warranty, I don't know how well their note in the "system" will hold up should I want to push anything with them down the line.

 

[LRD_V8R]

Well, I went to Costco today because my tires came in. They declined installing them on my Tahoe because the 275/70/18 tire size is 5.1% bigger than the factory 265/65/18.
That's a joke if you ask me, but I get it, they're a large corporation blah blah liability blah blah.
I went back later and asked them if I brought in wheels, would they mount the tires I ordered, they agreed to.
So now I'll have to put the Tahoe on jackstands in my driveway and take the wheels out in another car to have them swap the tires and then put them on the Tahoe.
So that'll have to wait until my next day off...

I wish I would've read this comment before today, the same thing happened to me, except mine were 10% bigger

 

[Jeff_]

I wish I would've read this comment before today, the same thing happened to me, except mine were 10% bigger

Did they install them for you and write “no warranty” like they said they would for me? Haha

 

[LRD_V8R]

Did they install them for you and write “no warranty” like they said they would for me? Haha

They wouldn't even install them and told me I got no warranty. I had to have my neighbor take them to a shop and let's just say I got charged the "oversized tire" rate. That was the 2nd visit to costco (the tires weren't there for my 1st appointment) and I was done screwing with tires. Hopefully I'll be able to drive the thing after I do some trimming (z71 tahoe).

 

[Jeff_]

They wouldn't even install them and told me I got no warranty. I had to have my neighbor take them to a shop and let's just say I got charged the "oversized tire" rate. That was the 2nd visit to costco (the tires weren't there for my 1st appointment) and I was done screwing with tires. Hopefully I'll be able to drive the thing after I do some trimming (z71 tahoe).

I see, makes sense. Even with the hassle it’s hard to beat Costco with their prices especially when there’s a rebate as well. Hopefully you’re able to be putting miles on them soon.

 

[LRD_V8R]

I see, makes sense. Even with the hassle it’s hard to beat Costco with their prices especially when there’s a rebate as well. Hopefully you’re able to be putting miles on them soon.

Yeah. That's why I kept the tires as they were the cheapest.

 

[StickShift2021]

With stock wheels rubbing is a large concern due to the positive offset of the wheels. I went with 275/70R18 and can say that I’m quite happy with no rubbing. View attachment 280129

Hey Bud, thanks for posting this. Just want to ask, did you have to change out the stock wheels in order to fit those 275/70/18's? I'm almost certain my 18" wheels on my 2020 is different from those?.

Also a general question for everyone who sized up, is there a limit to what size may fit in the spare tire compartment?. I went with Tiki's size information and hope this wont be a problem with the spare. Thanks for any input.