265/70R17 or 275/65R17

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I've been all over the place trying to plan a tire/wheel/spacer upgrade. Originally I was going to just get a set of 18" trailblazer wheels with no spacers. Then I was thinking those wheels plus half inch spacers would look nice. But those wheels are impossible to find, I'm short on cash, and those 5311 5-star rims do have a chrome-like polished look which I do not like.

So I've decided I'll stick with my 17"s. Which means I need a tire. I had Yokohama Geolandar ATS on my ZR2 and I really liked them, plus they are priced well (compared to BFG's anyway).

My first plan was to just get a 265/65R17 tires (30.6" x 10.43"). From what I read, I'll PROBABLY be able to run those without any other mods.

But then I started to think about how much I really do want to space out a little. A stock trailblazer's tires are lost in those giant wheel wells. And if I do spacers (either 1" or 1.25", no bigger), then maybe I should consider a larger tire.

265/70R17 is 31.6" x 10.43"
275/65R17 is 31.1" x 10.83" <- this is the size I had on my ZR2 Blazer. They looked real nice and grabbed real nice too. That would be my preferred option.

I assume both of these tires will definitely hit the ball joint without a spacer? But should be fine WITH a spacer? Would I need to do any trimming for them?

I'm also a little concerned that the 275 (which I really want) might stick out too far with a 1.25" spacer?

I have no plans to do any suspension work other than maybe tighter swaybars, maybe stiffer springs and maybe the steering rack out of an SS. But no lifting or lowering. And I'd really prefer not to do any trimming.

I hate metric tire sizes because they are so hard to compare. 275/65R17 vs 275/60R18, you can't look at those and know they are the same without doing the math. Which makes it hard to compare similar tire sizes, hence me posting ANOTHER "will it fit" tire thread. It's not the metric units that's the problem, it's the dumbass idea of doing width-by-apsect-ratio rather than width-by-diameter. What shit head thought of that way of sizing tires???
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
I have 265/75/16 which is very close to the 265/70/17 tire that you're looking at. Yes, you'll need a spacer but the 1.5" would be fine. And honestly, I think that is spaced out just about perfectly for our wheel wells. It is pretty darn flush with the wheel wells (maybe slightly sticking out).

Now, that said, you would need to lift it and likely do very minor trimming to fit them. I had to trim just the very corners of my bumper cover as they caught on the tread. But I'm talking very minor. I do have a 2.5" lift though.

If you don't want to lift you'd probably be better off sticking with a little shorter tire. I don't think 31" will fit without some sort of lift going on, at least not without rubbing on stuff when turning the wheels and/or compressing the suspension over bumps and such. I could be wrong, but looking at mine I just don't see how they'd fit height-wise.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I'm looking at the specs on tirerack.com and the 275 yokohamas all call for a 7.5" to 9.5" rim. The stock 17"s are 7" aren't they? So too much tire for the rim? Maybe I'll be back to 265 after all :/ ... The 265/65R17's also call for a 7.5" to 9.5" rim... I'm certainly not going any narrower than a 265 though. These specs make me skeptical though. ZR2's came with 31x10.5" tires, and they all had 15" x 7" wheels.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
For the sake of readability, here are all four tire sizes that I'm stuck around:

265/65R17 (30.6 x 10.43)
265/70R17 (31.6 x 10.4)
275/60R17 (30 x 10.8)
275/65R17 (31.1 x 10.8)

But at least according to tirerack.com, all of these tires want at least a 7.5" wide rim. I'm pretty sure I don't want the 31.6x10.4". I like width more than diameter, so I'd prefer one of the 275's. Would a 30" x 10.8" be likely to rub without any spacers? It's not very tall, but it is plenty wide.
 

Snailblazin'

Member
Dec 9, 2011
164
FWIW: 275/65r18 (32" x 10.8") on the factory 18 x 8's with a 1.5" spacer and 3" lift rubbed my fender liners on full compression.

I'm sure the +0.5" difference from manufacturer's recommendations is going to be fine.

Also, fuck it, do what you want to and deal with it after the fact! - spoken by a compulsive over-thinker
 

smt 59

Member
If you are not going to lift or mod the suspension then stick with stock size on the manufacturer sticker on the drivers side door jam, any size up from stock WILL rub when turning the wheel.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
According to that chart, the 275/65R17s (31.1" x 10.8") tires fit with just spacers and nothing else. And I DO want to do spacers anyway... but I just didn't want to do spacers right away. But I guess I should, I'd like to have the extra inch of tire diameter.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
If you are not going to lift or mod the suspension then stick with stock size on the manufacturer sticker on the drivers side door jam, any size up from stock WILL rub when turning the wheel.

Completely FALSE! Many run different sizes with ZERO rubbing. There is extra clearance with stock setup.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
So I went with 275/60R17 (30" x 10.8"), partly because I wanted something that would fit without mods, and partly because they are on Amazon right now, with free shipping, for $85 a tire!!! That's an insane price! I can't say no to that!
Here's a link: http://amzn.to/1XXHxQV
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
Nice deal.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
Yeah I'm psyched. I was originally looking at $500 for new wheels and $650 for new tires. Since deciding to keep my 17's, now I'm looking at a net cost of $340, that's pretty sweet.
 

dmanns67

Member
Apr 3, 2013
32,979
Ohio
So I went with 275/60R17 (30" x 10.8"), partly because I wanted something that would fit without mods, and partly because they are on Amazon right now, with free shipping, for $85 a tire!!! That's an insane price! I can't say no to that!
Here's a link: http://amzn.to/1XXHxQV

Damn, you must have bought them during a sale. Now they are back up to $193 a tire per your link provided.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
That's because Amazon is now out of stock, and the price I'm seeing ($212) is the 3rd party seller price. I bought my four, someone else bought a set of four, then someone else bought the last remaining pair. I kept checking for days, the price was stuck at $85. Amazon must not like keeping small quantities of things in their warehouses.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
Finally got my 30" x 10.8" tires mounted today. They fit with maybe 1/2" or a tad less ball joint space. I drove around to heat them up and I was still clearing. The tires look great, and BOY the whole truck handles WAY better. It feels like I had a full suspension upgrade. No more bouncing all over the place. Im' very happy, and at $85 a pop too! With mounting and a new TPMS sensor, the total was $540. No pics yet, I'll try to take some tomorrow and post.
 
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