I need a breakdown of the outcome in the 1/4 with an AUTO trans w/ the following sizes: Assume I just ran a 15 FLAT with stock 17" and 265 tires, what would I run with:

17" wheels/ 265 stock = 15.0 1/4 miles
17" wheels/33"tires=
17" wheels/35"tires=
18" wheels/33"tires=
18" wheels/35"tires=
20" wheels/35"tires

all tires are 12.50 wide

I want looks but I am definety more GO and less show. My 33" w/ stock 17" wheels look so much better than stock but if I get 35" w/18s, how much more will that kill me. I also looked at truck with the leveling kit with the 33" tires and the gap is horrible, so the last thing I want is get a leveling kit and my truck horrible and me needing 35" right away.

 

Let's just say that when my 315s wear out, I will be stepping down in size.

Going from a 30" tire to a 35" tire is a 15% jump. It's effectively the same as taking your 3.73 gears and replacing them with 3.17s. That's a pretty good difference.

Obviously comparing apples to oranges here, but, a 3100lb car with 3.08s and around 400hp can gain around 7 tenths by going to 3.73s.

 

give me all the reasons if you dont mind

 

I don't think that rim size has near as much to do with it as much as overall diameter of the tires. I got rid of my 20's earlier this year in favor of a silver bullet turbo. I wanted more go than show too. I still want some more 20's though!

 

so the 17" or 18" wont make much of difference, its the 33" 35" 37" tires that will make a difference

 

Rotating mass kills 1/4 times.

 

This is a difficult thread to get a real definitive answer. Some wheels are heavier than othes, even the same sizes. The same is true for tires but I think it's more drastic with tires than it is wheels. The extra diameter of tires helps top end speed, but it slows acceleration. Also the bigger the tires, usually the more they weigh in most cases. It also depends on the construction of the tires. In some cases you could take two different tires of the same size but one may be twice as heavy just because of it's construction. For instance a mud or rock crawling tire vs. a normal street tire. I had two sets of tires on my old ford both of them 315/75/16. One set were Cooper Discoverer STT's (street) and the other were Goodyear Wrangler MTR's which are mud tires. I was kind of amazed at just how heavy the Goodyears were vs. the Coopers. Heavier tires equals more rolling mass, more power is required to get them turning. I ran those 305/55/20's which are basically 33x12.50's for all of last summer and I really didn't notice any difference in power with them. I might have lost a few horses but I don't think it was much. 35s and definitely 37's would probably enable you to feel a bit of a difference. I think 20's look outstanding on these 3rd gens no matter the tire size. If you go with a different set of rims you can always keep your stockers and change them out for drag racing. A guy I know of bought a spare set of 265's to swap out with his 315's for drag racing and I think he gained something like 4 or 5 tenths. I'll have to see if I can find out specifically what it was.

 

I ran BFG 315 ATs on stock wheels with a 2" leveling kit for nearly two years. I decided for racing to switch to BFG 285 ATs, at the same time I removed the leveling kit and lowered the rear. I gained around .2 tenths of a second with the smaller tires and lower stance and everything else the same. Bigger tires equals more mass and weight. I think the lower profile helps some also especially with a cross wind or head wind. It also changes to a better effective gear for racing.

 

even though the mud tires looked a lot meaner and more aggresive, I want a tire with a mean look but comfortable and shake-free on the highway. I dont know if I should even get the 2" leveling and do the 35" w/ 18s or or stick w/ 33" on my stock 17" or what??? I also dont wanna loose much MPG and handiling as well, I definetly felt a little loss from the stockers to the 33" in a little of handiling, mpgs, highway shake, longer time to brake and a little performance loss down and thats as far as I will go, I dont want to feel those things I mentioned any worse. The tire that comes to mind w/ a agressive look but still comfortable ride and overall good tire is PROCOMP X-All terrain:

 

See, this looks BAD but I know my performance and ride would go way down the drain, anyone know what size lift and tire/wheel size that is?

 

I did loose some city mpg with the 315s, but I loved the ride height with the 315s and leveling kit. Seemed a very good combo to fill the wheel well at a good height and still be very street friendly.

I like my BFG 285 AT combo with the Power Wagon wheels, with it lowered in the rear to level it still has a good look and stance. And you can tell the difference in handling, but not enough to matter in the long run.

I was/am happy with both setups, but I miss the 315s and higher stance. When I wear the 285s out I will probably go with a full lift and true 35s. I have almost always had at least 4" lifts on my previous trucks.

 

Those appear to be 37/38's on 18's. And I really miss the beach.

Your ride also depends on the tire. Some tires are stiffer, others are softer. I actually got a little smoother ride going from the stock 265's to 285's. It rode noticeably smoother.

p.s. might edit the "bad" part of your post before the mods do

 

so you think that truck rides like A** and the those tires are killing his perfomance??

 

personally, I dont think tire sizes and weights hinder these trucks nearly in the same conditons as cars. Remember when these trucks have 500 hp they also have 1000 tq, a car with 500hp more than likely is running about the same tq. I have 35" muds on my truck and can still outrun a wrx sti, with the stockers i wouldn't have a prayer between spinning tires and redlining @ 98 mph. Now i can run 113-114 mph @ redline, truthfully feel the larger tires allow my truck better acceleration due too the fact that i am not "losing" the rear end everytime i punch it. Yes i have a 4wd, but it only gets used at the track or in the snow, i am not about too start running 4wd on bare dry streets!!

 

That's a good point about top speed. Hmmm.....maybe I won't step down to the 285s. Maybe after my injectors go in this weekend, the throttle response will improve and I won't feel a need to.