I have hankook 295/70/17s on my 04. For my programmer it asks for the size in inches, so I measured and got 33.5", is this what I put? Why in the hell do we use metric and not standard like tires and everything else American should be?

 

You should measure your tires regardless of what the sidewall says. There is big variance between mfgs with "identical" sizes.

12.5/33 for instance is rarely 12.5 across or 33" high.

I know that Hankooks 285/70/17 are 1/2" taller than BFG 285/70/17.

Why? I have no earthly idea.

If you measured 33.5" then yes, that is what you put.

 

To get the most accurate measurement, you'll want to measure from the ground to the center of the hub, then multiply by two. Tires flex when they contact the ground, and the loaded height is shorter than the overall or the static height.