If I switch from 265 E to 285 E will I lose much power when towing? I have stock rims. I know I might pick up some mpg's but I'm mainly concerned with get up and go. I have 3.55's and don't tow real heavy, maybe #11000 max. I'm looking for a beefier looking truck and figured this would be the cheapest since I'm ready for tires anyway. What about ride quality? Do the bigger tires ride rougher?

 

i have 285s on my dually, they are d range but have a weight capacity of well over 3k. they ride better than my load range "E"s. you should have enough torque that they will not hurt you towing.

 

Any time you change the outside dia. of your tires, obviously your making a diffrence. A bigger OD will increase economy, as the vehicle will actualy travel further with one rpm. You also change the final gear ratio. Bigger OD means a higher gear, which means less perceived power.

This site has a cool final drive ratio calculator plus some other cool stuff, like a calculator that tells you how much your speedo should be out by using bigger or smaller OD tires.

http://www.4lo.com/calc/geartire.htm