Thinking about changing tires: Toyo A/T II

[myoung84]

I am seriously thinking about stepping back down to 33" tires and going with the Toyo A/T II in a 325/60/18, which is roughly a 33x13x18. Several reasons are contributing to this. I can't find the weight for my Nittos but they're heavy. The stock BFG's are 56 lbs and the Toyo's are 61 lbs. Not too much of an increase.

1) When I installed my new rims and heavy M/T tires, my truck lost a lot of power and the ability to hold speed up hills on the highway. It did not do this with the stock tires.

2) I have a baby due in July and the truck is pretty damn tall. Along with my reduction in tire size, I'm going to remove my lift spacers and block and go back to stock height. This will make loading crap in the truck much easier. 3" might not sound like a lot, but it made a huge difference crawling in and out of the bed.

3) Gas mileage dropped about 3-4 MPG with the taller, heavier tires. I stuggle to get 11 now and was easily able to get 14-15 before. Not the biggest reason to change, but it's a reason.

So, am I nuts?

Here's a few pics from a Titan forum with this same size. They are the extreme design...

 

[RompinRam]

Gotta do what ya gotta do man. You can always lift er even higher when your young one grows up!!

 

[quietpeen]

i don't think you are nuts...you are being practical.

 

[myoung84]

But I hate being practical...

 

[Catchin Zs]

Go for it with the kid man. That's your only excuse for taking height off! Lol

 

[RompinRam]

Yeah unlike *cough cough* Andrew who decided to take some height off and blame in on a "city" bahaha. Jk Andrew! But yeah man, for the kiddo no one can blame ya!

 

[Musclemckeester]

I agree, you have to do what you have to do.

Just another option would be get the step extenders for the power steps, that would at least make getting in and out a little easier. And for the bed they make the bed step too.

 

[myoung84]

The tire howling doesn't help much either. It doesn't really bother me on short trips, but my wife hates it. On longer trips, it does get a little annoying...

 

[fastNugly]

Not nuts at all....
I lowered my truck for practicality and function to where I live and can/cannot access when it was huge.

Im still debating between AT's and MT's as well.

I have 37 Nittos and even with my gears, my mileage only improved slightly, but my power is back. Im thinking.......of doing 35's AT's for winters and see how I like it and make a decision come end of winter/early spring

So, not nuts at all man

 

[fastNugly]

Yeah unlike *cough cough* Andrew who decided to take some height off and blame in on a "city" bahaha. Jk Andrew! But yeah man, for the kiddo no one can blame ya!

Cant believe I missed this....LOL
Many factors besides the city living
I got 2 young kids too

 

[Allstar]

Fyi

I have the Toyo OC AT's and they are quite. My partner bought a set of the AT II's for his F250 and the howl like mudgrips not as loud but still noticeable. I think the slightly different tread design is the problem..

 

[MADDOG]

Those are all good reasons to do what ya gotta do. When the kid gets taller, your truck can get taller again.

An increase in unsprung weight and wider tires can kill performance and mileage so you are on the right track there.

 

[smiley]

If you don't like tire noise stay away from M/T and be choosy with A/T. I think you are being very practical. Your reasons are a couple of the reasons I have not done any lifting just bigger tires that did not have to much effect on my power or mileage especially with gears.

 

[ljvsnyder]

New kid one they is definetly a good reason to lower the truck, those car seats can be a b#$&@. I went with the 285/75-17's (34") on my truck lost 1 mpg, and the 34" on a stock height 2500 looks just right in the large fender wells. A few guys I know that have got the AT II's like them so far, but they are too new for any wear comparisons. Not the best pic, but gives you an idea of what a 34" looks like.

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[MK12RAM]

I figured out about a week ago that I'll never lift my truck. Killed a pretty good size deer (160-170lbs dressed) and had to pick the damn thing up and lift it into the back. An extra 2-3" of lift would have made it almost impossible. I also understand on the tires. I mounted some bigger AT E-load tires on my last Nissan SUV and lost about 2-3 mpgs both city and highway because of them. I had the thing tuned with Hypertech 93 tune, Volant intake, custom Magnaflow exhaust, IMS spacer, and it still sucked on gas. It had tons of power out of the Nissan VQ40 motor but would only average 14-15mpgs city and 17-18 highway with the tires. My Ram does just as good and sometimes better on gas and it weighs a good 2000 more lbs and has almost twice the HP and Torque. Sometimes having something that looks like a tank will become completely impractical with the easy stuff.