Tire Width Recommendations, Please!

[1tzkenner]

I've already picked out the tires I want for my '24 Ram 1500, Bighorn 4x4. What I need help with is which width to get. The tires on it are 275/65r18.
I live in rainy, W. Oregon and sometimes encounter a little snow, some greasy, clay mud, sand, and gravel roads. This is for my "hunting rig". I don't plan on towing or hauling anything heavy. I'll pull my drift boat, but the Subaru can do that. I won't be doing heavy, off-road running, but sometimes find myself in dicey situations.

The tires I'm looking at come in 255-275 widths. Narrow tires are good in certain conditions and wide tires in others. I'm thinking that maybe a middle of the road width tire would be a good compromise as an "all 'round" tire, capable of being okay in most conditions, while not the best in any.

Do you think a 265mm would be a good choice for me?

Here's the chart from the Nokian Outpost nAT site:
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[diymirage]

my vote always goes to narrow tires, im just never in a situation where wider tires are better

 

[rzr6-4]

my vote always goes to narrow tires, im just never in a situation where wider tires are better

You got here a minute before I did, but I'm actually going the opposite way. Being a "hunting rig" I would error on the side of larger, both wider and taller. I don't remember the width but my Sierra's tires are close to oem size. It sees a little mud here and there but it has only been in anything deep 3 times, it got stuck twice.

When I bought my ram it had some 275 with a pretty mild tread pattern, still did pretty well. Now it has 305 mud tires, snow performance is meh but the mud performance has been surprisingly good. My profile pic is pulling a 15k lb trailer through about 4 inches of mud and I don't think I ever spun the tires at all. Mud tread pattern is obviously very important but these wide ones do work off road.

Mud tires are not known for snow performance, all terrains are actually better on paper. My wide MTs on the Ram do better than the narrower ATs on the Sierra, but the Ram is also considerably heavier so take that how you wish.

 

[diymirage]

You got here a minute before I did, but I'm actually going the opposite way. Being a "hunting rig" I would error on the side of larger, both wider and taller. I don't remember the width but my Sierra's tires are close to oem size. It sees a little mud here and there but it has only been in anything deep 3 times, it got stuck twice.

When I bought my ram it had some 275 with a pretty mild tread pattern, still did pretty well. Now it has 305 mud tires, snow performance is meh but the mud performance has been surprisingly good. My profile pic is pulling a 15k lb trailer through about 4 inches of mud and I don't think I ever spun the tires at all. Mud tread pattern is obviously very important but these wide ones do work off road.

Mud tires are not known for snow performance, all terrains are actually better on paper. My wide MTs on the Ram do better than the narrower ATs on the Sierra, but the Ram is also considerably heavier so take that how you wish.

guess it comes down to what the OP does with his truck ?
i plow with mine, so guess what im more concerned with ?

i run 275s on mine, Kenda klevers, and i dont believe ive ever gotten her stuck

 

[rzr6-4]

guess it comes down to what the OP does with his truck ?
i plow with mine, so guess what im more concerned with ?

i run 275s on mine, Kenda klevers, and i dont believe ive ever gotten her stuck

I think if you want to "float" on deep snow wide is good, but ice and hard pack (like following the plow) narrower like yours would be better. As usual, the answer is "it depends".

 

[1tzkenner]

There's "narrower", which is a 265, and then there's "Narrow", which is a 255....

 

[diymirage]

your 1500 is a light truck so i can see a 265 working for you, how wide is the rim ?

 

[Dean2]

You cannot buy a tire wide enough to "float" a Ram pickup, without seriously modifying it. Wider tires provide better braking, better cornering and better traction on ice, pavement, rock, sand and packed snow. The bigger the contact patch the better the traction. This applies to cars in exactly the same manner. The reason they run wide smooth tires on race cars is that maximizes contact. They only run grooved tires when the pavement is wet as that balances water evacuation with contact. Heavy lug mud tires are designed to fdo the same thing, evacuate the mud.

Narrower, tires are better in deep snow, and deep mud, as long as you don't run out of clearance. This isn't as much because they dig down better, it is more because they produce less resistance to passing through the snow or soft mud. Same way a sharp knife cuts better than a dull knife, narrower leading edge.

For cars being aggressively driven, wide, lower profile is better. For off road height is almost always an advantage and lower profile sidewalls are a disadvantage.

From there you should easily be able to pick the tire configuration you need.

 

[1tzkenner]

your 1500 is a light truck so i can see a 265 working for you, how wide is the rim ?

I'm "assuming" it's an 8"er. It's the standard for the 18" wheels this truck came with.

 

[Dewbo]

I like my 295/65R/20……on factory rims@9”