Thanks for all the info. Now let me ask you this, if I wanted to go with a 35" tall tire, which I think is something like a 315/70/17. I think this would be about 12.5" wide so I should really look into different rims if I'm going to go with 35s. If I'm understanding everything you guys are saying it seems like I could only really get away with 33s with the stock rim, safely that is. Anything larger I should really get a deeper wheel. Does this sound about right?

 

That does sound right. I guess the question I have for you is are you hell bent on 35's? I know a couple people who run 33's on their trucks with 6" of lift and the tire looks good on there with excellent articulation and a tire that's far less expensive.

But if you really want the 35's yea I personally would look into a rim/tire combination instead of "making" them work on factory rims.

 

no I'm not at all set on 35s, I would actually prefer the 33s because they would work with my current wheels. I just got the impression from other threads that 35s were the way to go. I was hoping I could find a set of 33s that would make it look more aggressive so I didn't have to go up to 35s. Plus 33s are cheaper. If I could find some aggressive 33s that I could fit without spacers that would be ideal but if I needed to add spacers it wouldn't be the end of the world, they aren't that expensive are they?

 

With just a 3" body lift or a level kit, 35" tires = pavement queen... And there is nothing wrong with that, it's not a dig, I have no problem with someone doing a lift just for appearance.

But to be functional, you should really stick to 33" x 12.5" tires on a nice wheel with a 0 to negative offset and about 4.25 - 5" of back spacing.

For a functional truck with 35" tires, a body lift & front level combo would do or a minimum of a true 4" of suspension lift...


For a nice aggressive 33" M/T tire you may want to look at Mickey Thompson MTZs (they are available in 35" also). Here is a set on a buddy's Z71 I had just sandblasted his grill guard uprights and color match painted them, the chrome had been peeling off and they were rusting for a couple years now. These MTZs were purchased by him in '05 and have about 60k miles on them, so you'll have to go to the Mickey Thompson website to see them with a full tread:



He has a 3" body lift and 2" of suspension lift and it looks great with those 33's on it. Although Cheby's are different and he can't fit 35s without at least 6" of lift...

 

Yeah I think I'll stick with the 33" because I would like to do some off roading too. Are the MTZ's real loud on pavement though cause those things look like that had some huge tread on them when they were new if they still have that much left.

 

They ain't near as loud as Nitto Mud Grapplers, but they ain't quiet! There is NO SUCH THING as an aggressive tread or M/T tread for that matter that ain't loud.

Mickey Thompson / Dick Cepek tires have always lasted forever for me. I had a set of Mickey MTXs (since discontinued & replaced with the ATZ all terrain tire) that had 68k on them when I sold the truck and I prolly could have gotten 20k more out of them. Not cheap tires by any means, but very cost effective over the long haul.

If you want aggressive with out excessive loud, then go for the Cepek FCIIs that I have on my truck. It's a A/T & M/T hybrid and I have them because I travel the interstate 360 miles to go to the farm but then play in the mud/hunt/fish hard while I'm up there. I couldn't get too aggressive of an M/T or I'd be chewing them up on the interstates.
The FCII is louder than most A/Ts, but not as loud as most M/Ts. I currently have about 30k miles on mine and have about 90% tread on them. Here's a fairly recent pic:



If you can afford it, get you a set of Mickey's or Cepek's, they are flat out performing tires and last forever! If they are a little high for you, look at either Nitto Trail Grapplers or Toyo Open Country M/Ts. For a little less aggressiveness and a quieter tire it's tough to beat Mickey Thompson ATZs (Bear has a set that he just cannot wear out no matter how hard he tries) or Nitto Terra Grapplers...

 

Yeah, hammer is right, 35's on anything less than 3 inches of lift is useless offroad, unless the only off road you do is mud, but on anything that might require articulation, there is almost no room for it, I mean, I could articulate a little bit, but I have to be real careful so that I dont articulate too much, and it would just be much easier with a little more lift, hence the reason I bought a 1 inch body lift to compliment my level and add a leaf. Still not enough to really turn it into an off road beast, but helpful.

 

Myself, Pyro and quite a few others are running Nitto terra graps 295/70/17. It's a pretty aggressive looking tire and is a great all terrain. The specs are 33.26 x 11.6 x 17. I run 'em on factory rims. As a matter of fact Diviate on here pretty much has the same setup as I do.

 

The nitto trail grappler is a good option and if your willing to throw down the extra cash then the toyo mt is a great tire with probably better wear than any other mt on the road.

 

Even though I dogged em at first, my friend has BFG M/T Km2's and those things are nice. For an M/T they are WAAAAYYYYY quieter than any M/T i have ever seen. They go through some stuff I never thought possible, in fact he pulled my friends little 02 Chevy RCSB through a 2 mile mud trail with foot and a half deep ruts without problems. Damn I shoulda took pics of that