My 2x4 short bed supercab has a 308 rear end and the small V-8 with stock 16" wheels.

I put a roll pan on the back instead of the bumper which makes it a bit light and gave it a TOO active ride and the rear tires break free way too easily. It's obviously not a hot rod but I want it to ride better and have the tires give better off the line traction in traffic.

The stock tires are REALLY small....

What would you recommend as tire size and make type for street use for this trucks power train?

The biggest height and width to fill the wells and give looks and better traction?

 

I can't imagine just adding a roll pan would make a noticable difference in performance or traction problems. Did you do anything else at the same time? Chip, etc...?

Anywho, I'd go with around a 31x10.50" tire on there, if it is stock height. In metric size, that rounds out to a 265/70/16(for the stock wheels) (30.6 tall, to be exact). A larger, 32" 265/75/16 will fit without rubbing (given the appropriate offset/backspacing on the wheel) but IMO looks a little too 'crammed.' If you wanted to go with a sport truck look with bigger wheels and lower profile tires, a 245/65/18, 265/60/18 or even 245/55/20 or 265/50/20 are all the around the same height (30.4-30.6).

 

oopps, never mind

 

The roll pan did a couple of things when it went on: it lightened the rear end enough that the tires started to spin easily and the lack of weight seems to have given the truck a jumpy ride on certain roads.

The stock Goodyear long trails in 235 will spin at the drop of a hat if I am on asphalt and hit the gas too much and if I floor it from a stand still and keep the hammer down the truck has more tire spin than forward movement.

I do live in Vegas where the heat on the road gets to tires pretty quick and I've often wondered if the heat has taken some of the "give" out of the rubber. I was told (got me if it is true) to look for dry rot in tires here earlier than other cooler climates.

The 265/70 sounds like the way to go with more sidewall for a better ride and less torque without putting too much more rubber on the road.....

It's more of a street truck than a street racing truck....

 

Lower it!

Do you still have your spare tire back there? Either gotta get some more rubber on the ground, or put some weight back there. I took my spare tire off my 98 XLT 5.4 and I'm breaking tires easily too.

 

I just ordered 265/75/16 for my 1999 4x2 F-150. It was cheaper in my case to go bigger for some reason, 11 bucks a tire. The only problem I could think of that you could have with these tires is the gearing in your truck. You will probably be popping out of overdrive more on the highway more.

 

I had thought to get the 265s in 70 width to give some height without putting too much rubber on the ground.....get a little less torque but keep less rubber on the ground so the truck doesn't have to move so much rubber either.....the height to give it a better ride and maybe dampen it down. I may ahve to put variable shocks on the rear en d if that doesn't calm it down on bumpy freeways....it's as smooth as can be on most roads but once it starts bouncing it is very noticable.

And yeah the bumper must weigh a LOT so without it the truck is purty light in the back end.....

 

the bigger tire changes your ration to something like 2.90:1. Very crappy rear end gear if you ask me.

As far as the wider tire giving you grip, its probably the change in tire make, not the size. The stock tires are crap and any change will show an improvement.