I'm sure this has been posted before, but... I've got a V6 auto with 3.55 gears. My tires are stock 255/70/16s. A buddy of mine bought 265/75/16s for his 99 4x4 with a 5.4. He doesn't want them anymore, because he says it's taking too much power and gas to get the same performance. He told me I could have them. The question is, how drastic of a change will I feel? Will the bigger tire bog down my 4.2 that much? If anyone has experienced this, your info will help...

 

Hi there green monster. I went from a 255/70/16 to a 285/75/16 with very luittle noticeable power loss. My truck is a 4.6L 8cyl. and was bone stock with 3.55 gears when I changed tires. I have since thrown in a chip air filter and cat-back exhaust and have whaty feels like way more get up and go. The biggest oomph came from the exhaust. Is your truck 2x4? If you are putting bigger tires on ......you won't be smoking anyone at the lights, but at least you could drive over the really annoying little jap scrap

 

That helps. LOOK OUT HONDA'S, TOYOTA's, etc... !
Thanks.

 

Green Monster,

I recently purchased a new 2002 F-150 4x4 flairside which came through with P255/70/16's. On day one I replaced the stock Goodyears with a set of 275/75/16 BF Goodrich TA/KO's. I don't really think there was any noticable power drop as a result.

Remo

2002 F-150 XLT 4x4 Reg Cab Flairside
Dark Shadow Grey Metallic
5.4L Triton, 355LS

 

hey man i know where your coming from, i have the exact same problem with my truck which happens to be a 91 F-150 My truck originally came with 265/75/R15 tires when I bought it 1 yr ago, and now the other original owner put these monsters on and this thing is slow as hell and it's got a 300 6 in it. He(previous owner) put these tires on I guess becuase he was looking to get some traction and well I guess it helped with that but not mileage. When climbing a hill or some sort of incline the truck screams bloody murdur trying to climb it. When I can get some money I"m going back to orginals as I mentioned before. IT looks much bigger and looks better but I can't afford the gas it's using up. So stick with original size or if your going to upgrade the size change the rear axle ratio to proper gearing ratio. My original size is 235/75/R15

 

Go with the bigger tires they will look way better and you wont lose much power + they are free right

 

Exactly... He's turning his truck in (his is a lease) and doesn't care what tires are on it. It's not costing him anything, so it's a win/win situation!

 

Replaced my G-Y Wrangler AP's (255-70-16) with Cooper Discoverer H-T (265-75-16). Much better ride, better in the wet, no noticable drop in power, and look a whole lot better!

 

I've got 265/75/16's on my 5.4 and there's no real noticable difference. I've towed a 7000# trailer with the new tires and it does a little more shifting around than before, but nothing too bad. I bought some 4.56 gears for it and I'm having them installed this week. I'll let you know if it's totally obnoxious afterwards.

I'd go ahead and try the larger tires since they're free. If you don't like them you can always change back. The best thing about my switch was the noticable traction difference going form the stock Goodyears to some Mastercraft Courser AWT's.

good luck,

Tim

2000 F150 5.4 XLT

 

QUESTION....... Does anyone leave goodyears on their truck?? Another quick note.....try driving just for one week like theres an egg between your foot and the gas. Don't laugh you'll be shocked at the enormous difference in mileage. Admittedly I am a lead foot. Your truck will ride better on properly aired bigger tires.

 

I had the Goodyear AP's and they were so aweful in the rain that I changed them out for safety reasons. My wife managed to spin the wheels and freak out regularly since it's not like her Honda.

I put some Courser AWT's on it which are made by Cooper and they've been great. I thought I might have been making a mistake by not going with a bigger name tire but I have no complaints. They actually look suprisingly similar to the Pro Comp tread.