265/75R16 bad choice for me....

[Skippy]

I thought they came standard with 255's not 265's, and does this change the diameter at all?

 

[Peter ST_R]

The weight of larger tires and LT tires also saps power. As a general rule each gram of added weight on a wheel is equivelent to four grams of weight carried as load (this is why push bike riders are mad for light wheels) so if your 265/75/16 LT's are 25Kg more then the old tires you will lose the equivelent of 100kg of pulling power on top of the 3.5% increase in gearing.

 

[ShortyNavros]

Sorry to dig up an old thread. I am looking buying new tyres and would love to go up a size for extra height but don't want to sacrifice too much power/fuel efficiency. As a trade off could you go a 235/85/16 tyre as the benefits are it will be virtually the same height raise as going from 265/70-265/75 but the tyre should be lighter and there is less rolling resistance on the tyre, also less chance of scrubbing and fitment issues (I have a 2inch suspension lift). Also have read tall skinny tyres are actually better for sand driving which is basically the majority of my offroad driving, as when letting down tyres increasing the front to back footprint is far greater than the width of the footprint, see here http://www.expeditionswest.com/research/white_papers/tire_selection_rev1.html.

Have read the only real benefit for wide tyres is on road when cornering and the like, or when you need flotation offroad on for instance, snow. I know no one likes having skinny tyres but I honestly don't think a loss of 30mm would worry too much aesthetically.