Pickles Tire Covo

[Snarf77]

Jeff, we all love you, but I want to see some larger tires or mud terrains on that beast.

[UselessPickles]

Lol. Don't worry. Tires/wheels are next on the list. My current savings would allow me to purchase 1 wheel, so it will be a while. My wife and kids frequently remind me of the inadequate small size of my tires. They point out any Jeep or truck and say "they have bigger tires than you. why are your tires so small?"

I'll be getting "the combo" - 33x12.5 Duratracs with 15" wheels. I have 3.21 gears, so I'm a bit concerned that I'll want to re-gear as soon as I try driving with the new tires. It'll take a while to save up for a re-gear after the tires, though. I plan on going with 4.10 gears and TrueTrac LSD front and rear.

[JeepLab]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kfYyeRwRSI

Jeff, that is some very unsafe driving. I like your style.

[Snarf77]

Lol. Don't worry. Tires/wheels are next on the list. My current savings would allow me to purchase 1 wheel, so it will be a while. My wife and kids frequently remind me of the inadequate small size of my tires. They point out any Jeep or truck and say "they have bigger tires than you. why are your tires so small?"

I'll be getting "the combo" - 33x12.5 Duratracs with 15" wheels. I have 3.21 gears, so I'm a bit concerned that I'll want to re-gear as soon as I try driving with the new tires. It'll take a while to save up for a re-gear after the tires, though. I plan on going with 4.10 gears and TrueTrac LSD front and rear.

I'm not convinced you'll need/want to regear with 33s. I'll be interested to see if I"m correct.

[Timmy]

Lol. Don't worry. Tires/wheels are next on the list. My current savings would allow me to purchase 1 wheel, so it will be a while. My wife and kids frequently remind me of the inadequate small size of my tires. They point out any Jeep or truck and say "they have bigger tires than you. why are your tires so small?"

I'll be getting "the combo" - 33x12.5 Duratracs with 15" wheels. I have 3.21 gears, so I'm a bit concerned that I'll want to re-gear as soon as I try driving with the new tires. It'll take a while to save up for a re-gear after the tires, though. I plan on going with 4.10 gears and TrueTrac LSD front and rear.

Oh dear Lord, please don't take the time to "upgrade" to 33's, those are far too small. I have 35's on my Jeep right now with 3.21 gears, and it's not bad. If I had an SC/Turbo, it would be more than fine. I realize this is more of a daily driver for you, so MPG is important, but it just seems sacrilegious to move a Jeep off the OEM tires to a only a 33" tire. Right now I have my studded winter 35" Duractracs on, and I just measured them so I could re-program the speedo with my AEV ProCal, and they _measured_ at 33.75" tall. Tell me that isn't a rip-off. 35" tires only coming in at 33.75". I hate to think what the real size is of 33" Duratracs.

[Rexx19]

Oh dear Lord, please don't take the time to "upgrade" to 33's, those are far too small. I have 35's on my Jeep right now with 3.21 gears, and it's not bad. If I had an SC/Turbo, it would be more than fine. I realize this is more of a daily driver for you, so MPG is important, but it just seems sacrilegious to move a Jeep off the OEM tires to a only a 33" tire. Right now I have my studded winter 35" Duractracs on, and I just measured them so I could re-program the speedo with my AEV ProCal, and they _measured_ at 33.75" tall. Tell me that isn't a rip-off. 35" tires only coming in at 33.75". I hate to think what the real size is of 33" Duratracs.

x2 anything short of 37s and you are wasting your time.

[Snarf77]

x2 anything short of 37s and you are wasting your time.

A lot of trouble comes with 37s. I'd agree with the point that 35s are very do-able without many mods. They look right on a JK and wont' break the bank or the jeep. BUt its Jeff's bad decision to make... :cool:

[UselessPickles]

Oh dear Lord, please don't take the time to "upgrade" to 33's, those are far too small.

x2 anything short of 37s and you are wasting your time.

Do you guys know something more than me about how I plan to use my Jeep and what my personal preferences/priorities are?



I have 35's on my Jeep right now with 3.21 gears, and it's not bad.

Auto, or manual trans? I have a manual, which requires numerically higher gears for equivalent performance to an automatic.



If I had an SC/Turbo, it would be more than fine.

Since I have the turbo, there's really no extra power at lower rpms. I'm concerned about sluggishness when getting started with my manual transmission (no torque converter to perfectly "slip" and *multiply torque* without wearing any parts).



I realize this is more of a daily driver for you, so MPG is important, but it just seems sacrilegious to move a Jeep off the OEM tires to a only a 33" tire. Right now I have my studded winter 35" Duractracs on, and I just measured them so I could re-program the speedo with my AEV ProCal, and they _measured_ at 33.75" tall. Tell me that isn't a rip-off. 35" tires only coming in at 33.75". I hate to think what the real size is of 33" Duratracs.

33" Duratracs measure about 31.75". I currently have the tiny base model Sport tires that measure at only 28.5". About 3.25" and 11.4% gain in tire diameter, and about 1.6" gain in ground clearance. That's a decent upgrade in ground clearance. It's an upgrade in rain/snow/off-road traction. It's a big upgrade in appearance. It's a reasonable/affordable upgrade to a lightweight tire/wheel combo that will have minimal effect on MPG and will not require any additional cost/effort on supporting mods (I already have a 2" budget boost for full articulation clearance). I don't want or need to get into larger tire sizes that require larger lifts, which require more expensive kits to do it correctly, putting more strain on various other stock components that should really be reinforced/upgraded, etc., etc.

The 11.4% gain in diameter will be felt as about a 10% loss in acceleration across the board for daily driving purposes, which is why I'm concerned about it feeling sluggish to me. It doesn't matter if you feel that 40" tires with 3.21 gears feels fine to you. It's the relative change in feel to me that matters.

[Rexx19]

Do you guys know something more than me about how I plan to use my Jeep and what my personal preferences/priorities are?

No. but i do have LOTS of experience watching guys go to 33s, then 35s. then 37s in the same year. Lot of unused tires in my neck of the woods. Its an expensive route.

In my book, its stock rubi 32s, or 37s.

[UselessPickles]

In my book, its stock rubi 32s, or 37s.

Why are stock 32" rubicon tires ok with you, but not 33" Duratracs?

[Rexx19]

Rubi 32s are a classy pic. If your not going to go big.

[UselessPickles]

They are also mud tires, which are pretty horrible for wet/snowy roads. If I'm going to put money into upgrading from my stock 29" tires, why would I choose another stock tire/wheel combo that won't really appear special in any way, and will be a downgrade in on-road performance (my Jeep is 99% daily driver)?

[Timmy]

Do you guys know something more than me about how I plan to use my Jeep and what my personal preferences/priorities are?

Here's what I know. I owned a 2 door TJ. It is not good for the following:
A) Long distance travel
B) Carrying lots of people
C) Carrying groceries (unless you waste your time folding up rear seat)
D) Gas mileage
E) Going Fast
F) Queitness
G) Having "awesome" technology like adaptive cruise control, blindsind alert, adaptive headlights, etc.

So yes, yes I do know something about you. You are someone, like the rest of us, that doesn't care about points A, B, C, D, E, F and G. If you did, you would not have a bought a Jeep, or at the least, you would have bought the 4 door Jeep to deal with points B and C. At that point, most of us realize this is a completely impractical vehicle (specifically the 2dr) and we decide we might as well go big and make it look sweet, make it do what it's designed to even better, and let this be the toy it was designed to be and not have our families make fun of us. Don't look at us as attacking you, we are actually cheer leaders, cheering you on based on our own expensive experiences. What you chose to do with the opinions is up to you, but I would say, go big, enjoy the Jeep for what it is GREAT at... Off roading, taking the top off, making you and your passengers smile when you roll up to a stop light with your big ass tires and everyone havin' a good time, spittin' cherry seeds out the side makin' faces at the other cars like "yeah you wish you were with us!"


Auto, or manual trans? I have a manual, which requires numerically higher gears for equivalent performance to an automatic. Check my sig - manual trans. Truth be told, I might be at 3.75 gears, can't remember, but I know it's not the gearing of the Rubicon.


33" Duratracs measure about 31.75".... About 3.25" and 11.4% gain in tire diameter...

[snip, snip - science, math, blah, blah, blah]...

It's the relative change in feel to me that matters.

Sounds like your science has made your decision for you. I wish you the best. I have 35" tires now, and I'm upgrading to 37" or 38" tires. Could have saved myself $2k by going to that size to begin with, thought I'd pass that learned lesson on to you before you made the same type of decision I had done.

Good luck Pickles, and just know, am actually on your team, my post was not an attack on you.

[UselessPickles]

Everything's not a simple black/white, good/not good, care/don't care. For each attribute, the Jeep is somewhere on a wide spectrum of good/bad and the level of importance I place on each attribute is on a wide spectrum of care/don't care. Certain attributes I cared more about allow me to deal with certain other attributes that are not exactly what I prefer, but care less about.

For example, off-road capability had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to purchase a Jeep. I had not even considered the possibility of taking it off road. Now that I've taken it off road and enjoyed it, I will continue to look for opportunities to take advantage of that capability, and maybe even do some minor modifications to improve that capability a bit. But off-road capability still is not a major priority (especially more hard-core stuff like rock crawling, deep mud, and river crossings... just not my thing).

Just like nearly everything else in life, tire size is a compromise between many things, and I've done a lot of research already to settle on a compromise that will work for me.

A big clue about my priorities is that my first major mod to the Jeep was to install a turbo, and the only reason I have a lift is because the turbo required it :)

[Snarf77]

A big clue about my priorities is that my first major mod to the Jeep was to install a turbo, and the only reason I have a lift is because the turbo required it :)

Seriously - before you hang up your hat on the 33s, just consider the 35 duratracs. They look REALLY good with a mild lift like you have, perform well, aren't terribly expensive, not so heavy, last forever, and work ok off road if you need them to! :cool:

Sorry to offer the really unsolicited opinion (my bad for bringing it up), but its too late now and you know what opinions are like.

[UselessPickles]

Here's a picture of 33" Duratracs with an unspecified "leveling kit":

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8392/8628634939_578487ccb9_c.jpg


Most kits marketed as a "leveling kit" are the same as my AEV 2" spacer lift: 2" spacer in the front and 1" spacer in the rear, so that is what I expect my Jeep will look like with the 33" Duratracs. To me, those tires fill the wheel wells perfectly. 35's would look disproportionately large to me with this size lift, so it would make me want a bigger lift. For off-road use, 35" Duratracs would require trimming the fenders or getting flat fenders (don't like the look of either option), or a bigger lift (more money, etc). The 35s would also be felt as about 15% loss in loss in perceived power. I would definitely want to re-gear ASAP, but that won't be possible. On my budget, if I want to finish the vision I have for my jeep in the next 5 years, it will have to be with the 2" budget boost and 33" tires.

[UselessPickles]

Here's another with the 33x12.5x15 Duratracs on a Teraflex leveling kit (same spacer sizes as my lift):

http://www.wranglerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168994

[Yoinkers]

Here's another with the 33x12.5x15 Duratracs on a Teraflex leveling kit (same spacer sizes as my lift):

http://www.wranglerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168994

I like the look, and the duratracs are light, Pickles jeep should maintain is turbo potency.

[Timmy]

Here's another with the 33x12.5x15 Duratracs on a Teraflex leveling kit (same spacer sizes as my lift):

http://www.wranglerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168994

You're right, looks good, nice pick Pickles.

[Timmy]

For what it's worth. Just found a nice pair of Toyo MT's 37x14.50R15 with 50% tread on them, with wheels, for sale for $800 near me. The wheel fits a dodge, but I point this out to show that sometimes great deals come up on Craigslist, and instead of spending $2500 on a smaller tire/wheel combo, you can spend $800 on a slightly bigger tire used tire and put the rest of the money into a bigger lift to fit the tires ;-)

Now for me... I JUST found the tire I've been looking for on CL. Can't believe it, been waiting for a good one to pop up on CL for about 6 months now. It's a Toyo 37x13.50R20 with only 3000 miles on them. That's the exact tire I've been wanting. Most of the 37's are 12.50 wide. I want the wider tire. Will the Jeep drive well, NOPE! Will it wonder all over the road? Yep! but I don't care, maybe it will wonder over a curb, or another car, or wander down a ditch, I don't care...