The money is finally here for the new tires and I need to get some advice from those with a bit more experience....

I am in sales and drive 100 - 150 miles a day. I need reliable transportation reguardless of weather conditions, we do get a lot of rain and a bit of snow up here. I also want better performance when offroad...I have 33" Nitto Terra Grapplers....love them on the road and even offroad....except in the mud. I could live with them again though, they are great tires.

I am truly torn on what to do....I want bigger but I am soooo happy with the way this thing handles and drives right now.

1 - Is a 35" tire too big for a DD with the miles I put on?
2 - will going from 11" wide to 12" wide make much difference?
3 - Is there a good MT or more agressive tire I should consider, or should I stick with the Nittos?
4 - What are the drawbacks to going bigger?


Thanks guys....

 

If you drive the Jeep for your job, don't forget that 35" tires cost more $$$ of gas.

 

Gas is paid for by the company...

 

I was making about a 90 mile daily commute with Toyo Open Country MT 35s and 3.73s. for a year and a half or so. My pencil checked gas mileage would still be over 20mpg in the summer months, traveling over long smooth highway flats. The tires were siped at a company who specializes in bigger rig truck tires. Never had a problem through the snow and sleet. Ice is always a different story but I was able to do better through it than most.

So I'm not sure exactly what kind of terrain you'll be dealing with, gears or how much in city driving you have, but the flat highway stuff didn't cause me any issues with poor mileage. I did see a drop in mpg when I first put them on, somewhere in the 5-10% range, but I was getting as much as 23 pencil checked mpg.

Oh, and the speedometer was Hypertech calibrated to my GPS, within a half mph.

 

I run the 305/70/17 Nitto Terra Grapplers on my 110 mile commute and am very pleased with them. I wish I would have done a 35 rather than 34 but other than that I think it is a great tire.

I would say keep with the Nitto's. I look at it tht I drive 99% of my mile on road so my tires need to be geared more toward that. I have thought about getting a more agressive tire to throw on for wheeling with some steelies. Right now, no need for it though.

 

Once you see the 35's on there you want even notice that little gas gauge

 

The mileage is of little concern....I am more worried about handling. Like I said, I love the way it drives now and am woried the larger size may affect that. I just don't know as I have never driven a vehicle with 35's.

Right now I love my Jeep and I don't want that to change.....As I told my wife...."if the day comes I need to pick between the Jeep and her......well, let's just hope that day doesn't come."

 

As long as you do the lift right, you will have no handling problems. My JEEP with 35's handles about 75% as good as stock. There is still some slight handling quirks that I have gotten used to. This is because I have not finished with all of the components of my lift. You will want EVERYTHING to be dialed in for it to handle like stock. In my situation I still need adjustable trackbars, and then a front end alignment and setting of my control arms.

35'' Tires definitely let you know if something in your suspension is not perfectly dialed in.

 

well, buy 37" tires

 

I run 35 " Toyo's open country. They are wearing very well the only drawback I have is that they are 10 ply and are quiet stiff. They have been very good for me in 16000 miles so far. your gearing would need to be considered when going up to 35's. I had 4:10's and did not like the loss of power. Now the 4:88's are like stock.