Obviously the wider the tire, the more friction you put on the road. Steering can become different, the Jeep can start to wonder in the lane, hitting water can be scary, etc.

But my question for you guys who went to 12.50 width tires is, how bad is it? Does your Jeep still handle and drive really good, or do you find that it does tend to wander in the road and handle more lose than it used to?

I'm going up in tire size soon and I'm still debating whether to go tall and fat or try to stick with tall and skinny.

 

I just got 33X12.50R15 Goodyear Duratracs on yesterday and I love them. They are great on the highway, I can hear a light hum but not loud at all. Cornering is good as long as you don't think you are in a sports car. The combination of a tall vehicle and tall sidewall does reduce your cornering a bit. I haven't noticed any differences with the steering or the ride comfort, I think it's better than the puny 225/75/R16 tires that were on there.

 

I've had Duratrac 33x12.5x15 for about 9000 miles now and do a lot of highway driving. They ride fantastic and I don't even notice I'm riding on bigger tires than stock. They do grab big ruts like in intersections that's traveled by big rigs buts that's expected with a wide tire. All in all you'll be fine and pleased with that size tire, no worries. Oh they handle great in the rain too.

 

Doesn't matter which way you pitch this, having run both 12.5s and 10.5s a 33 x 10.5 will always give you a better highway ride. I would love to once again run 33 x 12.5s but refuse to sacrifice the ride and practicality of the 10.5s for the sake of looks. Go with a set of BFG KM2s with size 255/85/16. One of the best all round tyres out there and they still look good, too. Then get a set of Elka shocks and a Teraflex short arm system with 2.5" lift and enjoy both great onroad comfort, great cornering and exceptional offroad capabilities.

 

Split the difference like I did. I'm running 285/75/16 Cooper STTs which are 33's with about a 10.5 width. I have had no issues on the road - running interstate almost every day including a week of rain from Trop Storm Irene. My only trail has been a very dry woods run, but they ent everywhere that I pointed them. I'm running a TF leveling kit. Probably have about 4K on them.

Love my Coopers.

 

This is actually one of the tires and sizes that's at the top of my list. You didn't happen to check the weight on them before installing did you?

 

The Coops are about 56 lbs. Lighter than many similar tires in that general size and also they are true 33s at 33.1 inches.

The only negatives I heard were some chunking on serious rock crawling and some ice issue. I'm in southeast Louisiana, neither of those are issues, Should I venture to travel to serious rock parks I will not be hitting the hard stuff as my JKU is a daily driver.

 

I have the Interco TRXUS STTs in 33x12.5x16 and even though there is a significant difference from the stock tires, it feels solid on the road. It does have quite a bit of road noise but I love the hum so it doesn't phase me at all. If I had a dog in the fight I would stick with the 12.5, they look great, ride great, and sound great! Just my

 

I used to run 325/60R18 Nitto which were 13"+ wide and those suckers road walked all over the place. It took both hands to keep the little Jeep on the straight and narrow. I wised up and went with taller and narrower Nittor's this time and absolutely love it. Tall and narrow is the way to go, less rolling resistence and better handling to boot.

 

Agreed. Tall and narrow if your main concern is how they drive. Big and wide if your main concern is how they look.