265/75R16

[coyotearms]

Originally Posted by jage

Well there is front rub on the front springs or control arms depending, and then there is the outside tread edge hitting the fender below the driver door at full lock. 6 mm shouldn't matter either way.

Are you describing a completely stock E-350 setup here except for 265/75R16 tires? If so what brand? I had so much difficulty sorting out such details out on many other threads, because folks would start diverging, and eventually it wasn't clear if folks were talking 2WD lifted (who converted it? much lift?), 4wD (same issues), etc.

[carringb]

My van is 2wd. It's stock upfront except for the 4600# springs which are not stock. It came with something like 3800 I think. So that did lift the front a tad bit. But with those springs, it fits 265/70-17s just fine. They do rub the sway bar at full lock, so I want to add some adapters at some point to push them out.

[Silver350]

Originally Posted by coyotearms

Very good to know! Let me take this a little further since also I have a 2008 E-350. The stock wheels are 16 x 7" and according to Discount Tire a +6 offset, i.e. inboard from zero. (I even have the Ford factory build sheet for my van, but wheel offset is not on it, so I am assuming Discount is correct). I have honed in on the Nitto Terra Grappler or BFG A/T KO 265/75R16, which according to your experience should fit on those wheels (caveat different brands being compared). I want to put the tires on wider 16 x 8" rims that have 0 offset, i.e. 6 mm outboard from the stock wheels.

Those Nittos in that size will fit very well on stock rims and do not rub anywhere on my stock 12 passenger. There are many people running that size on stock vans without problems. If you go to a larger diameter tire you may have trouble fitting the spare in the stock location. My van has a 12K receiver hitch and the 265/75 16 is a cozy fit, a 33" tire would not be able to fit as high up into the same space. If you use spacers, your van will get dirtier and rock chipped more often from tires that stick out more. But then you will have an excuse to buy fender flares.

Another thing to consider is gearing. Your van likely has a 3.73 rear axle. 265/75's will turn that into a 3.46 +/-, 285/75's will turn it into about 3.31. That will likely be too fast but then you will have an excuse to change the ratio and install a locker at the same time. Just tell your wife that you are saving mmoney that way by not incurring the labor cost twice.

[oldbonesclimber]

I'm running 265/75/16's on my STOCK 06 E350 RB Work Truck. I think they look better. They occasionally rub on the rear corner (front) when turning and hitting a bump. Not enough to make me stop using them and certainly not damaging.

Paul

[coyotearms]

Originally Posted by carringb

My van is 2wd. It's stock upfront except for the 4600# springs which are not stock. It came with something like 3800 I think. So that did lift the front a tad bit. But with those springs, it fits 265/70-17s just fine. They do rub the sway bar at full lock, so I want to add some adapters at some point to push them out.

In addition to considering wheels/tires for a stock suspension, I am now also considering 17" wheels for the F350 with adapters front & rear in case I go 4x4 later (see viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5594).

If I went with 265/70 R17 like you have AND had adapters on the front that would be 1.75" to 2" thick, I suppose that would mean there would be no sway bar rub, right? But here is what I have no clue about: Wouldn't there be interference between the top of the tire and the fender whether or not fender flares like yours were used (assuming fender is not cut or rolled?

Note: I am not worried about the rear as I understand Quad Van uses 3" adapters successfully on the rear with even larger tires like 275/70 R18's.

[coyotearms]

Originally Posted by Silver350

My van has a 12K receiver hitch and the 265/75 16 is a cozy fit, a 33" tire would not be able to fit as high up into the same space. If you use spacers, your van will get dirtier and rock chipped more often from tires that stick out more. But then you will have an excuse to buy fender flares.

But isn't the problem with spacers clearance between the top of the tire and the fender?

Originally Posted by Silver350

Another thing to consider is gearing. Your van likely has a 3.73 rear axle. 265/75's will turn that into a 3.46 +/-, 285/75's will turn it into about 3.31. That will likely be too fast but then you will have an excuse to change the ratio and install a locker at the same time. Just tell your wife that you are saving mmoney that way by not incurring the labor cost twice.

Fortunately I am starting out with a 4.10.

[Silver350]

Originally Posted by coyotearms

But isn't the problem with spacers clearance between the top of the tire and the fender?

I was reffering to where you intend on carrying your spare.

[jage]

Originally Posted by coyotearms

Wouldn't there be interference between the top of the tire and the fender whether or not fender flares like yours were used (assuming fender is not cut or rolled?

The top of the tire comes inboard some as it gets stuffed- how much, enough, who can say... more if your opposite tire is dropping, which is what is required to get it to the top generally.

What I tried to say before is the edge will rub fender where a mudflap would go, and probably sooner than you would need to worry about the top.

I'm not sure how much, if any, the bushwackers allow you to take out of your fender. Whatever it is, I'd do it.

[coyotearms]

Choosing Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor Pro Grade Tires
After posting on a couple of threads (here and at viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5594) to find out if anyone has used adapters on front and rear to fit F350 wheels/tires on a 4x2 2008 EB-350 in preparation for a future(?) 4x4 conversion, I concluded there were too many unknowns to deal with. So I decided to get the biggest tire that would fit stock (16x7" +6 offset) wheels and suspension and just go with that. After 1) reading about a recent Four Wheeler magazine article regarding mud tires posted by daveb on viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6128 and seeing the Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevla was in 2nd place out of ten tires, 2) reading a couple of comments about Goodyear Wrangle Silent Armor tires around this forum (search "silent armor"), and 3) studying tirerack.com's Tire Survey feature for On-/Off-Road All-Terrain tires, I decided to go with that tire, specifically the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor Pro Grade LT265/75R16/E. It was sixth from the top in the survey of 21 tires w/ 12M total miles miles of data reported for that tire. Since I am equally interested in off-road and winter performance, I liked that it had the second highest score for light and deep snow traction and the highest score for ice traction of any tire in the top six positions. The sidewall has both the M&S and Snow Flake symbol. Non-snow/ice performance was not so spectacular, but since white knuckle times happen more often in ice/snow, I weighted the latter performance more highly and let the 6th overall standing be my guide for other types of driving. They also have great load capacity at 3415 lbs. I have LSD and also bought a pair of cable chains, so I hope I am good to go with everything but 4x4 until the time I find out otherwise. As a comparison, BFG All-terain T/A KO was 11th on the list w/ 85M! miles reported. Also of (scary) interest was that the Goodyear Wrangler AT/S was 2nd from the bottom. Did Goodyear learn something from that tire to come up with the Silent Armor?

The surprise I encountered when they were mounted is that there were interference issues for the front tires even though plenty of folks report that 265/75R16's don't have interference problems. The specs on these tires indicate the diameter and section width are 31.7" and 10.5" respectively, but I don't know if those dimensions are larger than most tires of that size. A tiny trimming from the bottom edge of the front plastic wheel well was necessary as well as the use of a rubber mallet to bend back the bottom rear edge of front wheel well. There is a ton of room for the rear wheels, so chains should not be a problem. The pictures below bring out some of the points made here. The third picture is looking down at the rear edge of the front wheel well, where at the very bottom, the inside edge has been bent back slightly. The piece of tire showing is the tread surface.

[Silver350]

That "Mountain/Snowflake" symbol seems to be way to go. Developement for that designation started right here at home in B.C. with the R.C.M.P. on the Sea to Sky highway. Oregon DOT and a few others consider it to be as good as a snow tire with studs or chains!

A few other that have it are some sizes of BFG A/T and Wild Country XTX from Tire and Battery Co. which are Les Shwab and Kal Tire house brands. Good choise of tire and size.