Widest tires?

Hi all,

I was just wondering what are the widest tires that I can put on my '99 suburban without lifting it or making any other modifications ( other than geting new wheels if necessary ). Would appreciate any input,

-Sam

I assume you have a 4 wheel drive???

I believe the widest tire offered from the factory was a 265. But I think you can go a bit bigger. That's what I have on mine, and I still have some clearance.

It is a 2wd. I am not looking for something that will stick out grotesquely, its just that the 255's on it now look a bit on the skinny side. I put 275's on my Dodge Dakota, I think it looks really good, I am just looking to do something like that for the Suburban.

One option is to measure the amount of extra room you have in the wheel well at full lock. Take the amount you you find in inches and multiply it by 25.4 to find the distance in milimeters. multiply that number by 2 (for the 2 sides of your tire) and add it to your current size (255), and that should give you an ideaof how wide you can go.

I have a 99 that I just mounted Goodyear Wrangler RT/S's on. I went from a 265/75R16 to 265/70R16. The new tires give a wider footprint with no more apparent rubbing than my 75's. They drive better and I think they look better too.

Technically, you just went with a lower profile tire. The first number (265) denotes the width in millimeters. tHe second number (70 v.s 75) denotes the hight of the tire as a percentage of the width (70% v.s. 75%). Some brands, however, appear wider than others, even though they are rated the same.

Thanks for the info, I was not aware of that. Damn shame on those new tires I got too, I had to get them on a Sunday b/c of a blister forming on the sidewall and I was stuck in Oklahoma. I was really wanting the BFG All Terrains in a 285 size, but there was no choice in shopping on Sunday afternoon!