Nothing catches my eye more quickly than a Tacoma with large tires. Just how good do they look? If you want to perform serious off-roading and overlanding with the Tacoma, you really need to go bigger to notice the wheels and enhance break-over angles. This explains why so many people are interested in learning what tire size will fit comfortably on a stock Tacoma. Can 33 inches fit without a lift? Will you require a front leveling kit or wheel spacers? This essay will provide answers to all of these queries and more.
What size tire can you fit on a Toyota Tacoma that is factory-fresh? The largest tire that will fit on factory rims without a body or suspension lift is 275/70/17. To fit 33-inch tires, or 285/70/17, on a stock suspension, the front fender liner and rear fender flair must be altered.
Therefore, there are three things to think about before upgrading the factory tires on your truck or ute.
- Clearance for fender liners
- Wheel offset and backspacing
- spare wheel room
Since the 275/70/17 tire is narrower but still offers more ground clearance with the 70 profile, which is 1 inch taller but the same width as the factory, you can get away with installing a wider tire on the stock Tacoma rims.
But what if you want to travel 33 miles per hour with a factory suspension and a 0 offset wheel? What adjustments are necessary to make them fit?
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My Toyota Tacoma will fit 17-inch wheels, but can I?
Please take note that these suggestions are based on OEM wheels. You can use a wider tire by using an updated rim with a different backspacing. Also, you should think about fender flares if you go very wide (more than 285).
Maximum tire sizes are:
15-inch rims, 265/75 R15A Although a 265/80 R15 tire would fit well, to our knowledge no one manufactures one. The biggest size that is available is 265/75 R15.
You might be able to use some wider tires than those we’ve specified when adding a leveling kit. It could need some cutting, but it is still feasible.
15-inch wheels: If you have 15-inch wheels and have purchased a lift kit, spend a little more money and purchase some 16- or 17-inch wheels to go with it. There are no suitable tire sizes for 15-inch wheels.
Reminder: If you’re considering a three-lift, you should think about getting a new set of wheels or getting some wheel spacers. The truth is that there aren’t many widely used tire sizes that can benefit from your raise while also fitting the stock rims.
You may widen the tires on the Tacoma to a maximum of 315mm using aftermarket rims (or about 12.5). However, if you choose to go this big, be ready to reduce the fenders and wheel wells because the tires will rub. The same holds true with 1.5 wheel spacers. Running tires as wide as 315 poses an increased danger of early front wheel bearing failure. The weight of 315 tires and the increased offset they demand were too much for the Tacoma front wheel bearing to support.
For three lift kits, a standard Tacoma tire width is 285mm. Thus, 17-inch wheels with 285/70 R17 tires are a wise choice (2 taller and .8 wider than factory). 285/75 R16 tires are identical in size to the 17-inch wheels for 16-inch wheels. In order to prevent rubbing, you will probably need to reduce the forward cab mount if you are interested in using tires of this size. In addition, even though there are many 285mm tires available, most of them need wheels that are 8″, which are wider than the OEM wheels.
What is the Toyota Tacoma’s bolt pattern?
The wheel bolt pattern for vehicles with two-wheel drive and models from 2000 to 2020 is five lugs, 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) high, positive offset. A 4WD vehicle has a medium offset of 6 lugs, 5.5 inches, or 139.7 mm.
Although having this knowledge is crucial, it might not be sufficient to enable you to make the necessary adjustments when you wish to change the vehicle’s tires. Because of this, we are going to give you some additional information here. For even more accurate information, be sure to take the time to search for the model year or trim model on Vehicle History.
Will 33-inch tires fit a stock Tacoma?
No and yes. You can put 33s on your car without making any adjustments and drive straight without any problems. There are issues when you turn. It takes very little cutting and spacers to completely clear 33 tires without a lift.
Without using wheel spacers, we initially installed the 33s on our third-generation Tacoma. However, once you turned, the tires rubbed horribly on the upper control arms. The rubbing on the body wasn’t all that severe, and you could drive on them with little contact on the fender plastics.
When we installed 33s on a lifted 2nd Gen Tacoma even with aftermarket control arms and a lift, we encountered the same problem. While the friction on the body was barely noticeable, it was intolerable on the control arm. The truck is not appropriate to drive and is absolutely not suitable for off-road travel with just one problem.
The rubbing on the 3rd Gen Tacoma’s UCAs was gone after we installed a 1.25 spacer, however the rubbing on the body was quite unpleasant because we extended our scrub radius by extending the tire outward.
No, you can’t simply install wheel spacers and trim the fenders and fender well plastics to fit 33s on a Tacoma.
Spend some time making room for that size tire in order to fit 33s without using a lift. Both on- and off-road testing should be done in this.
Can 20-inch rims be used for off-roading?
The advantages of 20 wheels over 17 wheels are a topic on which there are many differing views. There are some who fervently support 17-inch off-road wheel configurations, while there are others who favor 20-inch off-road wheels. It is true that a 17-inch wheel performs a little bit better because it has a longer sidewall on the tire. Better off-roading capabilities and a smoother ride are provided by this. Having said that, it is quite safe to operate a 20-wheel vehicle that excels on both paved and rough terrain. However, the 20 has the extra advantage of being more aesthetically acceptable to a wider audience, particularly those who don’t off-road much or at all.
What distinguishes wheels measuring 16 and 17 inches?
In comparison to 16-inch wheels, larger 17-inch alloy wheels will improve cornering and stability and give the vehicle livelier handling. In contrast to 17 wheels, 16 wheels are more affordable, less noisy on the road, have higher fuel efficiency, and are more comfortable to ride on.
What tire sizes are compatible with a Toyota Tacoma?
The P245/75R16 tires are part of the base trim. The following tire sizes, however, will be available as you go along the trim level roster: P265/65R17.
Are the bolt patterns on Toyota vehicles uniform?
Although Toyota’s lug designs differ from model to model, the 5×4 bolt pattern is the most prevalent. Knowing your car’s lug pattern is necessary if you want to acquire a second set of wheels or repair a damaged rim.
Will the stock Tacoma’s 265 70R16 fit?
Realistically, the answer is 32 if you are using standard suspension and don’t want to wreck your truck.
The stock tire size for my Tacoma (265/70R16) was 30.610.4. If you don’t want to alter your truck in any way, switching to a little larger tire size (265/75/1631.610.4) is the best option. Make sure the tire you choose is a real 32 tire or one that is very near to it.
Some tires may measure 32.8 inches, which is actually a 33-inch tire, and you will undoubtedly experience some rubbing problems. I recently chatted with an off-road enthusiast who drives a Toyota Tacoma stock with 33 tires. He told me that in order to make the configuration work, he had to drastically cut back his cab mount and raise his fender liners.
Therefore, it is possible to run 33 tires on a stock Tacoma, but you will need to make significant cuts.
How much lift will I need to get past a 33-seat Tacoma?
While it’s not impossible, you will undoubtedly need to cut or trim something in order to fit 33s without a raise. Depending on whether you clear the control arms or not, you ought to be capable of lifting 2-3 pounds.
Although suspension lifts technically do not clear tires for off-road use, they can nonetheless be useful. Your body’s static ride height is altered when you lift your truck. For instance, while driving every day, you might not rub, but when driving off-road and stuffing that tire into your wheel well, you almost certainly will. This rubbing would be significantly harsher both on and off the road without a lift.
In response to the infamous query, no raise is necessary to accommodate 33-inch tires on a factory Tacoma; other modifications may be necessary, such as fender liner pushback, CMC (cab mount chop), rocker panel cap trimming, fender trimming, body trimming, etc. Having said that, you can still bolt the wheel and tire to your hub; you may simply need to perform some trimming. Something needs to give since even when you grow taller, the inner fender’s size remains constant.
In order to determine exactly what needs to be trimmed, we will place 33 tires on a stock, third-generation Tacoma without the use of a lift. Snail Trail 44 will shortly donate that truck.
Realize that it’s crucial that the tires under your Tacoma don’t rub, regardless of the size you choose. If they continue to rub and you don’t fix the problem, eventually you’re going to destroy something or rip something off.
Our up/down travel on the Bilstein 5100 kit 2.8 front with Icon Add a Leaf 2 rearit has cleared everything fairly well after mounting, operating, and flexing it. Following tire installation, there were NO general on-road rubbings on the fender liners or fender well. That included the curb drop test as well as full-lock reverse. The tires cleared the pavement fully.
Driving off-road is a little bit of a different situation. Even driving on a bumpy dirt road wasn’t too difficult, although when the tires were jammed into the wheel wells, they did rub a little. It wouldn’t take much cutting at all to completely clear 33s since they hardly ever rub on the inside of the fender close to the pinch weld.
What size lift is appropriate for a Tacoma?
Bigger is always better, right, if larger lifts and tires result in more lift? Well, it could look good, but the extra cost isn’t always justified. When deciding which kit to pursue, you must consider the terrain your Tacoma will be driving on.
A leveling kit or 2 kit should be adequate for moderate trail use. You might wish to increase the lift to a 3-4 when you enter harsher terrain when the trail is littered with huge boulders and stumps. A 6 lift is significantly more suited when dealing with even bigger challenges, such as full-on rock crawling or anything comparable.
When purchasing big kits like a 6, be sure to pay close attention to suspension travel as well. Longer travel will aid in maintaining the truck’s stability when traversing rocky, uneven terrain.