|
projects and
installs
Toyo Open Country
M/T Tires
on the
jeepfan.com 2007 JK Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon
Fresh off the
install of the
TeraFlex 2.5" Budget Boost Lift
a new set of tires were needed to be fitted onto the jeepfan.com JK
to finish the set up. After a
visit to
OK Auto and trying a Toyo
35" we
decided on a smaller size. See
Will
35's fit on my JK Wrangler with stock rims?
|
|
Why Toyo? We
though long about what we are doing with this Jeep
in order to make the best selection of tire.
We are building this Jeep to be a fun weekend
wheeler and yet be a Jeep with excellent street
manners. The Toyo Open Country M/T tires seem
to be a good mix of an aggressive off road mud tire
but yet tamed slightly more than others to make
street driving more civilized. The tires
feature siping for wet/snow driving and a tread
pattern that reduces noise and vibration.
The size...The
Rubicon Jeeps come with 32" BF Goodrich Mud Terrain
tires so larger was only natural. Knowing that
width would be an issue as well as height we found
this tire size, 295/70R17. Running that
through a metric tire size calculator it converts to
a 33.3X11.6X17 tire. Basically a 33X11.5
slightly more narrow than a 33X12.5. The Toyo
tires seem to run accurate to their claimed size
meaning this tire did measure in at slightly more
than 33 1/4", often tire actual size is less than
the claimed size. Note, after the tires were
installed and had the Jeep's weight on them they
measured in at 32 3/4".
For example, a manufacturers
33X12.50 is actually 32.3" tall. After
deciding on the size
OK Auto ordered up
a set for us. |
 |
size comparison |
width comparison |
Installation:
We took the Jeep to
OK Auto and they mounted
one on a rim and we did a test fit on the drivers side rear.
This was a problem spot with the 35" tires due to the upper
control arm and rear sway bar link hitting the tire.
The 295 tire still slightly hit the upper control arm and
rear sway bar link but only at full suspension expansion.
This is not a problem for every day driving and tire rub is
only slight on the rounded surface. An adjustable
track bar or track bar relocation bracket would probably
solve the problem since the rear axle has moved to the
passenger side due to the lift.
mounting and balancing |
arrow indicates where
the sway bar makes tire contact |
After we
determined what may need to do to correct the rub the rest
of the tires were mounted, balance, installed and tightened
to the proper torque. We also tested front steering
clearance, the only rub is with the front lower control arm
when the steering is fully turned.
The new JK will
have some potential issues when trying to install larger,
wider tires. The two solutions to avoid the rubbing
problems would be wheel spacers (like SpiderTrax) or
aftermarket wheels.
For our review
on the tires' see the review section.
Toyo Open Country M/T Tire Review
What's it
look like? Here is a small gallery of after
images.
After
thoughts: The Jeep looks well balanced and still
retains it's stock look. To the average observer the
Jeep may look like it came that way, that was what we were
looking for.
See a write up on our thoughts
regarding the off-road performance of these tires,
we put them to the test at
OK Auto's Grand Reopening weekend.
For additional
questions and tire pricing contact...
|
