Need opinions on two issues. wheels and tires

I am about to put new tires on the 4runner, going pizza cutter route, 255/80-17 to get my 33+ tire.

Here are the two questions:

1.) My TRD off road wheels, mechanically speaking, are they just as good as the TRD Pro wheels? They are actually wider, 7.5" vs 7", but since I'm going with slightly more narrow tires, will they still have the proper off-sets to work just fine?

2.) Is there any real advantage to going with 5 tires versus 4? I'd need to acquire one extra TRD OF rims, about $150, and yes I would need to buy five instead of four tires, but I would do a five tire rotation, so I would get 25% more time on each tire since all will have some down time.

Obviously four is cheaper, but after tha inital wallet hurt, it should be apples to apples, the benefit is if I ever need the spare, it's the same tire size.

Thoughts and opinions?

 

When you're out in the wilderness do you want to deal with an undersized street tire or slap on an identical spare?

You don't need a different wheel. The steel wheel is fine. You're going to run into only have 4 registered tpms when doing a 5 tire rotation. I haven't bothered with a 5 tire rotation.

The trail wheels a good. They also offer better valve stem protection than the pro wheels.

 

My thought in the five tire rotation is the initial sting of buying the fifth wheel isn't great, but I'd never have a bum spare, as I did once before. And while I would have to buy 5 tires instead of 4 tires each time, I'd always get the 25% more time on the set plus I'd have the opportunity to buy different types and/or sizes anytime I wanted to switch. Toyed with the idea of getting a receiver mounted spare mount, but figured the underside mount offers more security for less money...not as cool though.

 

Ensure fitment of a 33 under the truck... Maybe someone else here can confirm.

 

theres TOO many tire n wheel threads on the forum to easily locate these answers
Not knocking this one at all, I’m in a similar predicament that I’m currently putting on hold

but with that said, I have read about various sizes, surprisingly, fitting underneath

however, some sizes did require some back of hitch, etc shaving down

I know you can kinda manipulate the positioning of the spare below n like hiking with oz’s, mm’s add up
My 285/70/17 are pretty tight

side note:
Steelie spares all good

 

Agreed. Even when you do the math on how tall a tire should be, the actual tire is often different. I just know from being under there, that there isn't a whole lot of room to work with. Had a similar tight squeeze on my old 3rd gen. Hence the suggestion to plan ahead.

 

I’ll just add that mileage is only one factor to consider. I also consider time an important consideration. My experience is that three years on the ground is long enough, no matter the mileage. So for me it makes no sense to factor the mileage savings of a 5 tire rotation so they will last longer, because I won’t keep them longer. Now if you drive a lot more than I do, and the 5 tire rotation will impact the wear within a given time frame, be it 3 years or whatever you’re comfortable with, it might make sense. I’m just never going to risk a blowout at highway speeds because my tires were somewhere in post production transport and storage for some unknown-to-me time frame before ever starting the mileage clock. And literally, YMMV.

 

This is the first time I am doing the 5 tire rotation. Every vehicle I have owned in the past had a brand new spare tire in most cases never used or once. Tires degrade over time and the spare is recommended to be replaced. I keep my vehicles a long time. This makes me feel like I am getting some use and $ worth of the spare. I like the idea of having a matching wheel/tire if on a trip in middle of no where.

 

33" pizza cutter is an easy fit on 4th gen wheels with +30mm offset. 5th gen OR wheel with +15mm may still require some plastic trimming to fit (depends on alignment setting). The Pro wheel with +4mm offset requires more trimming. Even Pros with stock 32" tires sometimes require trimming, evident by Toyota's TSB that provides trimming instructions. So don't get the Pro wheel... unless you plan to upgrade to 35" pizza cutters later.

I've driven on mismatched spares on my Tacoma twice with no issues. First time was 1200 miles (3x 32" + 31" spare). Second time was 200 miles (3x 35" + 32" spare). So I say carry a full size spare if you plan to be more than 1200 miles from the nearest tire shop.

 

Did you run the spare in rear? Not sure how accurate but I have always heard non matching tire size screws up differential.

 

^Yes the 1200 miles were with the undersized spare in the rear. With an open or e-locker diff, the additional wear isn't significant. A mechanical LSD (like those in earlier LCs and 2005-2007 Tacoma TRD Sport) would likely wear a lot faster with mismatched tires.

 

Can y

can you explain please about the LSD wearing a lot faster with mismatched tires?

 

So he seemed to make it fit, but he also had an SR5 wheel not an TRD off road, that is the only difference I see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L6Mj2KGV2M

 

If I ever got 3 years out of tires, I'd be psyched, I can usually get about 40K, maybe a little more, but that's a hair over 2 years usually, I mean if I only drove 15000/year and I got 3750 more miles (25%), that would still be only 3 years and 4 months.‍♂️...I think my math was right there. But I usually drive about 17-20K a year, either way, I think most tires are rated at much longer, I still wouldn't get close to the limit, maybe not even half way.

 

To be specific, *some* mechanical LSDs like the one in the 2005-2007 Tacoma TRD Sport have clutch packs with friction material. Those diffs need LSD additive when changing the oil. When tires spin at different speeds, some slippage occur in the clutch packs.

 

Thanks for that reply. A further question if I may: imagine that I live in a place accessed by a long winding road, and my vehicle has an LSD differential as you’ve described. As the differential is subject to many turns, and the rear wheels are therefore often spinning at different rates, would then the LSD differential tend to wear prematurely? Or is there some mechanism in the differential that keeps it from locking up unless the wheels’ speed difference rises above a certain threshold? Are limited slip differentials naturally shorter lived?

 

^The clutch plates have spring preload on them, so they work all the time. They don't "lock up". Rather there's varying degrees of slip. Yes clutch plates would wear faster than if you drove straight all the time. When the clutch plates are worn down completely, the diff acts like an SR5's open diff. At that point the diff can be rebuilt with new clutch plates from the Toyota parts catalog. This is considered a worthy tradeoff for the mechanical LSD's performance benefits on winding roads. That's why they were on the Tacoma TRD Sport and X-Runner, pavement-oriented trims. In a corner, the inside tire has less weight on it, so it has less traction than the outside tire. When you get on the throttle at corner exit, an open diff can cause wheelspin with the inside tire.

 

33" fits underneath

 

Thanks for that.

Applying common sense to that explanation in the case of the spare being a stock Bridgestone or Dunlop with the other 4 tires being larger: on a non-limited slip differential there would be slight extra wear on the spider gears and side gears to the extent that the differential cage is tumbling all the time. But it is tumbling slowly. A 265/70R17 tire only makes 21 more revolutions per mile more than a 285. But if the bad tire were replaced in a timely manner then amount of extra wear would be negligible.

in the case of a limited slip differential I would say the same thing - as long as one doesn’t run their spare for a thousand miles the extra wear would be negligible.

 

Hey guys, I can't remember if I said I would, btu wanted to update this thread and add am additional option. I went with the 255/80-17's and this is how it turned out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBWpwpY_IS0