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285/70/17 vs 295/70/17

39K views 37 replies 22 participants last post by  volswagn 
#1 ·
285/70/17 vs 295/70/17.

What is he main difference here on these? Thanks
 
#3 ·
The 295's are taller and wider...
 
#14 ·
I have 285s on my jeep and they rubbed on the sway bar a bit (already took off the air dam). Add another .4", you are going to rub more.

Width inches (mm) 11.22 (285) 11.61 (295)

 
#24 ·
Yes they do, it's partly because it's a 295 and partly because the Coopers are notoriously wide... I had a guy with 35x12.5x17 KO2's park next to me and the Cooper's were absolutely wider than his 35's. Granted, the KO2's are known to run narrow.
 
#30 ·
My stock 2010 Sahara is running 255/70/R18 which is 32x10. I've heard you can run 33x11 if you only drive only on the street. But I have also heard some say they will rub.

I just bought a 2010 Sahara and I was wanting to change just the wheels for now cause the tires are new. Didn't realize how expensive and the limitations you run into. Tire\Wheel class 101 hit me between the eyes LOL. My stock tires will not handle a Rim over 8.5" which really limits my selection of wheels in a 18".
I was going to go to a 15" rim because tires and wheels are much cheaper, but I got scared away by the different opinions I was receiving. Some would say the 15" rims would not fit without grinding down your calibers, others said they worked fine. So I called several companies and they all told me they would rub. One guy at 4wd said he ran 15" for awhile and went thru several calibers so I decided not to try it.

So Tire\wheel 101 taught me if I wanted to run 33x12.5 I better not use a 15" wheel and I better be ready to shell out some serious cash. I really didn't want to spend 2k on tires and wheels, so I will keep what I have and just ride happy. LOL
 
#32 ·
I bought a new set of 285/70/17's - KO2's on 7069 ProComps. I have 3.21 gears and although I just blew $2K on the set, and I love the look, I am mixed on the results. I think these tires/rims are just too heavy and too sticky for the 3.21 gears. It has made my 2012 2-door Sport too sluggish, and I've also lost about 3mpg. I used to get about 20-21, and now I'm down to about 17-18.

I think when these are gone, I'll be shopping for a set of OEM wheel/tire takeoffs, probably from one of the limited-run models, and I'll sell the rims.

The Jeep looks great, but the 3.21 gears aren't a good combo for anything much heavier than stock.

Just my opinion.
 
#35 ·
Just for another take, someone on another thread had this to say

"I run big 35's on my daily driver (Cooper STT's, measured out to 34.7) and I have a 6 speed manual and 3.21 gears in my 2013 Jeep.

Any power loss was MINOR. I went from the factory 28 inch tires to these, and didn't notice a thing. I put 100 miles on this thing a day, in the city, on the freeway, etc etc. It still has more power than my TJ with 4.10's and 31's"
While I don't quite believe the bit about a change to 35's with that gearing being MINOR, I will say I'm pretty finicky about my Jeep and how it "feels." If your tolerance is greater, you'll probably be fine. :)
 
#37 ·
The wider the tire, the lower the fuel mileage. The stickier the tire, the lower the fuel mileage.

The best fuel mileage is achieved with hard compound, street tread on pizza cutters. It is pure physics and aerodynamics. Aerodynamics in that wider treads offer higher wind resistance. Physics is that wider tires have greater adhesion and therefore higher rolling resistance. A quirk in physics is that a rubber tire rolling has greater resistance that a sliding tire (hence the basis behind anti-lock brakes).

Land speed vehicles all have very tall skinny tires (less wind resistance and rolling resistance).

Bumping tire sizes up about 10mm will normally reduce fuel mileage by about 1 MPG. Why do you think the base Sport comes with P225/75/R16 tires. No they are not the cheapest (at least on a retail basis at $153 ea list) that would be the Goodyear Wrangler ST in that same size at a retail of $105 ea. At less than 9" wide and only 29" tall, they are light, have low wind resistance and help with the CAFE fuel requirement.
 
#38 ·
Unfortunately, those harder compounds are generally not the best for control and stopping distances, nor are they good for areas where it gets very cold and/or wet. Skinnier tires are *generally* better in the snow as well. But what looks best? For many of us, it's slightly wider tires. I have read from a number of folks on these forums that 305's suffer from a "flighty" feeling on the road, and that 285's are about as wide as you want to go in this size.

MPG is the reason I don't lift as well. I knew I was going to lose *some* mpg with the bigger tires and wheels. In the end, I think if I'm careful I can get up to about 18mpg down from 21mpg. I guess that's not too bad. But again, I think if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably go for a set of limited-model wheels with the 255's. Helps that they're relatively so cheap on eBay and Craigslist.

I think I could stomach the 3mpg loss better if it didn't also feel like I lost a LOT of power. I might get one of those throttle pedal recalibrators and see if that helps. I came from a TJ, and the lack of direct control "feeling" over the throttle on the JK's is a big downer. I think it was just made worse with these heavy/sticky wheels/tires.
 
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