In a few thouand miles I'll be ready for some new tires. The high buck Goodyear Fotera's lasted about half of the anticipated mileage so I'm not interested in a repeat. I've seen that some of you have mounted 215-85X16 tires. I understand the advantages and disadvantages of wider and taller tires, but not the advantages or disadvantges of the narrower and taller tires. Any opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Narrower tires are better for snow traction where you aren't relying on floatation. Taller tires give you more clearance for when you run over things.

Kind of simple, but that is the way it is. The WRC guys make comments about their snow tires being "pizza cutters" lol.. Plow trucks are the same way...

I have the 215-85/16 Hankook ATV's. I have about 30K on them with little appreciable wear.

The are E rating my only regret. If you can find a lighter tire that meets your criteria I'd do it.

1/2 or so higher ground clearance, corrects the speedometer issue.

Heavy breaking can cause wheel well contact with the tire when turning though

215/85's have alot less tread contact patch then the stock 235/70's.Less contact equals less traction on all surfaces,even ice and will effect braking distance also.

That is not correct.

Actually it is.

Those narrow tires claim to fame for traction on ice comes from more psi since less rubber is actually touching the ground which is true but still less contact patch always equals less traction which does effect braking.

I was thinking more on snow. On snow it is better to have narrow tires than wide tires. You don't want to float, you want to dig down to solid ground, to where the traction is.

Sure when there is like 2" of snow on the ground.Wait till you have 20" of snow on the ground and your stuck with narrow tires and myself will be waving as I drive by with my 12.50" wide tires.

Still way to many cons with narrow tires over wider tires.Going from a 235 to a 215 you will not see any benifit at all as the 215's will weigh more anyways and will be a LT tire so no mileage warranty.Correcting the speedo by changing tire size is the wrong way to do it on a KJ,you need to change the revolution per mile count in the PCM since that is what the TCM uses to shift by,so another mpg loss factor there also.

Allowing a Stupid Dealer (75% of them based on my experience as a Factory rep and an independent shop owner) to access your OBDII port puts your ECM tune at risk.
Good luck finding a Dealer that is in the top 25% that won't screw it up treying to fix spedo/odometer error. When the equipment becomes available to the Independents, then you may have a chance better than 25% of not having consequential damage done to your tune. I am sure the place TJKJ2002 works is a much better place than the local Dealer I have, where 1/2 the techs would split if ICE showed up.
Where I drive in the Midwest with the wet salt slush, ice, and black ice, I can't beat the 215 85 R16 tires for grip. I have busted through some 18" deep snow, but most of the time I go through 3" to 6" of snow that is laced with salt slush or drive on packed snow ice. On a trip to Kalamazoo, MI last winter I was driving along I-94 when I noticed the Cross-Overs going into the ditches on both sides, then I put my CRD into full time 4X4 and had no problem driving on the wet ice. When I got out to fuel up later, I almost fell on my butt and had to grab onto the CRD and pump to keep standing. Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indianan, Western Ohio, Southeast Minnesota, and North East Missouri, where I drive for my work when I don't fly are not Colorado or the Rockies.
My only complaint with the 215 85 R16s is the noise from the cupping caused by the crappy work the Dealer did for the Ball Joint Recall. When I finally got it into the Farm Supply Tire Shop to have it aligned, the tech showed me what the Stupid Dealer screwed up.
I would like to get 215 85 R16s in a lighter rating than load range than E, C or D would be better.
Before I have new tires mounted, I will replace the rear upper control arm ball joint that is sloppy, my front lowers and uppers only have 0.0015" of play, which is lots less than the FSM's WTF 1.5MM of allowed slop (0.060"), too sloppy for me.

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2006 Pearl Green CRD
Magnaflow 2 1/2" Cat Back
KJ Extra Leg Room Brackets, Carter Lift Pump, V6 Airbox, ORM
Fuel cooler, Oil Separator, Progard 7
Gauges EGT Boost Trans Temp Oil Pres, Michelin LXT AT2 245 70 R16
7,000# Draw Tight hitch, PML EX Deep Trans Pan
Centrifuge, SunCoast, Transgo, RAM TCM, InMotion Stage 2
Wife's 99 TDI VW Beetle

Since the OP's main complaint seems to have been poor mileage, I'd like to suggest Michelin LTX2 235/70 R 16. I got about 95,000 miles out of the LTX and the LTX2s have a 10,000 mile longer guarantee. These are wider, but not taller. They have a rolling circumference within a frog-hair of the stock Goodyears.

I had the 215 85 16's and liked them.
But, 5 wheel bearings plus all kinds of multiple replacement front end parts brought me back to the stock size.
Also it was a little top heavy with the lift.

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'06 Jeep Liberty Sport CRD with: GDE Hot Flash and Tranny Flash, ehm, Cummins fuel pump, 3" Magnaflow muff, Moog K3199's, Skids, 225-75-16 10 ply, OME springs, Euro T/C, Shift kit, Trans cooler w/thermal bypass, Bigboy bkt, Samco CAC, Brake controller, Trans temp gauge, Al's Upper Arms

If I can add another question to the thread:

Along the same lines, I am looking to replace my crappy 225/75/r16s that the dealership put on. They are worn enough that I need to replace before winter.

I'd also like to make some correction to the speedo miscalculation. Treadwright has 255/70R16 PUMAs, which bring me to within 1.3% of the speedo actual. And yes, P-range. I've had E range before, and it was like getting kicked in the kidneys. P-rated exceeds the vehicle GVWR, GCWR and GAWR anyway, so for my purposes, there isn't any advantage to going higher. I'd prefer to lose a tire to an axle, anyway.

https://www.treadwright.com/p-38-255-70 ... a-t-p.aspx

I'm sure several of you have opinions about this idea (after all, this IS the internet). Bring 'em on!

Note: I live in Southern Rhode Island, so snow isn't a serious threat. Sure, we get *some*, but they get the roads cleared pretty fast 'round here.

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"Gunner": 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited CRD GDE ECO tune Bought 01Apr16 (71K miles)


If you're in New England and need your KJ TB done, PM me.

Retired:
Tractor: Dark Khaki '06 CRD Sport, GDE ECO & Trans Tunes, 2.5" lift + 245/75r16. - Sold 27Apr16
Ghost: Silver '06 KJ CRD Limited, bunch of goodies done - Sold 18Apr16

Why put used tires on? That's all they are and at a premium price.For,in most cases,a $100-$200 more you can get brand new tires with a full warranty and if getting P tires you'll get a mileage warranty also.

Oh and putting bigger tires on to correct the speedo is the wrong way to do it,it messes with the trans shifting resulting in gear hunting and overall reduced mpg's(can be up to 3-4 mpg's lower).

Having the speedo reading as far from reality as it does irritates the HFS (Holy F-ing S--T) out of me. Nothing like bad data to p!ss ya off. And since I need to replace the darn tires anyway, might as well put a size on that'll get better traction and get the speedo into "close enough" range...

Is there another way to kill both issues (speedo and worn tires) with one fix?

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"Gunner": 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited CRD GDE ECO tune Bought 01Apr16 (71K miles)


If you're in New England and need your KJ TB done, PM me.

Retired:
Tractor: Dark Khaki '06 CRD Sport, GDE ECO & Trans Tunes, 2.5" lift + 245/75r16. - Sold 27Apr16
Ghost: Silver '06 KJ CRD Limited, bunch of goodies done - Sold 18Apr16

I have the same issue as you rix. Speedo reads 61, ecm via torque read 59.5 and gps says 58.5. Nothing agrees.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

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2006 Sport, GDE FT Eco Tune, Custom Trans Tune
2015 Ram 1500 Big Horn EcoDiesel, GDE Hot Tune

If you had a '05 and no ABS $80 and about 30mins you could fix it and be dead on without messing up the trans shifting.Could even adjust it up or down while driving.

hum..maybe
lt225/85R16..that's what's been on my wifes for 30K plus miles.
oops..their lt225/75r16..oops

sure it has a harder ride of the range E tire..but that's about the only difference..

they seem to have plenty of tread left..

side note..
non of my current cars get the tire life of the 4runner..220K miles 2 sets of tires.
I didn't like the feel of the 2nd set..but kept waiting to replace them..and waiting..and waiting...
my current truck got only 22K on the rear tires..might have gone a little longer but it fail state inspection.

-dkenny

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84 BB school bus, DD8.2L turbo ->the transmission died..too expensive to fix..it'll be heading to the scrap yard..4/11)..Bus gone to Scarp 8/23/11
06 Liberty CRD
'99 dodge ram 2500 quad cab, 4x4, 24v
all Biodiesel powered when its warm enough

I do not recommend the Yokohama Geolandar 215/85/16. They have a 60k warranty and are completely worn out after 40k. Drove nicely, but even at 45psi I'm into the wear bars.

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'05 Liberty CRD B100, SEGR - SOLD

'01 Beetle TDi B100, EGR delete
'83 Mercedes 240D B100, no EGR

--- SEGR Builder ---