NOTE: Follow-up from the wheel upgrade!

Finally got fed up with the Hankooks just not gripping. They are great tires for driving around as the are a 420 UTQG tire, but I needed something with a bit more stick! Another issue I was having was, the tire diameter was way larger than the OEM diameter. The OEM tires are 255/50-20 which is an OD of about 30″ Ideally I want to stick to close to that if possible, but not impossible to work around. However going LARGER creates issues as it changes the effective final drive ratio and I’m not so sure I want a taller tire in my case. Stock final drive is 3.16.

I previously had 275/45-20 Hankook tires on the 20×10 Volk wheels I had and that diameter was pretty much in the perfect spot as far as a balance between gearing and…let’s face it…looks (in regards to wheel gap), LOL. It came out to a 29.5″ and gave me an effective gear ratio of 3.19. Not too far off stock , but definitely on the shorter side, which may help a bit on acceleration.

As far as tire specs, they were pretty decent, they weighed in at about 35lbs. With the wheels coming in at 23lbs, that was a nice combo weight of 58lbs. Considering the stock wheel combo weight about 74, that was a great weight reduction.

When I got the 20×11 Advan wheels, though, it became tough to find something that wouldn’t rub but still provide the overall diameter I was looking for. I went with the 295/45-20 Hankooks. To be honest, they had the best appearance and really closed that wheel gap up nicely.

But not only were they not providing me the traction I needed, they were just too tall…giving me an effective final drive of 3.12. This was the opposite direction I wanted to go. They also weighed more and that was disappointing. They came in about 38.5lbs, 3.5lbs heavier. Good thing the wheels themselves were 2lbs lighter than the Volks (21lbs). My tire/wheel combo came to about 60lbs. Still good, but not the direction I wanted to go.

Well I had some hard choices to make.

Anyway, I started shopping around for some drag radials and there are a few options out there but they all have pros and cons. The biggest one was tire size. No one really makes drag radials for SUVs, LOL. I’m a bit surprised with some of the high performance trucks/SUVs out there (Raptor, TrackHawk, etc.). I wanted 305 width and no greater than a 100 UTQG rated tire. Ideally, a 305/40-20 would get me the diameter I was looking for, but no one makes that. Closest size I could choose from was a 305/35-20. Yikes…brings my diameter down to 28.5″…2″ shorter than the Hankooks I had on, but would give me an effective gear ratio of 3.34. Not bad, but would give me A TON more wheel gap, not so hot. But function over form, right?

My dream tire is a set of Nitto NT05Rs or MT ET Streets, but they have some drawbacks. Most notably, the Nitto’s aren’t available in 305/35-20. So after some research, these are what I was nailing down:

1) Toyo Proxes R888R
Load Rating: 104 (1984lbs)
Speed Rating: Y (186mph)
Diameter: 28.4″
Width: 12.3″
Weight: 35lbs
Tread/Traction/Temp Rating: 100/AA/A

2) Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S
Load Rating: 104 (1984lbs)
Speed Rating: Y (186mph)
Diameter: 28.7″
Width: 12.0″
Weight: 36lbs
Tread/Traction/Temp Rating: 00/C/C

3) Nitto NT555RII
Load Rating: 107 (2149lbs)
Speed Rating: W (168mph)
Diameter: 28.4″
Width: 12.3″
Weight: 34lbs
Tread/Traction/Temp Rating: 100/A/A

The Toyos were high on my list mainly because they look bad-ass, lol. They’ve got the best traction rating of the bunch, but they are also the smallest as well as the widest. I was flirting with rubbing with my 295/45s at a width of 11.7″

The MTs are a bit better in the size department, being a bit narrower and a bit taller. But they are also the heaviest and have the worst traction rating. They seem to be the most popular as I think they are a bit more cost effective, but I had read reviews that they can be super sketchy when hitting water. My rig isn’t 100% track only yet, so it sees some street time and I just prefer not to catch this 4700lb beast in a puddle with sketchy tires.

And finally the Nitto are the lightest and have a decent traction rating. But I mainly don’t like the tread pattern, LOL…

So I went ahead and dropped the coin on the Toyo’s. I actually got a better price than anything you find online at a local tire place I frequent and friends with the owner. Orangevale Goodyear Tires…great place and hooked me up! If you’re local, come check them out.

Well, had ’em installed and balanced and I was initially disappointed in the wheel gap I got, but after living with it for some time, I’ve grown accustomed to it. It’s an SUV, so I think it can get a bit of a pass? I already have lowering springs so there isn’t much lower I can go, except air bags, but no thanks to that ride-quality. Also there are no rubbing issues at all. Happy! They are also fairly light-considering their size. They came in at VERY NICE 34lbs! Making my wheel/tire combo around 55lbs! Definitely in the right direction.

Width also wasn’t as bad as I had thought it was going to be. It only came out to be not much wider at all at it’s widest point.

But check out the height difference…this will definitely introduce some wheel gap…sad panda face…

But gettin it done!

How do they perform? Well, I noticed a difference right away, these things GRIP! No more wheel hop…wish I had a bit more of a scientific explanation for you but they are VERY sticky. I took it to the track and you can see how sticky these things get.

I’m happy with them so let’s see if they can help me cut some low 1.7 60′ times!