Tire size?

[Royals19]

This will probably seem like a real rookie question, and it is.

 

I've never had big tires on a truck before and want to some on my 2007 Silverado Z71 Ext Cab.

 

http://imgur.com/DoaEG9W

 

The picture above shows two trucks. The white one is mine. The gray one is one I saw the other day that I want to mimic. Just by looking at the pictures, can anyone tell me around what size tire is on the gray one?

 

I know the rim on my truck is 17". Anybody have any recommendations on what tires to buy? Want something a little bigger and wider than what is on there, possibly mud tires. Besides the tires, is there anything else I should buy with them?

 

All help is appreciated!

[BlackZ71Silverado]

17" is the normal wheel size but that doesn't really matter, your "Z71" suspension code doesn't matter either when it comes to fitting larger tires. Without at least a 2" leveling kit, I would not try anything other than OEM tire size.

[kxdan01]

I would venture to guess that the tires on the truck you want to mimic are something similar to 285/70/17, possibly a little bigger but I would just about bet on that size. I can assure that you will need to pick up a decent leveling kit, I bought one for my truck recently that was a 2"-2.5" Kit with Torsion Keys for the front and a set of simple 2" or 2.5" lift blocks with longer U-Bolts for the rear. The front Torsion Keys are not always easy to remove because road chemicals combined with moisture from rain/snow and all of the other elements our trucks are exposed to cause the stock keys to get stuck, they basically rust in place and require a bit of persuasion to remove, plus a special tool that compresses the torsion bar while you remove the retaining bolt and stock torsion key is required, you can try to rig up something or simply rent it from auto zone or a similar parts store for free. The rear U-Bolts are more often than not a pain to remove due to being rusted in place, I tried a large impact wrench but had to end up cutting off the stock bolts with a cutting torch, they won't matter anyway since the kit will come with new, extended U-Bolts for the taller lift blocks that simply sit on your axle and you install the new U-Bolts. I bought a rough country kit for around $200, they're available here. I'm happy with the kit and I went from 265/75/16 tires to 285/75/16 Tires which equates to basically going from 31" to 33" Tires, my truck looks much better and has the stance I feel like it should have had from the factory, taller and level instead of looking like a low rider with the rear about 1.5"-2" taller than the front, my GMC Sierra 1500 Extended Cab Z71 basically sits up very similar to my previous 2500HD Trucks or slightly taller, and I must emphasize slightly but the considerably larger tires fit with no rubbing or modifications for clearance needed, they're actually about 3" Taller and clear easily with room to spare. Your truck is the newer body style and results may differ but I doubt much, if I were you I'd Google it and look on YouTube for info. and instructional videos, I watched the installation process until I had it memorized, I'm glad I did too. You'll need a good, heavy duty jack, jackstands, and a good, level surface like a garage floor, if you have access to a lift that would be ideal and that's how mine was done. If you're not comfortable messing with it, I'm sure a competent local off-road shop or a friend who's familiar with lift kits, etc. can do it for you, my local shop wanted about $200-$250 for installing the kit, I can't imagine it being much different anywhere else, maybe it'll be cheaper for you in your area, I'm in central Virginia. I'm just guessing on the tire size but feel confident it's either correct or only off by one size or so. The picture showed up kinda small on my phone. I seen a truck leveled up with bigger tires and like you I wanted to mimic it, I accomplished it but I used my stock rims and didn't install any fender flares although I wanted both but a few unexpected bills took the cash I had set aside for those extras and will add black wheels and some stock style flares painted to match the truck since my truck didn't come with factory fender flares, my truck is the style before yours, 99-07 Classic but it's the same concept. Download the free "Garage Buddy" App, it has many useful tools including a tire size calculator that will convert metric sizing to inches and find what size is 2" or 2.5" or whatever difference in size you think you'll be satisfied with, it's really helpful for that and many other things plus it's free on the Google PlayStore, I would think Apple has it too but have no way of knowing for sure, if not and you're using an iPhone you can easily find a similar app, perhaps someone can recommend one if needed, but if you have an Android Phone you'll have no problem getting it for sure. It'll make you feel much better about your truck and it'll stand out among the sea of stock trucks on the road, my truck feels different in a good way, it still rides and drives exactly as it did before so that's no issue. If your tires are 265/70/17, going to 285/75/17 will add 2.2" in height going from 31.6" to 33.8" Tires and you'll have about .8" (4/5") wider tires if you go with the size I have been talking about, that's about the same difference that was made when I changed sizes and it's a really noticeable difference, I'd certainly do it over again, I look forward to getting some Black Wheels to go with my Silver Truck and will probably add some flares also, I tried a set of the larger "pocket style" flares but once I held them up to my truck to get an idea of what they would look like I decided not to buy them because they simply didn't look good at all, I think they look better on the newer style trucks like yours but you can check them out and see what looks best for your application. If I could change one thing, I'd get BF Goodrich All Terrain Tires instead of my Cooper Discoverer AT3 Tires, but I got them from a friend who worked in a tire warehouse for less than half cost and they didn't have BF Goodrich Tires, my only other option was Nitto but they were a size bigger and I had doubts about them fitting, I am glad I did because they would've been very tight. It's important to note that your speedometer will not be correct- it'll say you're going slower than you actually are and it gets worse as you go faster, mines pretty close but when you get up to highway speeds it'll be off by around 7-10 MPH depending on just how fast you're going, this can be corrected with a calibration unit that plugs into your OBD2 Port and you can also change the tire size settings on most handheld programmers, or with a custom tune of course. Be aware that you will notice a difference in power as well, not a night and day difference but you'll certainly be able to tell. In my case with the 3:73 Gears my truck has it is now geared higher and is probably closer to 3:42 or 3:50, you'll mainly notice when accelerating from a stop and going up long, steep hills/grades, I would still do it over again because it looks much better but that part does kinda suck, but could certainly be worse. If you have 4:10 Gears you probably won't notice as much. I'm going to have my truck custom tuned, not with a handheld tuner but actually have the Computer/ECM Reflashed to try to restore any power I've lost and hopefully gain some as well, I picked up an extra computer for $22 at the local junkyard we have that lets you pull your own parts. I'm on the fence about upgrading to a 2500HD or 3500 anyway but if I end up keeping my truck I'll probably go ahead and have it tuned after I install some lower gears to certainly offset the larger tires, I'll probably go with 4:30-4:56 Gears and get a buddy to Install them since I can trade him some car stereo equipment or gun accessories, or something like that so I don't have to pay for labor and sell my 3:73 Gears to someone with the lower 3:23 or 3.42 Gears that's wanting to go a little lower as I do to offset the cost of buying the gears, unless I can find them at the local Pick + Save Junkyard from a GM Truck or SUB, I may try to do that but I'll have to settle for 4:10 Gears which should be enough to offset the tire size. One benefit other than looks and increased ground clearance is the fact that when driving at highway speeds the engine is not turning as many RPM's, at 55-60 I am running about 1500 RPM s and before the larger tires I was at about 2000 RPM's so highway gas mileage will improve as long as it's fairly level, if it's constantly up/down hills the gas mileage will suffer some due to the reduced power, that's why I'm going to definitely get the best custom tune available to get any lost power back plus more and if I can get a set of gears installed as mentioned it'll make that much more of a diffrence and an even greater power/torque increase, I suppose I could spend a few hundred on some long tube headers too so I'll gain back the lost low RPM power plus more, and with the tune + gears it'll be more powerful than stock by a very noticeable amount and I'll have the look I was going for (and currently have) with no losses and only gains, sounds like a win/win situation to me, how could more power, better mpg, and better looks be anything other than great. I know this post was a bit long but I hope it's helpful to you and others, I wish someone had explained it to me in detail like that. I just bought the tires because they were such a great deal and I needed some anyway to find out they wouldn't fit

(after being told they would) and then having to buy the leveling kit just to make them fit, but honestly it just forced me/gave me an excuse to do what I'd been wanting to do for quite a while which was leveling the truck and having some larger All Terrain Tires, I had no issues driving through 3.5'-4' of snow with no issue about 6-8 weeks ago when we got hammered with a major snow storm. I didn't even touch a snow shovel, the larger tires and increased ground clearance allowed me to just push through it like it was no big deal, that would've never happened like that with the stock height and smaller tires. Like everything else in life, there are pros and cons but in this case the cons can be offset by adding more power through the tune and multiplying that power at the wheels more with the lower gears. I once heard a wise man say, "Don't fear the Gear", now I see exactly what he was saying. Ok, good luck and I truly hope this helps you and others who Wii stumble across this thread.

[Big Whiskey]

^^^^ Wow, I think that's the longest post I've ever seen on this forum, haha.

 

To the OP, both your truck and the gray truck appear to have suspension lifts. I'd say the gray one has 35" tires. Do you know what type of suspension mods your truck has?