2018 2500HD Tire Replacement/Upgrade

Skeld · April 21, 2018

One thing to note, the 275/65R20 BFG KO2's seem extremely narrow in my opinion. Anyone else notice this? I have some on +18 20X9 wheels and I'm not crazy about it.

I had some 305/55R20 Cooper STT mounted on them last year and I hated the road noise and I went back to stock wheels and the BFGs (sold the Coopers) This setup looked ok but it did rub the front fenderwell material I believe in the front of the passenger side on a tight left hand turn.

Waaazooo · April 21, 2018

One thing to note, the 275/65R20 BFG KO2's seem extremely narrow in my opinion. Anyone else notice this? I have some on +18 20X9 wheels and I'm not crazy about it.

I had some 305/55R20 Cooper STT mounted on them last year and I hated the road noise and I went back to stock wheels and the BFGs (sold the Coopers) This setup looked ok but it did rub the front fenderwell material I believe in the front of the passenger side on a tight left hand turn.

I use this size in the winter. Excellent snow/slush traction

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Big Whiskey · April 22, 2018

On 4/20/2018 at 9:00 PM, Skeld said:

One thing to note, the 275/65R20 BFG KO2's seem extremely narrow in my opinion. Anyone else notice this? I have some on +18 20X9 wheels and I'm not crazy about it.

I'm sure they are. BFG's are notorious for running on the narrow, and the 275 is a narrow size anyway...especially for a 34" tall tire. I've always thought 275/70/18 BFG's looked too narrow too.

Waaazooo · April 22, 2018

Anyone understand why a tire size doesn’t really mean the size of the tire? I bought 295/60-20 which should measure a smidge under 34”...yet physically measured 35+ inches and over 12.5” wide.

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Skeld · April 22, 2018

Coming from the stock 265 I thought it would be ok, guess I was wrong. Next time I'll try something different.

I did use them for one winter and they were good. This past winter I had Cooper Discovere M+S studded, and that worked fine also.

Waaazooo · April 22, 2018

Coming from the stock 265 I thought it would be ok, guess I was wrong. Next time I'll try something different.

I did use them for one winter and they were good. This past winter I had Cooper Discovere M+S studded, and that worked fine also.

Well... if you need studded... anything less than chains wont compare

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Skeld · April 22, 2018

Yeah, I've gone both ways but I'm up in Maine and I'm plowing with the truck and also hauling snowmobile trailers up on logging roads and things like that.

cdh7917 · May 2, 2018

I haven't forgotten about this thread, but I'm currently in a holding pattern. I'll explain...

I swapped all four Ranchos out for the Bilstein 5100s. I am really pleased with the upgrade and overall the truck feels tighter when responding to road imperfections. We have plenty of that in Colorado, so it's a noticeable improvement. With less than 6K miles on my truck, the shocks came out very easy. It was surprising, but almost not, to see that the Ranchos already looked like garbage with rust beginning to form. I was also surprised at how soft the Ranchos are in comparison.

After that, I set about adjusting my keys to bring up the front. After all is said and done, I am sitting at about 41" front (ground to fender lip) and about 42.5" on the rear (ground to fender lip). The truck is noticeably higher when getting into it, despite only having been raised 1.5". Handling is still great, no ill effects. The rake is just right now too, IMHO.

My CV angles look good too. No contact on the ridges of the boots either.

As for wheels and tires - All came in and they were supposed to be mounted last weekend. Well, it turns out that the gloss finish on the Fuel Warriors wasn't as tough as the name implies. The lips of the wheels had fine surface scratches all over from the cardboard boxes. It was disappointing.

We ended up mounting one up and test fitting it on my front. With the +20 and a 285/65/20, there is very minimal contact with the felt wheel well liner at full lock. I should have no problem to tie it back and keep it from being an issue. I easily clear the lower air dam and have plenty of space it looks like between the tire and frame and upper control arm.

As for the wheels, I decided to go back to a matte finished wheel and asked that they order the Fuel Couplers. Same size/specs as the previous deal.

Just waiting....again!

cdh7917 · May 8, 2018

Finally! The wheels came in last Friday, but I waited until today to have my good buddy that works at the shop complete the install. We pulled the stock sensors from my original wheels and moved them to the new ones. I don't have as much rub as it initially looked like I would. I'm really happy that I went with the 285/65/20 tires. They are the perfect size and the +20 wheel puts the wheels/tires are just the right spot - the treads are pretty much flush with the fender edges.

Here are the pictures!

Before:

After:

4wdriver · May 8, 2018

Nice! How are your tires pretty quiet?

cdh7917 · May 9, 2018

1 hour ago, 4wdriver said:

Nice! How are your tires pretty quiet?

Thanks!

I love these tires. I had them in a 295/60/20 on my 1500 and didn't even consider a different tire this time around. Good road manners, look good, two different shoulder patterns to choose from, do well in snow, etc. And yes, quiet.

My work commute is about 85 miles round trip, pretty much all highway. I wouldn't even consider something else at this point.

Big Whiskey · May 10, 2018

On 5/7/2018 at 8:08 PM, cdh7917 said:

Finally! The wheels came in last Friday, but I waited until today to have my good buddy that works at the shop complete the install. We pulled the stock sensors from my original wheels and moved them to the new ones. I don't have as much rub as it initially looked like I would. I'm really happy that I went with the 285/65/20 tires. They are the perfect size and the +20 wheel puts the wheels/tires are just the right spot - the treads are pretty much flush with the fender edges.

Here are the pictures!

Looks great! Very nice upgrade! I like the 285/65/20 size. It's a nice way to get a 35" tall tire without having to go to a true, 35x12.50x20.

Waaazooo · May 10, 2018

Looks great! Very nice upgrade! I like the 285/65/20 size. It's a nice way to get a 35" tall tire without having to go to a true, 35x12.50x20.

...which is a PITA unless you go high.

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cdh7917 · May 10, 2018

Thanks guys. I appreciate all your advice early on!

OpsWest · May 14, 2018

Looking very sharp.

For reference I'm running 35x12.5x18 on stock wheels / no other modifications. I have a slight rub at the very end of full lock, but I tend to avoid the last inch of full lock. It must be the 18' offset or simply everyone avoided trying to mount these on stock 2500 and assume they rub elsewhere.

35's