255/70R16 = 31/10.50R15 = 265/75R15
It appears to me that these tires are all pretty close to the same size. The 255-16 is stock on newer Sports is it not? Is there a difference in the sport suspension and the XLT. What does an Eddie Bauer come with? I've been concerned about going as big as a 31/10.50 on my wifes '97 XLT but it appears to be the same as a factory sport offering. My 94 F150 came stock with 265/75-15 and would appear big on an Explorer. Also, I'm not sure of the load rating with the 265's. BFG doesn't list them but Bridgestone does.

You can check it out at http://www.4lo.com . But, here's what I have written from a while back:

255/70-R16: 30x10 aka 30x10
265/70-R16: 30.6x10.4 aka 31x10.5
265/75-R16: 31.7x10.4 aka 32x10.5
275/70-R16: 31.2x10.8 aka 31x11
265/75-R15: 30.7x10.4 aka 31x10.5

They generally round the tire size off.

What do the numbers mean?

The first number is the width of the tread in millimeters. The second number (70, e.g.) is the aspect ratio or the height of the tire as a percentage of the width.

For example, a 265/75-R16 tire will be 265 mm wide, and the height from the bead to the bottom of the tread will be 75% of 265 mm or 199 mm. These numbers have to be converted to inches. There's 25.4 mm in an inch. So, the 265 mm tire will be 10.4" wide. 75% of that is 7.8" between the rim and the tread. Since the tire goes all the way around the rim, to measure diameter, you must multiply that by 2 to get 15.6". Now add the rim diameter of 16" to get 31.6".

I know that the later Sport models have 16" rims with 255/70 tires. In fact, all Explorers that do have 16" rims have the 255/70 tires. The ones with 15" rims have, I believe, 235/70-R15 tires.

I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but the load rating of the BFG LT265/75-R16 tire is over 2000 lbs. per tire at full inflation. Considering what an Explorer weighs, you won't have to worry about overloading them. Mine work fine at 29-30 lbs.

So there you have it. :)

All three sizes should fit fine on your Explorer. I've got 265 75R16 tires on my '97 as do several other people. Find the thread "largest tires on a '97" that was last updated 6/30 to see pictures of how the tires fit on my '97. There is also a picture somewhere from Tom Wilks (SP?) and his '98 with the same size as mine. It looks very good! The sizes you are inquiring about should fit without any rubbing.

thanks guys. Scot