01 sport - 4.0 SOHC STS turbo charged (Project complete)

[techieman33]

post I would show you.[/QUOTE]

The ET's will be for the track only, they wouldn't last long if you drove on them everyday. So sadly your going to end up with 2 sets of tires, 1 for the street, and 1 for the track. Is it to late to change your wheel order? I would run 9" all the way around, or even 8" up front. And something around a 275 in the rear and and a 245 or 255 in the front. Here are a couple of pics I just snapped with my 275 so you can see how they fit width wise.

 

[Limited02]

Jakee- You are going to make a NEW video of before and after runs on the street to show us the difference Try to launch at the same RPM. You might want to go to a few tire shops and tell them you have this size rim and want the tire to be at least this tall and they can recommend the best size for that rim.

I am going to back off from here because I feel like I am stepping on some toes. I've got nothing but love for this site and hope that no one took anything I said personal. I know techie, CD and others would know what street tires are best.

Looking forward to some NEW videos

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm sure Jake has personal preferences for what he likes in ride, handling, looks etc. We can point in good directions, but he or someone with all of that information will need to narrow it down.

I have stayed nearer to 60 series tires just from not wanting too much ride quality loss. Lots of people love the 55's or 45's etc, and I'll consider hard a 55 series next time. Each drop of 5% in series(60/55/50), that lowers the tire diameter by one inch basically.

The 255-275 tires can fit easily, when the wheel size places the tire centered correctly in the wheel well. The 9" and 10" wheels will be good to keep any tire from "wiggling" side to side like a stock 7" wheel does. But the wider wheel is also tougher to keep off of the suspension. Take your time and plan the offset well, if you get it right to begin with, no spacers are needed.

Price makes the choice harder too, often the tires that you'd like are too high. I wanted a certain Michelin Pilot AS tire for along time, but now it's up to $240 each. There is now a General tire in the same size which is only $110. I think I'll try the General tire when I get that far.

 

[CDW6212R]

Look around at other Explorers and their tire sizes. Get an idea of what will look just right, or too wide, too narrow, too short etc.

This may help since mine are 18's also. These were my first 18's, 265/60/18, a 30.6" tire. There is plenty of room for a 275 in back. A 55 series tire would be an inch shorter than the 60 series. Each 10mm wider makes the tire 1/2" taller.

 

[Jakee]

Who's toes are you stepping?

I think it's too late for the wheel things.

 

[techieman33]

I am going to back off from here because I feel like I am stepping on some toes. I've got nothing but love for this site and hope that no one took anything I said personal. I know techie, CD and others would know what street tires are best.

I've only had 2 sets, the toyo proxes s/t that I'm running now, that I'm pretty happy with. They're pretty grippy around corners, and perform well in the rain as long as I don't smash the throttle below about 40mph. But honestly I think any tire is going to lose traction when do that in the rain.

The other set were cooper cobra's, I hated them they were extremely hard and I had less traction in the rain in awd than the toyo's have now that I'm kind of 2wd (still have the transfer case but everything else is gone).

 

[htrdlncn]

I run 275/50/17 all around, Nitto Extremes, unreal handling, it will cut loose in the rain
if you smash the throttle but pretty much any tire will in a Sport, wheelbase is just too short. Gives me 10% higher rear end ratio to boot.

 

[Limited02]

I like this one- He has 20's though
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2511926

These look small on a 3rd Gen. 18x9's

Here is a Ranger-
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...rer+Sport+with+FR500%27s&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off

 

[Limited02]

And another from here- Members name is Slush Box. Not sure if he is around anymore.

I will see if I can find out what size rims/tires he has.

Edit-They are 18x9 Steeda Ultra lites with 255-55-18's.

 

[Jakee]

I like that last sport. The look is great with that tire size. I was lowered 2" but now it's 1" so I'll be a bit higher than that truck. I think the 2" drop was a little much for; fitting a 3" tailpipe out the rear; and keeping the bump stops from hitting the axle. The ride was a little bumpy as well but that's probably because of the stock length shocks I was running at the time.

Limited02 - I'm not worried about the 100 bucks cuss unless you've got a serious mod coming up, 14.999 is not going to happen just like a 12.5 for me is probably not going to happen. If you're worried about stepping on my toes, don't be.

I just hope the 10" rim fits the backend without spacers.

 

[justin146]

I want to go down to 18's from 20's. I have tried to almost give my wheels/tires away but I have never had any interest. I am tempted to just buy the wheels I want and put my 20's in the barn.

 

[Limited02]

When I was referring to about stepping on toes, I felt like a few of us were trying to say what tire was best and the discussion was kinda bouncing around. I am no tire expert and maybe I am the only one that was thinking there was a problem when there wasn't. No biggy

And about me not hitting a 14.99, you are getting me fired up I am actually going to take my dog on a walk to calm down!!! I am going to try to hit the track this friday if it's open and the chicka doesn't plan something without telling me. If conditions are better than last time, I will be getting close to that time. I wish you luck on your run as well. Now I am going on a walk

 

[CDW6212R]

I like that last sport. The look is great with that tire size. I was lowered 2" but now it's 1" so I'll be a bit higher than that truck. I think the 2" drop was a little much for; fitting a 3" tailpipe out the rear; and keeping the bump stops from hitting the axle. The ride was a little bumpy as well but that's probably because of the stock length shocks I was running at the time.
...

Jake, you are on the right track by noting what tire sizing fits better to you. Work with that and figure what tire diameter seems to fit what you want. Then work with the wheels you have and find a size which is that diameter and will fit the truck and wheel. The black sport above with 255/55/18's are 29" tires, an inch shorter than your 16's now and my 18's. The 275/50/17 mentioned is a short tire, 28", 1" less than stock 15's.

It looks like you will need to stay in the 255/275 range, to fit the wheel wells. Too wide and they will be more likely to rub something, if they get too narrow then the wheel seems odd/wide. It's better to lean to the narrow side if you are on the fence about two choices.

 

[Jakee]

Thanks guys. Even though there were several opinions it did help me decide.

I'm actually starting to worry a little? What if my truck brakes in half at the track?

What I mean is this - when I have no traction, the weak link is not known. When I installed the locker, the rear end went because of wheel hop. Now that's fixed and I'm gonna put these huge tires underneath it. Where is the weak link now? hmmmmm....

I'll probably run the stock tires first because I don't think I'll have time to get these wheels on it. That'll be limited02's "before"..

 

[Frank 03GT]

And about me not hitting a 14.99, you are getting me fired up I am actually going to take my dog on a walk to calm down!!! I am going to try to hit the track this friday if it's open and the chicka doesn't plan something without telling me. If conditions are better than last time, I will be getting close to that time. I wish you luck on your run as well. Now I am going on a walk

I would like to see that! I was talking to a coworker about the possibility of running a 14 in my truck at some point, so allow me to live vicariously for a minute. You could do it my making more power, by getting more of that power to the ground sooner, and/or by reducing weight. I'm all about the first two on a daily driver. Judging by that trap speed, it's fair to say that you're probably putting down around 220RWHP, give or take. Increase that to about 250RWHP and you should squeak into the 14s with no other changes. Headers, UDP, air filter, and intake plenum might get you 15-20RWHP, so that's half the battle - maybe enough for a 15.2 So how about the other 3 tenths? You had a 60' of 2.1xx as I recall. With steeper gears and/or a higher-stall TC you could definitely improve on that to around a 1.9 on street tires or even lower on DR's. And there it is - a bolt-on Explorer that runs 14's all day. Very high 14s :

 

[Limited02]

I may be overconfident and biting off more than I can chew. I have a few small ideas on how to achieve the goal in a timely and cheaply manner. There will be no additional power adders. So there is only one way to find out

 

[techieman33]

Thanks guys. Even though there were several opinions it did help me decide.

I'm actually starting to worry a little? What if my truck brakes in half at the track?

What I mean is this - when I have no traction, the weak link is not known. When I installed the locker, the rear end went because of wheel hop. Now that's fixed and I'm gonna put these huge tires underneath it. Where is the weak link now? hmmmmm....

I'll probably run the stock tires first because I don't think I'll have time to get these wheels on it. That'll be limited02's "before"..

I would be worried about the u-joints, the rear axle shouldn't have any trouble holding the power.

I may be overconfident and biting off more than I can chew. I have a few small ideas on how to achieve the goal in a timely and cheaply manner. There will be no additional power adders. So there is only one way to find out

Your overconfident, you'll gain 2 tenths at best by removing the weight.

 

[Jakee]

The only way he'll get in the 14's is with a 45 degree down-hill sloped track and tail winds of about 90 MPH. hehehe

Just joking - no pun intended.

 

[techieman33]

So are you going to tell us what tires you decided on?

 

[Limited02]

The only way he'll get in the 14's is with a 45 degree down-hill sloped track and tail winds of about 90 MPH. hehehe

Just joking - no pun intended.

It would help And yeah, what tires and sizes have you decided on?