Im making this post for all the 2nd Gen explorer owners who are running stock 16's with larger tires. After searching through the forumn and seeing very few a second gen on stock 16's I wanted to post this thread and try to help out those that needed it.
First off I debated for a couple months of what size tires I wanted 285/75 or go smaller with 265/75 trying to debate the always debated question will 33's fit? or almost 33's...After searching for examples on close to stock explorers ( I only had a shackle lift ) I said screw it and ordered the 285's MTG's from TreadWright not knowing if they would be close to fitting but oh well did it anyways.
Only took a couple of days after i ordered them and when they came i was nervous, rolled them up to the wheels and stood there thinking no way could those things fit so went down to Walmart the other day and put one of the tires on one rim so I could test fit all around.
Here are the results back left and front: Fit perfect no issues what so ever
Front drivers side: Actually fit on but when i went to turn the wheels there were some issues. The issues had to do with the inner plastic fender well piece not the actual metal. I have never really looked at another explorer but on the driver side the plastic piece juts out then goes up to the center and comes to a point what for I have no idea. Im sure it serves some purpose but for me it was in the way. So I grabbed the first thing I could an xacto knife that my wife uses for something and a lighter and started to trim away the unecessary pieces.
The first thing I trimmed was a 2x2in hole in the lower well follwed off with cutting off the long slender piece on the top. The only other place was the front plastic fender located underneath the bumper. Trimmed that and remounted wheel and still had slight issues. So I finally did the TT didnt want to because I didnt want to go get an alignment but did it anyways becasue I want these tires to fit...
1998 was a long time ago so of course the drivers side could only be lifted about an 1" or so. But hey its free and now both sides are the same height. And what a difference it made, on the drivers side i have about 2" or so of clearance after the trim and TT so its all good on to the passenger side.
Passenger side was not as bad bolted up the tire and it fit and turned fine and only rubbed in one place. The plastic well towards the door. Well fixed that quick after doing the other side only took me a couple of minutes.
Well going tommorow to get the remaining three mounted and balanced and then will have final pics.
**Will post pics of wheel well trim and tires tommorow**
First off I debated for a couple months of what size tires I wanted 285/75 or go smaller with 265/75 trying to debate the always debated question will 33's fit? or almost 33's...After searching for examples on close to stock explorers ( I only had a shackle lift ) I said screw it and ordered the 285's MTG's from TreadWright not knowing if they would be close to fitting but oh well did it anyways.
Only took a couple of days after i ordered them and when they came i was nervous, rolled them up to the wheels and stood there thinking no way could those things fit so went down to Walmart the other day and put one of the tires on one rim so I could test fit all around.
Here are the results back left and front: Fit perfect no issues what so ever
Front drivers side: Actually fit on but when i went to turn the wheels there were some issues. The issues had to do with the inner plastic fender well piece not the actual metal. I have never really looked at another explorer but on the driver side the plastic piece juts out then goes up to the center and comes to a point what for I have no idea. Im sure it serves some purpose but for me it was in the way. So I grabbed the first thing I could an xacto knife that my wife uses for something and a lighter and started to trim away the unecessary pieces.
The first thing I trimmed was a 2x2in hole in the lower well follwed off with cutting off the long slender piece on the top. The only other place was the front plastic fender located underneath the bumper. Trimmed that and remounted wheel and still had slight issues. So I finally did the TT didnt want to because I didnt want to go get an alignment but did it anyways becasue I want these tires to fit...
1998 was a long time ago so of course the drivers side could only be lifted about an 1" or so. But hey its free and now both sides are the same height. And what a difference it made, on the drivers side i have about 2" or so of clearance after the trim and TT so its all good on to the passenger side.
Passenger side was not as bad bolted up the tire and it fit and turned fine and only rubbed in one place. The plastic well towards the door. Well fixed that quick after doing the other side only took me a couple of minutes.
Well going tommorow to get the remaining three mounted and balanced and then will have final pics.
**Will post pics of wheel well trim and tires tommorow**
