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Just had tires fitted today by Belle Tire

jonkolo

Member
Joined
March 25, 2008
Messages
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City, State
Allen Park, Michigan
Year, Model & Trim Level
08 Sport Trac
As many people on here probably know already, the stock 235/65/18 tire size gives us very limited options when selecting a new tire, especially something better in the snow. I have been looking for advise on getting new tires in a larger size. Today, Belle Tire helped me out by mounting a new Michelin 265/65/18 on my wheel. Unfortunately, and contrary to the advise I have gotten on this forum, they said it rubbed too much and they didn't recommend that size because of it.

On the other hand, a 255/70/18 seemed like the best and almost the only way to go in a larger and more agressive tire tread design. The 255/70/18 was very close to touching the inside of the front plastic fender skirt during a full lock turn, but it looked like there was between 1/8 and 1/4 inch before it would touch in the front where the plastic is very flexible.

This tire size looked great on the ST, and it makes the ST sit a full inch higher with a full inch more rubber between the road and the wheel.

This is a new tire size for the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor, and also the new Bridgestone Dualer AT revo 2.

These are the two tires I am considering but I am leaning toward the Goodyears. I am however, concerned about road noise on the freeway at 80 MPH from such an agressive tread design.

At this time, there is only one tire in a size between the OEM, and the 255/70/18 in a Goodyear Fortera, without going to a shorter sidewall, at least that I know of.

I just thought this would be helpful to those of you looking for bigger tires.
 



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well not sure about sizes but my dad has those silent armours on his new explorer and they are quiet on the highway. he really likes them.
 






well not sure about sizes but my dad has those silent armours on his new explorer and they are quiet on the highway. he really likes them.

I would be interested in the size. Thanks for the info on the noise.
 






As many people on here probably know already, the stock 235/65/18 tire size .,,,,,,,
Well, the 18" rims are not stock. The stock standard is 16".
17" and 18" rims are options.
 












Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor and Bridgestone Dualer AT revo 2 are aggressive tires?! :rolleyes:
 






I'm running 265/60-18s on Henry.

They work great, no rubbing issues, & same overall height as the original 235s. Highly recommended.
 






My tires are the Goodyear Silent Armor in . . .

265/60-18. No issues for 10,000 miles now. No rubbing. Wear is good and they look great! An excellent tire & one that did well for me last winter.
 






True, they are standard on the Limited models like mine.

Oops, forgot about the Limited. I would have got a Limited but I needed 4 wheel drive and not all wheel drive. The leather seats are missed.
 






Oops, forgot about the Limited. I would have got a Limited but I needed 4 wheel drive and not all wheel drive. The leather seats are missed.

The limited has 4X4 with low range and 6800-7000lb towing. You must be thinking about the adreanelin- Spelling??

I still havn't gotten my 255/70/18 32"tires. I need to check the spare to see if a 32" will fit up there, it only has a 17" wheel so I have to make up for the difference in wheel size with more rubber. I will try to post pictures when I get them. I am leaning towards the Silent Armor.
 






When I was shopping for the truck there were only 4 available in the whole state with 4x4 and a V8, they were all XLT's. Any Limited's at the time were all wheel drive.
 






Still working on it.

I am still trying to get the tire situation figured out. We determined that the new Silent Armor 32.1" size of 255/70/18 would fit up front-(did not try rear yet), but my new problem is the spare tire. For unknown reasons my SportTrac was shipped with a 17" spare rim. I figured out that I could make up for the difference in overall diameter by using a 255/75/17 for the spare tire which has the same overall diameter of 32.1" as the above size, BUT I mounted that tire size on my spare rim and it WILL NOT FIT UNDER. It's only about 1/2 inch too big! Now what?

I found out that my factory spare is actually 0.5" shorter in overall diameter then the stock 235/65/18 Michelin tires on the ST, so I called my service rep to see how much size difference it would take to start causing problems. Maybe I could find something close enough to the 32.1" SilentArmors to get by incase of a flat. He called back and said that he read there "CAN NOT BE ANY" spare tire size difference, but he thought if there was to be 0.5"-0.75" difference in overall spare tire diameter it probably would be ok for emergency use, especially if traction control is shut off. He also mentioned that they have had issues with being unable to re-calibrate speedometers on similar vehicles so I need to look into that next.

I tried to find something close to the 32.1" diameter SilentArmors for my 17 spare rim and cannot find anything colser then 1.0" in overall diameter.

This has turned out to be a very difficult experience, just to gain 1.0" in radius- 1.0" raise in truck height.

The only thing I can think of to solve the spare tire problem is to buy a 18" spare rim from the Ford dealer-like some SportTracs were shipped with, and mount a 265/65/18 tire for emergency use. I read on an older post that someone has done this sucessfully, and it fit underneith the truck. This tire size would only be 0.6" smaller in overall diameter then the 32.1" tires that I want to put on the truck. If this works, and it actually fits under the rear, then I am only left with the spedometer problem. Does anyone reading this have experience re-calibrating the 07-10 SportTrac speedometers?

Any help would be appreciated from anyone here. Thanks for the replies.
 






Update

As many people on here probably know already, the stock 235/65/18 tire size gives us very limited options when selecting a new tire, especially something better in the snow. I have been looking for advise on getting new tires in a larger size. Today, Belle Tire helped me out by mounting a new Michelin 265/65/18 on my wheel. Unfortunately, and contrary to the advise I have gotten on this forum, they said it rubbed too much and they didn't recommend that size because of it.

On the other hand, a 255/70/18 seemed like the best and almost the only way to go in a larger and more agressive tire tread design. The 255/70/18 was very close to touching the inside of the front plastic fender skirt during a full lock turn, but it looked like there was between 1/8 and 1/4 inch before it would touch in the front where the plastic is very flexible.

This tire size looked great on the ST, and it makes the ST sit a full inch higher with a full inch more rubber between the road and the wheel.

This is a new tire size for the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor, and also the new Bridgestone Dualer AT revo 2.

These are the two tires I am considering but I am leaning toward the Goodyears. I am however, concerned about road noise on the freeway at 80 MPH from such an agressive tread design.

At this time, there is only one tire in a size between the OEM, and the 255/70/18 in a Goodyear Fortera, without going to a shorter sidewall, at least that I know of.

I just thought this would be helpful to those of you looking for bigger tires.

UPDATE:

I mounted a new 265/65/18 Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor on a slightly scratched 18" factory chrome rim for use as my spare tire. Yes, it did fit underneith into the spare tire area. Like someone else had posted, this size is definitely the largest tire that will fit up there. I actually believe the armorall that I sprayed all over the tire helped it to slide up easier while turning the cable crank to lift the spare tire into it's storage area. This tire is only 0.6" smaller in overall diameter to the 255/70/18 tires that I want to try to put on the SportTrac. Based on the fact that my original 17" spare tire was 0.5" smaller then the OEM Michelins, I am hopeing that emergency use of this tire will not cause the SportTrac's wheel speed sensors to activate 4X4, traction control, or even worse, the electronic stability control. LOL!

Before I put the spare away, I mounted it on both the front and rear of the SportTrac. I could not find any rubbing, at least with the truck sitting still, even with the steering wheel fully turned. I was surprised! I honestly don't know why the guys at the tire store said this size would not fit, unless it had something to do with the new version of the Michelin M+S they were using as a size test. There may have been some confusion about another size I was testing. Anyway, sorry for the bad information in my above post. The 265/65/18 definitely fit, and it looks great!

I am still planning on going with the new Silent Armor size 255/70/18 because I would like the extra 0.25" in height, and a slightly narrower tire tread for driving in slush and snow. The wider they get, the more they plow snow instead of cutting through it. This causes loss of sterring and wheel pull. If the 255/70/18 size does not work out for me in the rear I will go with the 265/65/18. Either way, I am sold on the Silent Armors, I LOVE the way they look. So far I have only seen one of them on my SportTrac, but it looked AWESOME! Now I understand why everyone keeps saying that their new tires make their SportTrac look like a different truck! It really does!

As soon as I get the rest of the tires I will try and post photos. I don't have a digital camera right now so I will try and do something with my camera phone. Hopefully I will have another update by the weekend!
 






I finally got my new tires! They are 255/70/18 Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors.

They look great on the SportTrac! There are definitely not any negative changes in handling characteristics with these tires, if anything the steering response at speed has actually improved. It's more like a sports car. The thing that impressed me the most is the fact that they are just as quiet, if not actually more quiet then the stock michelins. To be fair to the michelins, the michelins were almost worn down to the indicators.

No problems with rubbing on the front, even during a full lock turn. I am however, having a slight problem in the rear just like someone on here had mentioned in another thread. While trying to bottom out the suspension at about 30 MPH by hitting a big dip in the road, as the rear end of the SportTrac dips down, the tires make slight contact with the forward part of the rear plastic wheel well liners. It makes a loud scraping sound.

To try to solve this problem I warmed the plastic liners with a hair dryer and bent them slightly forward. This gave them an additional 1/4 inch of clearance between the tire and liner and helped significantly under most driving conditions but I still have a slight problem when hitting a big dip in the road.

The thing that I don't understand is the measurement difference between my 265/65/18 spare tire and the 255/70/18 tires on the truck. I was expecting a narrower tread width, but they measure the same. The only difference I can measure is an additional 1/4" in sidewall height on the 255's.

I don't understand where the extra 10mm went on the 265's? The tires are almost identical. I was expecting the 255's to be narrower and taller. They are definitely taller but not at all narrower. I never measured section width, but I can't see the sides of the 265's buldge out any more then the 255's.

Unless I am missing something, if I had it to do over again I would have probably gotten the 265/65/18 tires to help avoid the rear tires from rubbing the plastic wheel well liners. I am not too concerned about normal driving, but I am concerned about the times I load the box full with heavy wet firewood and drive long distances.

Goodyear has a 30 day return policy. I could probably return them and get the 265's, but I am still trying to solve the rear rubbing problem without doing that.

If anyone has a good solution please let me know. I hope this was informative. I will get the pictures as soon as I can.
 






eppd00

You may have to remove the liner retaining screw and clip. Cut a new slot for the clip an inch or so higher than original location in the composite material of the bed and reinstall the screw and clip. Use a heat gun to soften the liner and shape it forward. Don't get it too hot and melt it. The rubbing area should be where the screw head is located originally
 






You may have to remove the liner retaining screw and clip. Cut a new slot for the clip an inch or so higher than original location in the composite material of the bed and reinstall the screw and clip. Use a heat gun to soften the liner and shape it forward. Don't get it too hot and melt it. The rubbing area should be where the screw head is located originally

Yes, that is the area that is rubbing. Sounds like a good idea. Would it be necessary to cut away the lower part of the composite material in order to get the plastic liner to shape forward? There is about an inch of flat material on the bottom where the screw is located originally, then above that is some kind of rib that probably provides support. Not sure if it is important or not.
 






eppd00

Try to cut the slot only and place the clip as high as possible first. You can trim some of the composite,in a half moon shape ,but if you trim off too large a section the forward portion of the fender will vibrate . The plastic liner also stiffens this area when it is reattached. Once the composite is removed,if that is the route you have to take, heat the liner and push it toward the hole and hold it in place till it cools.Have the liner screws in place while you are heating it up.
 






Try to cut the slot only and place the clip as high as possible first. You can trim some of the composite,in a half moon shape ,but if you trim off too large a section the forward portion of the fender will vibrate . The plastic liner also stiffens this area when it is reattached. Once the composite is removed,if that is the route you have to take, heat the liner and push it toward the hole and hold it in place till it cools.Have the liner screws in place while you are heating it up.

Thanks for the help. I have the weekend to work on it. Hopefully I can get it right before my Thanksgiving trip.
 






I had Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors on my 06, but after only 30k I had a blow out due to an accident and decided to replace all four tires with the BF Goodrich All Terrain. With about 200 miles on them so far I am totally satisfied with my decision, quiet on the road, aggressive looking tread... for now that's all I can say, road manners i.e. rain, dry, etc. will have to wait until I get a few more miles on them.:D
 



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I had Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors on my 06, but after only 30k I had a blow out due to an accident and decided to replace all four tires with the BF Goodrich All Terrain. With about 200 miles on them so far I am totally satisfied with my decision, quiet on the road, aggressive looking tread... for now that's all I can say, road manners i.e. rain, dry, etc. will have to wait until I get a few more miles on them.:D

The BFG's look great. The reports on the new SVT Raptor all have the same good reports on those tires. Also, most of the guys I work with have them on their trucks. The Goodyears however do have the severe snow rating(mountain and snowflake symbol) so I thought I would give them a try here in Michigan. What size did you put on? I already have the Wranglers but I am just curious.
 






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