You are unequivocally the best technical offroading channel on TH-cam at the moment - no one else even comes close to the level of detail, care, information and effort as you do - thank you so much for contributing so much to this awesome hobby!
Wheel size/offset/spacing (all of that) has been something I've struggled with for years of messing with different platforms. This cleared up so much confusion.
His explanations are easy to digest. He doesn’t just state something and leave you wondering why. He gives you the why and makes it easy to understand.
As an off-road suspension specialist this is best explanation ever ! And sometimes it’s hard to get customers new to the off-road world to understand this ! Awesome vid
Very few people on the internet these days produce correct information on tire size, suspension, etc. and so I can't tell you how refreshing it is to watch your videos. I wish more people would watch them. I got in an argument with a friend recently about the low backspace wheels on his jeep tj (3.5in) and how they were the reason the tire was rubbing the back of the wheel well when fully turned. He insisted that the wheel wells were poorly designed by jeep engineers and that they purposely made them too small to restrict owners from putting larger tires on.
People always think that manufacturers and product designers are intentionally doing things to screw over the customer. I work in manufacturing. We don’t. And in a related sense, yes “planned obsolescence” does occasionally happen for some products, but that term is way overused. Most things that people call planned obsolescence is just price point value engineering. We have to compete with other cheap products on the market. We can’t be cheaper and make something that lasts for 15 years, nor does our research say that most customers need a product that last for 30 years in most categories (and as someone that cares about sustainability, this guts me.) What people say they care about- long life and the absolute best quality, is consistently undercut by how they actually spend their money when it comes time to make a purchase.
I fell for the “you need UCA to run bigger tires” I used to run 265-70-17 on factory uca. Now with jba, I do rub. I was telling everyone that they do not help, and everyone was saying I was wrong. Thank you for making great videos.
You are 100% on the money. I put BFG 275’s on my stock 2020 TRD Off Road 4Runner with absolutely zero clearance problems… On the “factory wheels”. Keep up the great work & myth busting 😊
I have 275 on black rhino wheels. My previous owner put it with -ve offset (not sure how much, I just see a spacer). When I replaced my bumper due to a crash, the tire started rubbing. I had to scrape some of it off by an inch or 2.
Mate I love your's engineering approach in contrary to slapping all the available gear. And you present the information in a very informative and factual yet interesting way. Keep on doing great job!
Holy smokes did you do an amazing job at explaining things. As an engineer I knew there was more to it than just cutting. Your explanation plus video clips put it altogether in an easy to digest package. Subscribed!!
Love the big tire & fender spacing breakdown. Wish I have this vid back in 2005 when I start modding my Tacoma for accommodating 37” BFG with 2.5” lift, flattened pinch weld, hammered in footwell, body mounts relocated, cut out fenders, mud-flaps removed, etc. has been fun! But your vid bring back memory😃
Another great vid as always! Articulation over lift has always been my main focus on my Trooper, especially being top heavy w/ a large RTT. That's why I'm going w/ a 255/85 on my stock 16" wheels. I gain ground clearance with no fitment issues, plus the "skinnier" tire shouldn't stress my drivetrain as much as a 285/75 tire.
Thats what i did for my first gen tundra and I love it. 33s which is perfect for my needs, gives me more clearance and not as much added weight. I seriously love 255s
I'm also going pizza cutters when I go to 33s on my 98 4Runner I also run only moderate lift (1.75") in the front so I can retain plenty of down travel.
I think about a year into off roading I started questioning doing "all the lift". and certainly in the last 6 months I eventually had enough pucker moments to accept hitting the armor in tradeoff for lower COG and better travel so I am less likely to roll on the super sketch stuff. especially since there are so many 4x4s that only have like 4-5in travel stock.
@@christopherwilson9140 There's also the reduced wear on front end components factor. Extreme lift comes with extreme wear to basically everything that moves on the front end of an IFS. The only reason to go for that stuff is for the mall crawler status, it doesn't help offroad. And like you said just let the armor take some hits, if you have good aftermarket armor that's what it was made to do. If you really need more clearance you really should be doing long travel and unless you are doing really hard crawling then chances are you can get away without that very easily. Just 1.75" of lift gives me like 8.5-9" on my engine skid which is gravy as long as I choose lines properly.
I run 255/80r17 on my 2nd gen Tacoma with just a basic 2” lift and some OEM 4Runner wheels and have no rubbing whatsoever. Perfect tire size for IFS Toyotas! 255/75r17 is probably even better since it is significantly lighter and doesn’t necessitate a regear like the 255/80r17 does on my 4cyl Tacoma.
This is extremely well done and very much accurate across many platforms. Even Jeep. Wheel offset is critical along with your alignment settings. It’s common place to add more mods which all work together to hinder performance that you are after where less can be more in the end if you know what you are doing
Three people just agreed with your conclusion... first had an engineering degree, second was older and wiser and would think things through and the third was poor ....Nice video
I am so glad that you make these videos! When I bought my Tacoma, i looked to popular internet forums for information, and quickly found myself questioning the recommendations as they didn't line up with my measurements and understanding of the suspension components. For my truck, I have tried to optimize performance by installing a Bilstein 6112/5160 because found that I needed the additional fluid capacity to mitigate high temps. I then installed the shocks with only 1' of lift so that I would ride in the middle of the zone, while adding both up and down travel. I maintained the factory UCAs and eliminated the sway bar. This keeps me very close to the original design intent. If i choose to run a bigger tire in the future, it will be a 255/85/16, which i believe is the better width for the stock TRD OR wheels. I can't tell you how many people that i have had to explain scrub radius to and how many people think that a lift solves clearance issues. I have recommended your channel to the masses on the popular forums. Great job and keep setting the record straight with engineering principals.
As a person with an understanding of suspension and alignment from the tech side, you did a great job explaining and giving visuals that the layman will be able to understand!
Got 32 inch tyre installed on my N70 2014 model. No need a body chop. Just push the castor a bit forward like what he said in the end and no need body chop. I don’t have to control the upper control arm. Thank you this is very helpful.❤️❤️
This video blew my mind. So many videos and information about lifting Lexus GX 460s in this video is all about engineering and working with the limits. I thought about raising my GX with the suspension kit., I’m just going with 275/65/18 with no lift. Very good educational and subscribing to the channel after one video. Amazing content, thank you!!🎉🎉
Absolute legend. Most youtubers in Australia just slap on 4 inch lift and long ass bumpstop so their tyres stick out of their car to fit 35". And because of these excessive lift their car are no longer road legal and needs to spend more to get an engineer to certify their car. Probably spend as much money modifying it than buying it.
You deserve way more subs, keep doing your thing. I can’t think of any Toyota truck focused TH-camr who takes a true in-depth engineering approach to their videos. Also high five for a another PA dude, I swear I seen your FJ around.
I wish I had your videos when starting to mod my Toyota way back when, I would have saved a lot of money 😂 Thanks again for another great video dispelling all the bad internet advice!
Geeked out so hard! Hat tip to such a well done video that covers concepts that will break bro trucks minds. Kudos as the community will greatly benefit from this, laid out in an easy to understand fashion.
Best video I've seen on ifs period, Toyota or otherwise, thank you. Looking at your example early in the video you had a TRD wheel which has a positive 4 offset, non TRD is 14 or so I think. So with the x/2, a TRD wheel over stock that is around 10mm, then a 285 tire vs 265 is another 10mm in width that acts like offset so 20mm total or 10mm from clearance. Stock tires are 31.5 to 32 depending on brand, so going 33 is 1inch more or about 13mm less clearance, so we are up to about 23mm or round up to a full inch with about .5inch to spare if the mud flap is removed...based on the FJ example at the end since they had the stock wheels and not trd
I've also noticed there are a number of 35x11.5R17's out now. Toyo, Nitto, and Falken have them. This is what I am going to do on my F150 even though it does clear the current 315/70's.
Nice video. Biggest thing I learned was the tire pivoting around the steering axis (now it makes sense why negative offset increases rubbing). And hadn’t heard about “casual fallacy” since my philosophy class in college!
Very good video indeed - myth busting as well. To summarize, in you opinion, what would be the optimum wheel offset for a 285/70/17 with under 2" lift on and FJ? 😮
I'm really liking your stuff. So much of the information on the interwebs about off-road vehicles is "Bro-Science" (e.g., wider tire = bigger contact patch). Given tires are such a poorly misunderstood aspect of all wheeled sports (don't get me started on picking tires for my next XC MTB race), may I suggest an engineering/evidenced based series on all aspects of tires.
Excellent video! I wish more people would see the benefits of narrower tires and create enough demand to get more manufacturers to offer tall and narrow tires. It seems they're still much more common in most of the rest of the world, but too many Americans are all about form over function.
Great video like always, thanks again for spreading some much needed knowledge. I was lucky to have someone help me adjust everything properly from day one. I had 33s with stock suspension and wheels 10 years ago. When I finally lifted it recently, was able to get close to 2.5 lift without a BMC.
I learned so much watching your video from a Honda "light truck" owner perspective! I have a Passport wanting 32 inch tires, and so much of what you cover is what JonDZ describes in his Passport/Ridgeline/Pilot tire video...but so much more detail! He now runs 33 inch tires on his rig (with lots of modification), but I'll stick to 30.5 inch tires and will leave the bigger tires to you Yota folk...for now!
I frequent those places you're talking about where everyone says it's hard to fit 33's to an FJ, but everyone that had trouble had upgraded suspension. I did the measurements myself and found no reason they shouldn't fit. Factory suspension, slipped right in. No need to adjust at all. I do get the occasional instant of scrub at full compression on the track but I've never lost any rubber and there's no marks from it. If I'd gone with the offsets that were recommended on the forums, I'd have bought rims that would fit their suspension and would have scrubbed on mine.
I own a GX 460. I fit 275/70r18 tires on my factory wheels without any lift. Beside rubbing plastic, I was rubbing UCA. So I threw some 1.25” wheels spacers on and instantly started rubbing body mount. So naturally I did a BMC and hammered the pinch weld flat. I then successfully cleared 33s with no lift. I did add a leveling kit for fun. Certain obstacles were easier though with more ground clearance.
You are correct as far as the tire is running on level ground and of same consistency .. Do uou 1:53 get that off road … I wonder why the side walls of off road ties have lugs
Complete guide on bigger wheels for IFS for dummies right here in this video. Thanks mate! A week of research wouldn’t have matched up to the experience and knowledge shared here. Lots of confusions and misconceptions got cleared watching your video. Subscribed !
Finally a youtube video i can learn something from. Most of this is intuitive for me because i understand the effects of, castor, backspacing, kingpin angles, ect Youve earned a new subscriber
I'm an old Landcruiser guy...Fairly new to toyota IFS...Kai has taught me alot as I build my 2020 TRD OR..Being a mechanical engineer he really knows his stuff..I'm doing a 3 inch lift with zero offset wheels and 33 inch tires..
I love finally hearing someone else actually look at the geometry of the problem. I'm convinced I could fit 34s (the baja boss 255/85/17) with the stock wheels and minimal work on my 4runner. Hopefully I'll have the cash to figure that out soon!
I have those exact tires installed on a Hilux, which has very similar IFS. Be aware that the Baja Bosses measure closer to 35" than the nominal 34.1". That said, clearing them required a change in offset from the stock +30 to +5, a body mount chop, maxing positive caster, and cutting out the inside of the front bumper. A bit of work, but now completely clear with no lift. When the suspension compressed and some steering angle there's minor rubbing, but not much and only with the plastic inner liner. Good luck on your build!
@Shootin' Bruin that'd great info! I may still try to go this route, but a bolt in the road said I had to get new tires sooner than I had anticipated lol. To reduce the risk of adding more cost with modifications, I think I'm going to go one step down with a set of 255/80r17s. The nittos and the wildpeak rts both supposedly measure 33.3, I'm hoping I get get away with less for now. Still taller than the 285/70r17s most people get!
@@quinkelley1134 Glad you find it useful! Going one step down should help reduce the required clearance work significantly. Pizza cutters should really be more popular!
Thank you for these videos! I'm happy to see/ hear you talk a little about spacers. Would love to see more regarding their use, good or bad. I love your videos and use them when planning upgrades to my Tacoma.
Depends on your use. You go offroad and fully compress the suspension whilst turning at speed? I drive on the sand with a prado 150....275/65 rubbed on the inside. 10/10 prado 150 vehicles (4runner, fj, prado, gx) get rubbing with 285/70 R17's. I know several shop owners and am regularly in the shop myself. All of them, and I truly mean all, have visible rub marks in the wheel well. It's amazing that you don't with r18's, unless the wheeling you do is different.
The concepts suggested in this video still resulted in rubbing on the front wheels on the mud flaps and in front on the fender. Truck is bone stock 2008 4runner v8, wheels are 275/60r20 on 20x9 wheels, +19 offset.
Well done Kai.... well done. Im willing to bet, there are many that spent thousands, and gained nothing over my cheap, working lift, with proper offset. (285/70/17s)
I really enjoy your methodical and accurate technical description on every one of your videos.. Every Toyota owner needs to watch them, because event the not so mentally gifted can read through the picture book you present.. Great work again Kai!
Moral of the story : Be like Peter, don't be a Chad 😎 Awesome vid again my friend. I was referencing your channel in both of thr professional off-road courses I taught last week.
During our Geiser Bros Lexus LX570 Baja race SUV build, we ended up with 17" front/rear travel with 37" BFG KRT race tires. We had to do a little massaging here and there, like a 3" body lift but used stock upper / lower arms and stock oem steering box per SCORE rules.
Do you know any of the specifics of how you got that much travel with stock A-arms? Most long travel kits with 3 to 5 inch wider arms don't even get 15" travel. Was the spindle modified with a vertical uniball for the upper A-arm possibly? I'm looking into putting long travel on my 4runner so am very curious if what you claim is true. Thanks
On my 2008 4Runner I went with 2” lift front and rear, jba uppers, superpro offset lowers, and 265/70r17 on stock wheels. Clearance is great. I used to like big tires that stick out past the fenders and stuff the wheel wells, but as I’ve gotten older prefer more wheel travel and not slinging debris all over my vehicle. Not to mention going to a 285 would only give me 1/2” or so more ground clearance
A question. First guy to give me a full understanding of what is really going on. Very well done. It answers all the right questions. The shot of 12-15 adjust. Huge. Although no one talks about it. Spacers have been a thought. To get the 33s. I just replaced the shocks and struts. Springs. rubber Ect. Seems to be level at rest, ride is much smother. Alignment is good. There is still the FJ rake, need to level. It dips more when stopping. The old ones looked original. With the pitch and yaw gauge in f FJ's, I am able to actually see it. It changed by about five to 8 degrees forward pitch at stops. So in from the area of 10 degree's too as severe 16-17. Depending on speed Any suggestions? Thank you. 33" 255s anyone?
Absolutely fantastic video. I was able to use this info to fit Falken AT3W 33s, stock TRD wheels and Ironman UCAs on my '21 4runner without a BMC with no rubbing at full lock and compression...besides moving the fender liner forward a few inches. Tha k you putting this together.
Love this info!! Quality vid as always. I've been saying this for years in the Jeep IFS community because everyone thinks to fit 33" tyres on the WK/XK platform you need UCAs, 4" lift minimum (plus pinch weld mod), and -12 offset rims (stock are ~+44). Whereas I made measurements cycling the susp and figured I could fit 33x12.5R17 with o offset offset wheel (needed to clear upper BJ) on a 1" lift and pinch weld mod (and carefully trim the wheel arch plastics, but still retain the inner fenders). I ran that setup on and offroad for a year before upgrading to heavier duty susp for increased load and towing which netted an increase in susp lift but no change to tyre clearance like you say. Scrub radius is a very important thing to consider!
Currently sizing tires for my GX that I just bought wheels for and did similar measurements for offset compensation to calculate my clearances to my fender liner. So for reference for others, my stock suspension dealer aligned GX clearance is as follows using a stock 265/60r18 baldish stock highway tire. With an 18x9 +20 wheel turned both ways I measured the tightest spot. On the backside of the fender closest to the notorious bolt gxs have I had 1" of clearance, and on the front I had 1.5" of clearance. Adding a 1.25" spacer effectively turning the wheel into 18x9 -12, the clearances are 1/4" now on the rear and 3/4 on the front. This confirms Kais measurement of 1.25" spacer, approximately reducing clearance by about 5/8ths of an inch to your front and rear fender liners. I may have missed it but one other key thing to note, is while increasing offset does decrease your clearances, it also changes ~where~ the tire may rub. Because you only get so much steer angle, there is a point where I noticed in my back to back testing on the ground, that the closest contact point body to tire, did change a fair bit inside to outside of the chassis. So in my usecase, a bit more offset actually helps past a certain point as I will be retaining factory fender liners and not going to a 33" tire, but to a 31.7" over the stock gx size. Wheel offset is all give and take. In a perfect world you run appropriate width tires for your needs, which is probably a lot skinnier then most people purchase. Gosh darn do wheels with big dish/concave faces and fat tires look good though haha. Ended up with a 17x8.5 -10 wheel, which is arguably gonna hurt my factory uncut clearances a lot, however I'll be fine for now with the next tire size up (LT265/70r17), some minor liner massaging and the rig will look great. I'll cut it apart and put fat tires on when its time to lift the GX when the airbags go. Till then going to enjoy the comfortable ride!
Thinking of doing the same thing! I have a 2018 GX460 (no air suspension). Would I be able to go 275/70/17 with 0 or -10 offset wheels? Or is 265/70/17 the best I can do with that offset? It seems a lot of the wheels I like are in that offset range (SCS Ray10s for example). I'm open to any offset though if it helps clearance
@@Crb1210 I'm gonna put a 265/70r17 on mine which is a 31.7" tire and I know I'm gonna need to heat and bend plastic fender liners and it's gonna be tighter on the front cab mounts but should clear. Unfortunately with these vehicles, you can't get greedy with tire size. Anyone TH-cam or Instagram with 33"+ tires is living with some compromises you may not wanna make. Body mount chops, hammering pinch welds and the firewall, cutting bumpers and side skirts, not running fender liners are all super common. For me, I'm not ready to hack apart my 2016. It's stock and still comfortable and until it gets a big lift where I can justify cutting body work and putting in big effort I would rather run a smaller tire for now. Mind you, I live where it's cold and frozen for half the year, there's lots of salt, sodium chloride and other horrible shit on the roads so the drawbacks of fucking up the wheel wells and big tires are much more then anyone in the desert where rust and such isn't an issue. Figure out how much effort you wanna put in the pick a tire size. Some guys have 35s with a big lift on their rig, but it's work and ain't cheap
@@KyleXSki Ah- damn. I may just stick with 265/70/R17 with some wheels that have maybe a +10 to -10 offset. I live in PA and they use tons of salt during the winter. I guess if I get wheels that aren't stock width of 7.5in, I should decrease offset? Lots are 17x8, 8.5, and 9in width wheels for me
Just got a bone stock 2008 GX 470. Do you think that I could go from factory wheel (+25 offset) to a wheel with 0mm offset and upgrading tires from 265/65r17 to 265/70r17 without rubbing?
with my 2016 hilux basically i did 4 inch lift on the front, i did upper control arms i got -12 rims on 286/70r17’s and i cut the inner wheel guard and bent back a bit if the metal behind it, i took a hammer to the body mount just barely dinting it inwards and now get no scrub at all
Great one Kai. OFFSET IS KEY So many misunderstandings within this scope I run a 315/70/17 with a +25 - TE37 on my Tundra. 5100 middle setting. Alignment is within spec. No BMC. Stock UCA - Parking lot princess.
Please include a table of contents in the video! For those who missed it: Knob #1: Wheel offset Knob #2: Long travel IFS Knob #3: Alignment Knob #4: Suspension lift
Great video! With a ‘23 GX460, you would recommend a low lift (1-2”) with Bilsteins perhaps, but then what would be the best/most functional wheel/tire combo to gain a larger tire but avoid body chop?
I just installed medium ironman foamcells with freedom offroad upper and lower arms on my fj. It's huge, i hope the springs settle in a little. 35s now look small
Love your videos, I love how you back up everything you say with facts and data with diagrams and physics. love it! After watching your other video about pizza cutters, 255/80-17, I made the decision to go that route and will also keep the factory wheels.
HI from Australia. 🇦🇺 As you were talking about IRS front suspension. There is one type of mod lift you forgot to mention. That's a upper ball Joint spacer. Thus lowering the upper ball Joint allowing several inches of suspension again out of the front suspension..
This video has been great litterally every day I see people running a 3” lift on 285 and they get told oh just do high caster uca and it will fix the rub so I send this to them
Great video!! I am really considering down lifting my Toyota FJ from my 2 inch lift back to factory specs, but fitting my 33 inch tire. It would be great if you make a video exactly how to shift forward the front tire
can you do a pizza cutter clearance comparison? I want to get 255/85r16's for my stock suspension tacoma, as I've heard they can fit with no rubbing but I'm hesitant to go for it
Seconded. (And just venting, I remain frustrated that there are still such limited options for tall “skinny” tires. I am over the fat wide and chunky mall crawlers.
@@SolarMillUSA update: I did it. I have 255/85 r16 falken wildpeak MT's on and I could not be happier. I rocked them on stock suspension with zero issues for about a month before I got my bilstein lift.
You are unequivocally the best technical offroading channel on TH-cam at the moment - no one else even comes close to the level of detail, care, information and effort as you do - thank you so much for contributing so much to this awesome hobby!
Wheel size/offset/spacing (all of that) has been something I've struggled with for years of messing with different platforms. This cleared up so much confusion.
The weird thing is that hes actually right unlike most other channels.
the algorithm should be boosting his channel. There should be way more subscribers.
not even kind of close
His explanations are easy to digest. He doesn’t just state something and leave you wondering why. He gives you the why and makes it easy to understand.
Mechanical engineer here. I enjoy seeing you cut through all the myths and guesses with correct theory and data.
As an off-road suspension specialist this is best explanation ever ! And sometimes it’s hard to get customers new to the off-road world to understand this ! Awesome vid
So am I understanding correctly that I can throw 285/70/17 on my stock FJ then?
@@let_freedom_ping Exactly. That's what Peter did. You can zoom in at @11:33 to see the size.
Very few people on the internet these days produce correct information on tire size, suspension, etc. and so I can't tell you how refreshing it is to watch your videos. I wish more people would watch them. I got in an argument with a friend recently about the low backspace wheels on his jeep tj (3.5in) and how they were the reason the tire was rubbing the back of the wheel well when fully turned. He insisted that the wheel wells were poorly designed by jeep engineers and that they purposely made them too small to restrict owners from putting larger tires on.
People always think that manufacturers and product designers are intentionally doing things to screw over the customer. I work in manufacturing. We don’t. And in a related sense, yes “planned obsolescence” does occasionally happen for some products, but that term is way overused. Most things that people call planned obsolescence is just price point value engineering. We have to compete with other cheap products on the market. We can’t be cheaper and make something that lasts for 15 years, nor does our research say that most customers need a product that last for 30 years in most categories (and as someone that cares about sustainability, this guts me.) What people say they care about- long life and the absolute best quality, is consistently undercut by how they actually spend their money when it comes time to make a purchase.
I fell for the “you need UCA to run bigger tires”
I used to run 265-70-17 on factory uca. Now with jba, I do rub. I was telling everyone that they do not help, and everyone was saying I was wrong.
Thank you for making great videos.
Once again, the quality of your information, presentation style, and production values are second to none. Absolutely top-notch content!
Im actually blown away by how technical yet easily digestable your information is... you deserve so many more subscribers!!!
You are 100% on the money. I put BFG 275’s on my stock 2020 TRD Off Road 4Runner with absolutely zero clearance problems… On the “factory wheels”. Keep up the great work & myth busting 😊
I have 275 on black rhino wheels. My previous owner put it with -ve offset (not sure how much, I just see a spacer). When I replaced my bumper due to a crash, the tire started rubbing. I had to scrape some of it off by an inch or 2.
first time posters on TacomaWorld have just been silenced by a single video!... although watching this would require research...nevermind. HaHa!!
We have the same problem on Australian Hilux servers, but if they can't use the search bar, they're not likely to watch a video either. lol
Hey sorry I'm new here and I'm looking to fit 54s on my Tacoma, can anyone tell me where I can buy 19" shock spacers? My budget is $6
@Dirk Mohrmann it's sad I took you seriously. I need to stay away from some forums lol
Not just first time posters. Long time members who are seen as knowledgeable as well.
All those chads
Mate I love your's engineering approach in contrary to slapping all the available gear. And you present the information in a very informative and factual yet interesting way. Keep on doing great job!
Holy smokes did you do an amazing job at explaining things. As an engineer I knew there was more to it than just cutting. Your explanation plus video clips put it altogether in an easy to digest package. Subscribed!!
Love the big tire & fender spacing breakdown. Wish I have this vid back in 2005 when I start modding my Tacoma for accommodating 37” BFG with 2.5” lift, flattened pinch weld, hammered in footwell, body mounts relocated, cut out fenders, mud-flaps removed, etc. has been fun! But your vid bring back memory😃
Another great vid as always! Articulation over lift has always been my main focus on my Trooper, especially being top heavy w/ a large RTT. That's why I'm going w/ a 255/85 on my stock 16" wheels. I gain ground clearance with no fitment issues, plus the "skinnier" tire shouldn't stress my drivetrain as much as a 285/75 tire.
Thats what i did for my first gen tundra and I love it. 33s which is perfect for my needs, gives me more clearance and not as much added weight. I seriously love 255s
I'm also going pizza cutters when I go to 33s on my 98 4Runner I also run only moderate lift (1.75") in the front so I can retain plenty of down travel.
I think about a year into off roading I started questioning doing "all the lift". and certainly in the last 6 months I eventually had enough pucker moments to accept hitting the armor in tradeoff for lower COG and better travel so I am less likely to roll on the super sketch stuff.
especially since there are so many 4x4s that only have like 4-5in travel stock.
@@christopherwilson9140 There's also the reduced wear on front end components factor. Extreme lift comes with extreme wear to basically everything that moves on the front end of an IFS. The only reason to go for that stuff is for the mall crawler status, it doesn't help offroad. And like you said just let the armor take some hits, if you have good aftermarket armor that's what it was made to do. If you really need more clearance you really should be doing long travel and unless you are doing really hard crawling then chances are you can get away without that very easily. Just 1.75" of lift gives me like 8.5-9" on my engine skid which is gravy as long as I choose lines properly.
I run 255/80r17 on my 2nd gen Tacoma with just a basic 2” lift and some OEM 4Runner wheels and have no rubbing whatsoever. Perfect tire size for IFS Toyotas! 255/75r17 is probably even better since it is significantly lighter and doesn’t necessitate a regear like the 255/80r17 does on my 4cyl Tacoma.
This is extremely well done and very much accurate across many platforms. Even Jeep. Wheel offset is critical along with your alignment settings. It’s common place to add more mods which all work together to hinder performance that you are after where less can be more in the end if you know what you are doing
Dude… THANK YOU! I have watched numerous videos on your channel and cannot begin to explain how informative your videos are. Incredible stuff!!!
Share almost every video to our local Yota club, thank you as always for the insight, science and mathematical approach.
Three people just agreed with your conclusion... first had an engineering degree, second was older and wiser and would think things through and the third was poor ....Nice video
I am so glad that you make these videos! When I bought my Tacoma, i looked to popular internet forums for information, and quickly found myself questioning the recommendations as they didn't line up with my measurements and understanding of the suspension components. For my truck, I have tried to optimize performance by installing a Bilstein 6112/5160 because found that I needed the additional fluid capacity to mitigate high temps. I then installed the shocks with only 1' of lift so that I would ride in the middle of the zone, while adding both up and down travel. I maintained the factory UCAs and eliminated the sway bar. This keeps me very close to the original design intent. If i choose to run a bigger tire in the future, it will be a 255/85/16, which i believe is the better width for the stock TRD OR wheels. I can't tell you how many people that i have had to explain scrub radius to and how many people think that a lift solves clearance issues. I have recommended your channel to the masses on the popular forums. Great job and keep setting the record straight with engineering principals.
As a person with an understanding of suspension and alignment from the tech side, you did a great job explaining and giving visuals that the layman will be able to understand!
Got 32 inch tyre installed on my N70 2014 model. No need a body chop. Just push the castor a bit forward like what he said in the end and no need body chop. I don’t have to control the upper control arm. Thank you this is very helpful.❤️❤️
This video blew my mind. So many videos and information about lifting Lexus GX 460s in this video is all about engineering and working with the limits. I thought about raising my GX with the suspension kit., I’m just going with 275/65/18 with no lift. Very good educational and subscribing to the channel after one video. Amazing content, thank you!!🎉🎉
This was best video to explain how offset, lift, caster is affected. Thank you so much!
GX470 owner here! This video is freaking amazing! Thank you so much for you research and knowledge!
Best Logical Description of IFS tire/offset ramifications I have seen yet. Great job!
Absolute legend. Most youtubers in Australia just slap on 4 inch lift and long ass bumpstop so their tyres stick out of their car to fit 35". And because of these excessive lift their car are no longer road legal and needs to spend more to get an engineer to certify their car. Probably spend as much money modifying it than buying it.
very nice vid. you forgot my knob where i need big tires and big lift to offset my small pp
You deserve way more subs, keep doing your thing. I can’t think of any Toyota truck focused TH-camr who takes a true in-depth engineering approach to their videos. Also high five for a another PA dude, I swear I seen your FJ around.
I wish I had your videos when starting to mod my Toyota way back when, I would have saved a lot of money 😂 Thanks again for another great video dispelling all the bad internet advice!
Geeked out so hard! Hat tip to such a well done video that covers concepts that will break bro trucks minds. Kudos as the community will greatly benefit from this, laid out in an easy to understand fashion.
Best video I've seen on ifs period, Toyota or otherwise, thank you.
Looking at your example early in the video you had a TRD wheel which has a positive 4 offset, non TRD is 14 or so I think. So with the x/2, a TRD wheel over stock that is around 10mm, then a 285 tire vs 265 is another 10mm in width that acts like offset so 20mm total or 10mm from clearance. Stock tires are 31.5 to 32 depending on brand, so going 33 is 1inch more or about 13mm less clearance, so we are up to about 23mm or round up to a full inch with about .5inch to spare if the mud flap is removed...based on the FJ example at the end since they had the stock wheels and not trd
Fantastic video as always! If I go up to 35" tires on my 3rd gen 4runner i'll be going with skinny 10.5" ones. Not the normal 12.5" wide.
Kenda Klever 35x10.5r17. Under $1000 a set.
@@blairrad1785 Yep those are the ones i'll be going with.
I've also noticed there are a number of 35x11.5R17's out now. Toyo, Nitto, and Falken have them. This is what I am going to do on my F150 even though it does clear the current 315/70's.
@@blairrad1785 my plan
Nice video. Biggest thing I learned was the tire pivoting around the steering axis (now it makes sense why negative offset increases rubbing). And hadn’t heard about “casual fallacy” since my philosophy class in college!
Hands down the best video on youtube about fitting tires on your Toyota.
Very good video indeed - myth busting as well. To summarize, in you opinion, what would be the optimum wheel offset for a 285/70/17 with under 2" lift on and FJ? 😮
I'm really liking your stuff. So much of the information on the interwebs about off-road vehicles is "Bro-Science" (e.g., wider tire = bigger contact patch). Given tires are such a poorly misunderstood aspect of all wheeled sports (don't get me started on picking tires for my next XC MTB race), may I suggest an engineering/evidenced based series on all aspects of tires.
Thanks! Yes, I do plan to make that video on narrow vs wide tire. Stay tuned!
Im so excited i accidentally did this right. Gx470 skinny 33s bilstein 5100s and front sway delete. Thank You for all you do!
Absolutely amazing!! This is undoubtedly the best channel on TH-cam
Thank you for researching and sharing your knowledge with the world. The world appreciates you!
Excellent video! I wish more people would see the benefits of narrower tires and create enough demand to get more manufacturers to offer tall and narrow tires. It seems they're still much more common in most of the rest of the world, but too many Americans are all about form over function.
Great video like always, thanks again for spreading some much needed knowledge.
I was lucky to have someone help me adjust everything properly from day one. I had 33s with stock suspension and wheels 10 years ago. When I finally lifted it recently, was able to get close to 2.5 lift without a BMC.
What vehicle do you have? FJ Cruisers can generally fit 285/70R17 quite readily on the stock setup but the Prados make it a bit more difficult.
I learned so much watching your video from a Honda "light truck" owner perspective! I have a Passport wanting 32 inch tires, and so much of what you cover is what JonDZ describes in his Passport/Ridgeline/Pilot tire video...but so much more detail! He now runs 33 inch tires on his rig (with lots of modification), but I'll stick to 30.5 inch tires and will leave the bigger tires to you Yota folk...for now!
I frequent those places you're talking about where everyone says it's hard to fit 33's to an FJ, but everyone that had trouble had upgraded suspension.
I did the measurements myself and found no reason they shouldn't fit. Factory suspension, slipped right in. No need to adjust at all.
I do get the occasional instant of scrub at full compression on the track but I've never lost any rubber and there's no marks from it.
If I'd gone with the offsets that were recommended on the forums, I'd have bought rims that would fit their suspension and would have scrubbed on mine.
I own a GX 460. I fit 275/70r18 tires on my factory wheels without any lift. Beside rubbing plastic, I was rubbing UCA. So I threw some 1.25” wheels spacers on and instantly started rubbing body mount. So naturally I did a BMC and hammered the pinch weld flat. I then successfully cleared 33s with no lift. I did add a leveling kit for fun. Certain obstacles were easier though with more ground clearance.
This is golden information, sir. Thank you.
Your vids are so well done, and the narration is stellar
You are correct as far as the tire is running on level ground and of same consistency .. Do uou 1:53 get that off road … I wonder why the side walls of off road ties have lugs
Complete guide on bigger wheels for IFS for dummies right here in this video. Thanks mate! A week of research wouldn’t have matched up to the experience and knowledge shared here. Lots of confusions and misconceptions got cleared watching your video. Subscribed !
Finally a youtube video i can learn something from. Most of this is intuitive for me because i understand the effects of, castor, backspacing, kingpin angles, ect
Youve earned a new subscriber
I'm an old Landcruiser guy...Fairly new to toyota IFS...Kai has taught me alot as I build my 2020 TRD OR..Being a mechanical engineer he really knows his stuff..I'm doing a 3 inch lift with zero offset wheels and 33 inch tires..
Best Toyota guy on TH-cam.
I love finally hearing someone else actually look at the geometry of the problem. I'm convinced I could fit 34s (the baja boss 255/85/17) with the stock wheels and minimal work on my 4runner. Hopefully I'll have the cash to figure that out soon!
Let me know how it goes! That would be a sleeper
255/85/17 best size for IFS Toyota. Happy trimming 😀👍
I have those exact tires installed on a Hilux, which has very similar IFS. Be aware that the Baja Bosses measure closer to 35" than the nominal 34.1".
That said, clearing them required a change in offset from the stock +30 to +5, a body mount chop, maxing positive caster, and cutting out the inside of the front bumper. A bit of work, but now completely clear with no lift. When the suspension compressed and some steering angle there's minor rubbing, but not much and only with the plastic inner liner.
Good luck on your build!
@Shootin' Bruin that'd great info! I may still try to go this route, but a bolt in the road said I had to get new tires sooner than I had anticipated lol. To reduce the risk of adding more cost with modifications, I think I'm going to go one step down with a set of 255/80r17s. The nittos and the wildpeak rts both supposedly measure 33.3, I'm hoping I get get away with less for now. Still taller than the 285/70r17s most people get!
@@quinkelley1134 Glad you find it useful! Going one step down should help reduce the required clearance work significantly. Pizza cutters should really be more popular!
Wow. Someone who knows what they are talking about and can explain it clearly.
best offroad content on youtube
The trap with the 150 prado in Australia is the +25 offset from the oem rim, a 285/70r17 will rub on the oem UCA.
Thank you for these videos! I'm happy to see/ hear you talk a little about spacers. Would love to see more regarding their use, good or bad. I love your videos and use them when planning upgrades to my Tacoma.
Great video and explanation of what going on with your suspension when trying to go bigger tyres
Could you do a video on how you would actually fit a 33-inch tire on a 4Runner with no rub or cutting?
Go with pizza cutters. 255/85/17
I have a Prado 120 series with 2” lift and 285 70 R18 had no cutting to do u are extremely correct
Depends on your use. You go offroad and fully compress the suspension whilst turning at speed?
I drive on the sand with a prado 150....275/65 rubbed on the inside. 10/10 prado 150 vehicles (4runner, fj, prado, gx) get rubbing with 285/70 R17's. I know several shop owners and am regularly in the shop myself. All of them, and I truly mean all, have visible rub marks in the wheel well. It's amazing that you don't with r18's, unless the wheeling you do is different.
Every video ive watched from you has no music. I love it!
The concepts suggested in this video still resulted in rubbing on the front wheels on the mud flaps and in front on the fender. Truck is bone stock 2008 4runner v8, wheels are 275/60r20 on 20x9 wheels, +19 offset.
Dude your channel is the best because you have statistics in it and keep it interesting
Well done Kai.... well done. Im willing to bet, there are many that spent thousands, and gained nothing over my cheap, working lift, with proper offset. (285/70/17s)
I really enjoy your methodical and accurate technical description on every one of your videos.. Every Toyota owner needs to watch them, because event the not so mentally gifted can read through the picture book you present.. Great work again Kai!
Moral of the story : Be like Peter, don't be a Chad 😎
Awesome vid again my friend. I was referencing your channel in both of thr professional off-road courses I taught last week.
Tinkerer's Adventure provides the best suspension tech on youtube for Toyota IFS. THANK YOU for sharing this info!
During our Geiser Bros Lexus LX570 Baja race SUV build, we ended up with 17" front/rear travel with 37" BFG KRT race tires. We had to do a little massaging here and there, like a 3" body lift but used stock upper / lower arms and stock oem steering box per SCORE rules.
Do you know any of the specifics of how you got that much travel with stock A-arms? Most long travel kits with 3 to 5 inch wider arms don't even get 15" travel. Was the spindle modified with a vertical uniball for the upper A-arm possibly? I'm looking into putting long travel on my 4runner so am very curious if what you claim is true. Thanks
Excellent video! One modification I regret on my 4Runner build is going with a -12 offset wheel, definitely should have went with a 0 offset.
I own a jeep commander diesel in Greece and I learn stuff from a Toyota IFS pro in the US😂. Gotta love youtube. Keep up the great informative videos!!
Just found your channel, and I will be watching many more of your content!!!
Excellently explained!!!
I have a 2’ dobinson lift on my 5th gen 4R. Nice to know I can still keep the stock wheels when I move to 285’s.
Keep up the good work kai, I always show your videos to the ones new to IFS. Thanks for the dedication to the community.
On my 2008 4Runner I went with 2” lift front and rear, jba uppers, superpro offset lowers, and 265/70r17 on stock wheels. Clearance is great.
I used to like big tires that stick out past the fenders and stuff the wheel wells, but as I’ve gotten older prefer more wheel travel and not slinging debris all over my vehicle. Not to mention going to a 285 would only give me 1/2” or so more ground clearance
A question. First guy to give me a full understanding of what is really going on. Very well done. It answers all the right questions. The shot of 12-15 adjust. Huge. Although no one talks about it. Spacers have been a thought. To get the 33s. I just replaced the shocks and struts. Springs. rubber Ect. Seems to be level at rest, ride is much smother. Alignment is good. There is still the FJ rake, need to level. It dips more when stopping. The old ones looked original. With the pitch and yaw gauge in f FJ's, I am able to actually see it. It changed by about five to 8 degrees forward pitch at stops. So in from the area of 10 degree's too as severe 16-17. Depending on speed Any suggestions? Thank you. 33" 255s anyone?
Absolutely fantastic video. I was able to use this info to fit Falken AT3W 33s, stock TRD wheels and Ironman UCAs on my '21 4runner without a BMC with no rubbing at full lock and compression...besides moving the fender liner forward a few inches. Tha k you putting this together.
Love this info!! Quality vid as always.
I've been saying this for years in the Jeep IFS community because everyone thinks to fit 33" tyres on the WK/XK platform you need UCAs, 4" lift minimum (plus pinch weld mod), and -12 offset rims (stock are ~+44). Whereas I made measurements cycling the susp and figured I could fit 33x12.5R17 with o offset offset wheel (needed to clear upper BJ) on a 1" lift and pinch weld mod (and carefully trim the wheel arch plastics, but still retain the inner fenders). I ran that setup on and offroad for a year before upgrading to heavier duty susp for increased load and towing which netted an increase in susp lift but no change to tyre clearance like you say.
Scrub radius is a very important thing to consider!
Excellent information and presented in an easy to understand format. You have yourself a new subscriber.
Currently sizing tires for my GX that I just bought wheels for and did similar measurements for offset compensation to calculate my clearances to my fender liner.
So for reference for others, my stock suspension dealer aligned GX clearance is as follows using a stock 265/60r18 baldish stock highway tire.
With an 18x9 +20 wheel turned both ways I measured the tightest spot. On the backside of the fender closest to the notorious bolt gxs have I had 1" of clearance, and on the front I had 1.5" of clearance.
Adding a 1.25" spacer effectively turning the wheel into 18x9 -12, the clearances are 1/4" now on the rear and 3/4 on the front. This confirms Kais measurement of 1.25" spacer, approximately reducing clearance by about 5/8ths of an inch to your front and rear fender liners.
I may have missed it but one other key thing to note, is while increasing offset does decrease your clearances, it also changes ~where~ the tire may rub. Because you only get so much steer angle, there is a point where I noticed in my back to back testing on the ground, that the closest contact point body to tire, did change a fair bit inside to outside of the chassis. So in my usecase, a bit more offset actually helps past a certain point as I will be retaining factory fender liners and not going to a 33" tire, but to a 31.7" over the stock gx size.
Wheel offset is all give and take. In a perfect world you run appropriate width tires for your needs, which is probably a lot skinnier then most people purchase. Gosh darn do wheels with big dish/concave faces and fat tires look good though haha.
Ended up with a 17x8.5 -10 wheel, which is arguably gonna hurt my factory uncut clearances a lot, however I'll be fine for now with the next tire size up (LT265/70r17), some minor liner massaging and the rig will look great. I'll cut it apart and put fat tires on when its time to lift the GX when the airbags go. Till then going to enjoy the comfortable ride!
Thinking of doing the same thing! I have a 2018 GX460 (no air suspension). Would I be able to go 275/70/17 with 0 or -10 offset wheels? Or is 265/70/17 the best I can do with that offset? It seems a lot of the wheels I like are in that offset range (SCS Ray10s for example). I'm open to any offset though if it helps clearance
@@Crb1210 I'm gonna put a 265/70r17 on mine which is a 31.7" tire and I know I'm gonna need to heat and bend plastic fender liners and it's gonna be tighter on the front cab mounts but should clear. Unfortunately with these vehicles, you can't get greedy with tire size. Anyone TH-cam or Instagram with 33"+ tires is living with some compromises you may not wanna make.
Body mount chops, hammering pinch welds and the firewall, cutting bumpers and side skirts, not running fender liners are all super common.
For me, I'm not ready to hack apart my 2016. It's stock and still comfortable and until it gets a big lift where I can justify cutting body work and putting in big effort I would rather run a smaller tire for now.
Mind you, I live where it's cold and frozen for half the year, there's lots of salt, sodium chloride and other horrible shit on the roads so the drawbacks of fucking up the wheel wells and big tires are much more then anyone in the desert where rust and such isn't an issue.
Figure out how much effort you wanna put in the pick a tire size. Some guys have 35s with a big lift on their rig, but it's work and ain't cheap
@@Crb1210 like this video has mentioned, if you do want rolling diameter, you can do a 255 and get a 33" tire under a GX but on a trd 4runner wheel.
@@KyleXSki Ah- damn. I may just stick with 265/70/R17 with some wheels that have maybe a +10 to -10 offset. I live in PA and they use tons of salt during the winter. I guess if I get wheels that aren't stock width of 7.5in, I should decrease offset? Lots are 17x8, 8.5, and 9in width wheels for me
Just got a bone stock 2008 GX 470. Do you think that I could go from factory wheel (+25 offset) to a wheel with 0mm offset and upgrading tires from 265/65r17 to 265/70r17 without rubbing?
Spectacular video. Answered so many questions I had regarding 'Taco lifting. Appreciate this information.
with my 2016 hilux basically i did 4 inch lift on the front, i did upper control arms i got -12 rims on 286/70r17’s and i cut the inner wheel guard and bent back a bit if the metal behind it, i took a hammer to the body mount just barely dinting it inwards and now get no scrub at all
Well done, it's the explanation everyone needed but didn't want to hear
Your information is so useful for the off-road community in general. I don’t even own a Toyota lol. Great content.
Very good video…I had to do a little more bmc when I added the 1.5” spacers with the 305/70 R17
Great one Kai. OFFSET IS KEY
So many misunderstandings within this scope
I run a 315/70/17 with a +25 - TE37 on my Tundra. 5100 middle setting. Alignment is within spec.
No BMC. Stock UCA - Parking lot princess.
Please include a table of contents in the video! For those who missed it:
Knob #1: Wheel offset
Knob #2: Long travel IFS
Knob #3: Alignment
Knob #4: Suspension lift
Real knob #4: Bump stops
@@Baby.OffRoad Bump stops are the ultimate knob. Can't get rubbing under compression if your suspension can't compress 🤣
Hands down the best video on tires and lifts out there.
Been running 285/75r16 at3ws for 3 years now, same set, no rubbing still have mudflaps 😜🤘 Stock offset wheel no lift is the way to go LCG 🤘🇨🇦
So I can run that size on my 23 sr 4x4 with no lift? Trd off-road rims
@@billcole9799 TRD offroad rims(+4mm) have a different offset to your stock SR5 rims (+15mm)
Sir, you just persuaded me not to lift my Tacoma and Sequoia. Thank you for saving me Money. 😊
Great video! With a ‘23 GX460, you would recommend a low lift (1-2”) with Bilsteins perhaps, but then what would be the best/most functional wheel/tire combo to gain a larger tire but avoid body chop?
Love your content, you’re like Fortnine for trucks. Wish you would get into Nissans because the frontier guys need more quality content like this!
I just installed medium ironman foamcells with freedom offroad upper and lower arms on my fj. It's huge, i hope the springs settle in a little. 35s now look small
Love your videos, I love how you back up everything you say with facts and data with diagrams and physics. love it! After watching your other video about pizza cutters, 255/80-17, I made the decision to go that route and will also keep the factory wheels.
You gained a subscriber. I have been scouring the internet for info like this. 1 video trumps all the info I’ve gotten from reading online
Awesome info as usual. I knew from research about wheel offset affecting clearance but didnt fully understand why. Thank you sir 🫡
You videos are simply excellent. I don’t even own a Toyota but my Bronco has IFS so I still learn a lot.
HI from Australia. 🇦🇺
As you were talking about IRS front suspension. There is one type of mod lift you forgot to mention.
That's a upper ball Joint spacer. Thus lowering the upper ball Joint allowing several inches of suspension again out of the front suspension..
This video has been great litterally every day I see people running a 3” lift on 285 and they get told oh just do high caster uca and it will fix the rub so I send this to them
Explains why I’m not rubbing at all going from lock to lock. 285 16 75 with 2 inch bilstlieen 5100. Glad I didn’t go crazy with lift or tires
You. Are. The. MAN. thank you so much for your videos and your reasoned approach!
Great video!! I am really considering down lifting my Toyota FJ from my 2 inch lift back to factory specs, but fitting my 33 inch tire. It would be great if you make a video exactly how to shift forward the front tire
Up
can you do a pizza cutter clearance comparison? I want to get 255/85r16's for my stock suspension tacoma, as I've heard they can fit with no rubbing but I'm hesitant to go for it
Seconded. (And just venting, I remain frustrated that there are still such limited options for tall “skinny” tires. I am over the fat wide and chunky mall crawlers.
@@SolarMillUSA update: I did it. I have 255/85 r16 falken wildpeak MT's on and I could not be happier. I rocked them on stock suspension with zero issues for about a month before I got my bilstein lift.
@@ericrdutton thank you for the update! That is so rare on the internet. Based on your rec I think I might go with the exact same setup you did.