To do or not to do??? Staggered....

2010LTZ4x4 · January 24, 2018

I know this is the wrong place for this topic, but here there is a lot more traffic. I need opinion on a staggered tire setup I'm hoping to run on my truck. I finally need new rubber and I was hoping to run 305/50/20 on the rear and the stock size of 275/55/20 on the front. There pretty much the same diameter. 31.9" vs 32" tall. What does everyone think of this setup? Good or bad?? Trucks a 2010 silverado 4x4 with auto 4wd option. Rims are 20 x 8.5". This is strictly a summer setup which the truck is in 2wd mainly unless it's raining. My concern if any would be transfer case.

Imcrazy · January 24, 2018

I think you won't be able to properly rotate your tires and that would be a show stopper for me... What is the upside to getting two different sized tires?

The Zip · January 24, 2018

Do it only if you jack up the back, put a Rat Fink on the roof with a big stick, and get a huge blower engine to stick out the hood. I think it will look pretty cool, functional is another issue.

Grumpy Bear · January 24, 2018

Were is the love boyz. It isn't that odd. Down right popular at one time.

2010LTZ4x4 · January 24, 2018

7 hours ago, Imcrazy said:

I think you won't be able to properly rotate your tires and that would be a show stopper for me... What is the upside to getting two different sized tires?

I agree I won't be able to rotate the tires the way I should, but I like the look of the wider tire out back to fill out the wheel well. The 275 up front still allows me to turn without rubbing. My main concern is the transfer case, is the small difference in tire height going to do any damage?

6 hours ago, The Zip said:

Do it only if you jack up the back, put a Rat Fink on the roof with a big stick, and get a huge blower engine to stick out the hood. I think it will look pretty cool, functional is another issue.

That's been done already. LoL

5 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Were is the love boyz. It isn't that odd. Down right popular at one time.

It still is in the hotrod world. Not so much in the newer cars and street trucks.

KARNUT · January 24, 2018

Do it only if you jack up the back, put a Rat Fink on the roof with a big stick, and get a huge blower engine to stick out the hood. I think it will look pretty cool, functional is another issue.

I guess you don’t follow the performance cars of all makes. Most run bigger tires in the back from the factory. Some even set higher in the back. Back in the day we didn’t worry about rotation, Micky Tomson or cheaters slicks were useless on the fronts.

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CMoore711 · January 25, 2018

From my experience your front to back tire diameter difference of .1” (31.9” to 32”) shouldn’t cause any problems with the transfer case. Usually if you get closer to wheel tire combos that are .30”-.50”+ difference front to back then you’ll start to see problems with traction control systems acting up thinking there’s wheel spin due to the varied wheel rotation speed from the different diameters. But your .1” difference shouldn’t be a problem, the closer in tire diameter front to back the better, same diameter being best.

FWIW I had a staggered wheel tire set up on my previous TBSS that was AWD all the time and in 100K+ miles never had any transfer case issues and although I was not able to properly rotate my tires I would average 70K miles on my rears and 45K miles on my fronts. That was mostly highway miles, driving more city than highway will reduce that tire life without ability to rotate.

The guys in the thread posting comments about “jacking up the rear” and “popular look back in the day” are thoroughly confusing tire width versus tire diameter. It is very possible and quite common to install a wider rear tire offering more traction for RWD applications without changing the tire diameter or vehicle height at all from front to rear.

My only question would by why install a staggered summer tire set up on the same size 20” x 8.5” rims front/rear? You’re going to end up with significant tire bulge in the rear and a more square tire sidewall in the front. If it were me I’d pick a different style rim that offered a staggered width to match the tire, you’re 275/305 tires should be on a 20” x 8.5”/9” front and 20” x 10”/11” rear.

The Zip · January 25, 2018

23 hours ago, The Zip said:

Do it only if you jack up the back, put a Rat Fink on the roof with a big stick, and get a huge blower engine to stick out the hood. I think it will look pretty cool, functional is another issue.

When OP said big wheels on the back of his truck, this is what I saw. Chill for a minute on my comment, this was a joke based on an "era.

KARNUT · January 25, 2018

From my experience your front to back tire diameter difference of .1” (31.9” to 32”) shouldn’t cause any problems with the transfer case. Usually if you get closer to wheel tire combos that are .30”-.50”+ difference front to back then you’ll start to see problems with traction control systems acting up thinking there’s wheel spin due to the varied wheel rotation speed from the different diameters. But your .1” difference shouldn’t be a problem, the closer in tire diameter front to back the better, same diameter being best.

FWIW I had a staggered wheel tire set up on my previous TBSS that was AWD all the time and in 100K+ miles never had any transfer case issues and although I was not able to properly rotate my tires I would average 70K miles on my rears and 45K miles on my fronts. That was mostly highway miles, driving more city than highway will reduce that tire life without ability to rotate.

The guys in the thread posting comments about “jacking up the rear” and “popular look back in the day” are thoroughly confusing tire width versus tire diameter. It is very possible and quite common to install a wider rear tire offering more traction for RWD applications without changing the tire diameter or vehicle height at all from front to rear.

My only question would by why install a staggered summer tire set up on the same size 20” x 8.5” rims front/rear? You’re going to end up with significant tire bulge in the rear and a more square tire sidewall in the front. If it were me I’d pick a different style rim that offered a staggered width to match the tire, you’re 275/305 tires should be on a 20” x 8.5”/9” front and 20” x 10”/11” rear.

I’m 62 I was there and not confused, we went up and wide. It was even common to have 14s on the front and 15s on the back. Most of us were running mag wheels. Most everything came with hub- caps.

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CMoore711 · January 25, 2018

10 hours ago, The Zip said:

When OP said big wheels on the back of his truck, this is what I saw. Chill for a minute on my comment, this was a joke based on an "era.

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

I’m 62 I was there and not confused, we went up and wide. It was even common to have 14s on the front and 15s on the back. Most of us were running mag wheels. Most everything came with hub- caps.

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Gentlemen... No Harm No Foul. You are guys are absolutely correct and I too remember the cars and mag wheel/tire set-ups you guys are referring to, some great cars from that "era". There was no intent to say you guys were "wrong". I was just clarifying that it is possible to have wider tires in the rear providing more traction without the "jacked up rear" and obvious wheel size difference from front to back like the Rat Fink there!

Cheers!

KARNUT · January 25, 2018

Gentlemen... No Harm No Foul. You are guys are absolutely correct and I too remember the cars and mag wheel/tire set-ups you guys are referring to, some great cars from that "era". There was no intent to say you guys were "wrong". I was just clarifying that it is possible to have wider tires in the rear providing more traction without the "jacked up rear" and obvious wheel size difference from front to back like the Rat Fink there!

Cheers!

That’s true, then you had to deal with wheel spacing. The problem was even with performance cars six inch wide tires was about it from the factory. We were more interested in putting money under the hood so up we went.

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barry G · January 25, 2018

4x4 truck.

don't play games.

just the squat of heavy front and empty bed is an inch in diameter until rolling.. and that is on LT rated, stiff tires.

keep them all the same.

if all your metal pieces survive, you'll be bubbling the sidewalls and other stupid mysteries.

Ozer · January 25, 2018

I dont know if this will help but on my 2011 BMW X5 diesel, i was running the stock size of 315/35/20 rears and 275/40/20 fronts, its full time AWD and it all worked perfectly, no issues besides no rotating tires.

Looks bad ass on it, it should be fine if you stay in 2WD is my vote

Donstar · January 25, 2018

5 hours ago, KARNUT said:

I’m 62 I was there and not confused, we went up and wide. It was even common to have 14s on the front and 15s on the back. Most of us were running mag wheels. Most everything came with hub- caps.

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My '64 Econoline came with 13's and so I put 15's on the rear! It was my way of altering gear ratios! lol I believe we are overthinking this and the op should be fine. He is aware that keeping the diameters the same is the critical factor in modern trucks. My solution would be to increase all four wheels equally. There is a recent post where the member put 305/70/17's on all four. He installed Bilsteins on all corners and has a truck that will do great in every season!

2010LTZ4x4 · January 25, 2018

Well after lots of Internet searching and helpful opinions on here. Looks like I will go with 4 tires the same mainly due to the fact I can rotate them from time to time. Even though the staggered setup would look cool. But not practical on my daily driver. So now I'm back to my original thought of. 275' 55s all around or 305 50 's. Thanks for steering me into the clear everyone. I'll post pics when I finally make up my mind and get them installed.