Best 33IN Tires???

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes on agreement with 6th being a useless gear for me as well. I would have loved 4.88s and will eventually go that direction when the front needs upgraded or repaired. 4.46 is just too high for my uses. I dont spend time over 80mph and I don't like to be in boost all the time. I prefer to be in the 2600-2800rpm range when cruising with no boost.

To date, I think you are the only one who thought the manual/4.46 combo was not low enough.
I can respect that, but I'll say it baffles me a bit. I never asked why you thought though.
Are you doing something other than street driving that leaves you wanting that much more gear? ... or do you just prefer really low geared vehicles?


Exactly as @BroncoAZ said above, for daily driving on the street .... on my factory 30's & 4.46, first gear was nearly useless and second was just a touch too tall to launch every time time from a dead stop.

BTW, this has been a great discussion this far! Thanks all!!!

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[the poacher]

Based on the fact that most of your driving will be on pavement with highway speeds making up a lot of it, I would recommend the Falken AT, awesome all round tire that will fit exactly what you are looking for. Have a look...
WILDPEAK A/T3W TIRE | Falken Tire

 

[GoTigersGoBronco]

I'd just get BFGoodrich KO2's in whatever load rating you can find. They've been superb on my Bronco both off road and on. I've owned several brands of A/T tires.

 

[kodiakisland]

To date, I think you are the only one who thought the manual/4.46 combo was not low enough.
I can respect that, but I'll say it baffles me a bit. I never asked why you thought though.
Are you doing something other than street driving that leaves you wanting that much more gear? ... or do you just prefer really low geared vehicles?


Exactly as @BroncoAZ said above, for daily driving on the street .... on my factory 30's & 4.46, first gear was nearly useless and second was just a touch too tall to launch every time time from a dead stop.

BTW, this has been a great discussion this far! Thanks all!!!

Several have discussed their lack of use of 6th as gear as I have. The torque and HP curve of the 2.3L starts above 2000rpm, as many 4cyls do. I don't like to depend on continuous boost to maintain power and prefer to stay in that 2600-2800rom range for most driving.

But to answer the question on my use, yes, most of my driving is low speed and I prefer low gear and power. I use crawl on a lot of the trails I do as 1st is too high. I'd guess at least 1/3 of my miles have come below 15mph. I don't drive top end or care about gas mileage on the interstate. Although, even at normal 75mph driving I'm still in 5th as 6th gear is in boost just to maintain speed on a level surface.

I use crawl a lot and wish it was lower, although when in 4L it is great.

I find 1st to be about perfect for highway use. A normal shift is around 15-17mph just above 3000rpm and 2nd goes to 30mph. Granted I got more speed out of 1st gear in 3 and 4 speeds, but it's just the nature of having lots of gears.

This is all with 33s and 4.46 gears. I never drove it with the 31.6 inch tires it came with.

Edit to add I drove my Tacoma with 4cyl, 5spd to work tonight and watched the 1st and 2nd shift point and it was almost identical to the Bronco in both sped and RPM, so I guess maybe that's why it seems normal to me.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

Best is going to depend on application.

How much off road, how much freeway driving, rocks, sand, mud?

I will almost certainly be going with Coopers, most likely AT3s.

I also don't have a problem with paying extra for E-rated tires. Put E-rated on the Expy (and the two before that) and it stiffens up the ride so you can feel the road better. Also, they don't puncture when you drive over a cholla spine.

I hate soft, squshy, tires.

 

[ProdigyJKU]

I’m kind of surprised to read these posts about 6th gear being useless with taller tires on 4.46 manuals with 34.5” and 33.8” tires. Ford sells the manual Sasquatch with 4.70 gearing like my non SAS Badlands has, doesn’t seem like that extra .24 would make that much difference. I was driving mine around yesterday and found first gear to be basically useless, I almost wanted to start in second. I haven’t had mine on the highway yet but I’m comfortably in 5th gear by 50 mph and the truck seems to pull just fine if I give it throttle. I placed an order for Toyo 285/75 tires on Friday, but Discount Tire came back and said out of stock with no ETA, based on your posts maybe it was fortunate and I’ll just stick with 285/70. I was only looking to upsize for looks, I can do anything I need to do on 285/70.

I personally wouldn't consider a non-sas Badlands or Base to be overgeared by any means, highway RPMs are still very reasonable. Ford gave the 7sp a very wide ratio span. In my opinion, it's not "overgeared" unless it's doing over 3k RPMs in 6th on the highway.

I agree that .24 doesn't make much difference. If I was to swap gears I would atleast go from 4:46 to 4.88.

I feel the super short 1st gear matchs the Bronco quite well. It's a rather heavy vehile with little torque off idle to get things rolling. Especially if you add larger E rated tires. It lessens the wear on the clutch since you don't have to slip it much everytime you take off, plus it makes it harder to stall. The short 1st gears take some getting used to, but now I'm acustom to shifting as soon as the vehicle is rolling. My Wrangler before this was the same way, first gear redlined at about 25mph. Where plenty of light cars will reach anywhere from 40-70mph in 1st gears. Everything is a compromise.

I felt my Wrangler was geared perfectly at 4:10s w/33s. I would be in 6th gear by 30mph. It was also below 3k rpm when doing 80mph in 6th which is my main concern. Originally it had 3.21s and did 80mph at 2.2k which was quite sluggish.

I feel that

Here is a pretty cool caculator that will should you the max mph and RPMs of all 6 gears at any tire size.

https://www.blocklayer.com/rpm-gear.aspx



And here is a nice Jeep chart showing the compromise between performance and efficiency.

 

[MyFirstBronco01]

Best is going to depend on application.

How much off road, how much freeway driving, rocks, sand, mud?

I will almost certainly be going with Coopers, most likely AT3s.

I also don't have a problem with paying extra for E-rated tires. Put E-rated on the Expy (and the two before that) and it stiffens up the ride so you can feel the road better. Also, they don't puncture when you drive over a cholla spine.

I hate soft, squshy, tires.

Most of it will be highway and on road application. I do have the 4.27 rear e-locker, so that goes into consideration as well. Any offroading for me will be for cross country trips to national parks or out to camp.

 

[ProdigyJKU]

To date, I think you are the only one who thought the manual/4.46 combo was not low enough.
I can respect that, but I'll say it baffles me a bit. I never asked why you thought though.
Are you doing something other than street driving that leaves you wanting that much more gear? ... or do you just prefer really low geared vehicles?
To date, I think you are the only one who thought the manual/4.46 combo was not low enough.
I can respect that, but I'll say it baffles me a bit. I never asked why you thought though.
Are you doing something other than street driving that leaves you wanting that much more gear? ... or do you just prefer really low geared vehicles?

Those saying 4.46 is to short seem to be focused soley on 1st gear. I'm curious if those sharing this opinion are comparing the Bronco to experience they've had driving manual cars, or it they come from more of a truck oriented background.

While me and the others who think 4.46 is tall are looking at gearing for the highway. I'm used to super short firat gears, and prefer them. My Jeep was the same way. Barely have to feather the clutch to get it rolling.

The 6sp diesel I drove today probably only went 10mph in 1st, I was in 6th gear @25mph.

The Bronco was designed is an offroad oriented SUV, not a car. This gearing is typical for this vehicle category. Just look at a Wrangler Rubicon, it has even shorter gearing than a Badlands.

Just the nature of the vehicle.

Appreciate the responses.

 

[MyFirstBronco01]

I am going with the Toyo Open Country AT3s! Great discussion, and great suggestions! I'll post a pic of when everythings finished with both the bronze wheels and Toyos!

 

[BUDXR7]

Hello all,

I have stock BB 32" tires and have 17in Fifteen52 Traverse HD Block Bronze wheels coming in soon. I want to get C Rated 33" All Terrains. Either the Toyo Open Country's, BFG KO2s, or Nitto Terra Grapplers. C rated is pretty nonexistent rn. Thoughts and Recommendations? Thank you in advance!

I went with the Firestone destination MT2 in an equivalent to 33”. I haven’t run them yet but it is the OEM selection on the wrangler Willy’s edition. That Jeep made the same decision is good enough for me. They also wont grab the smaller pebbles but maybe larger rocks. Have the gator backs to keep those down.

 

[Roderick23]

Falken wild peaks only 2k miles so far but been great. Generally drive 75-80 on the highway. Feels awesome and average about 18.5-19MPG. And the look great

 

[MyFirstBronco01]

Hey y'all heres the finished product! They look AMAZING! Had to remove the crash bars, but otherwise its a tremendous improvement from stock!

 

[BroncoAZ]

Hey y'all heres the finished product! They look AMAZING! Had to remove the crash bars, but otherwise its a tremendous improvement from stock!

What size are those?

 

[MyFirstBronco01]

What size are those?

Hey BroncoAZ. 285/70R17. Lot wider without being too tall. Fits pretty well. I didnt want to have to lift it or change the suspension.

 

[[DELETED MEMBER 27901]]

Hello all,

I have stock BB 32" tires and have 17in Fifteen52 Traverse HD Block Bronze wheels coming in soon. I want to get C Rated 33" All Terrains. Either the Toyo Open Country's, BFG KO2s, or Nitto Terra Grapplers. C rated is pretty nonexistent rn. Thoughts and Recommendations? Thank you in advance!

I put 275/65R18 Open Country ATIII on my OBX and I’m really happy with how they ride. Road noise is non existent until you get just a little bit over 60-65mph and there’s a faint hum. No hardcore off-road needs for me, just applying for a beach permit and wanted something that wasn’t lame like the factory Bridgestones.

I’m coming from a sedan so I was worried about the on road comfort of a more aggressive AT but I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

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