235's vs 265's ?

Hi All-

So I just picked up a used 94 4X4, with what looked like almost new long trails on it- 31x10.5x15. On closer inspection, it looks like there is some dry rot and I'm concerned that these are toast. Weird thing is, I can't find a date code that makes sense to me.

At any rate, due to cost and driving environment, I was thinking of going to a 235/75/15. Thinking Goodyear Wranglers- I have them on my 2003 Cherokee and I like them pretty well. However, the VIN tag on the door says they should be 265/75/15. Discount Tire's website shows either one. Wranglers are not available in 265.

So, am I going to be hurting myself going with the 235's? Live in CO, driving will be street and mountain roads occasionally- no hard core wheeling, but definitely some trails now and then. And of course snow.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks-
Brady

No won't hurt anything. But will throw your speedo off quite a bit.

Truck will feel like it's "lighter on its feet" with the smaller tires

Aside from looks. And lower ground clearance. Going to a 235 won't affect anything major.

Thanks for the reply- from what I can tell, the 235 is about 2" smaller/shorter than the 265 (or 31) Being a short guy, I'm not sure it's that significant to me, but just wondering if that is enough to make it look weird... The 235's are just a lot less expensive than 265's or 31's.

bstone said:

Thanks for the reply- from what I can tell, the 235 is about 2" smaller/shorter than the 265 (or 31) Being a short guy, I'm not sure it's that significant to me, but just wondering if that is enough to make it look weird... The 235's are just a lot less expensive than 265's or 31's.

Click to expand...

I would stick with 265s' anyway there are far better tires than wranglers out there......235s will look like a car tire on it....

I you have the 4.0 OHV engine, it will not like the smaller tires. You will be revving it a lot higher to maintain the same speed. If you just put around, then it may work for you but the tires will look out of proportion unless you go for a high profile tire.

gw33gp said:

I you have the 4.0 OHV engine, it will not like the smaller tires. You will be revving it a lot higher to maintain the same speed. If you just put around, then it may work for you but the tires will look out of proportion unless you go for a high profile tire.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I will probably just put 31's back on it. 265's are hard to find, and they are almost the same size anyway. I do have the 4.0 OHV.

Find the DOT number on the tire. Depending on which side is facing out it will be either 4 or 8 digits. If you have the 8 digit side ignore the section with letters, you only need the one that is four numbers, which is all that is on the side with 4 digits.

DOT date codes for tires are decoded as such, WXYZ, WX= week of the year, YZ last two digits of the year.

So a DOT code of 1516 was made in the 15th week of 2016.

adsm08 said:

Find the DOT number on the tire. Depending on which side is facing out it will be either 4 or 8 digits. If you have the 8 digit side ignore the section with letters, you only need the one that is four numbers, which is all that is on the side with 4 digits.

DOT date codes for tires are decoded as such, WXYZ, WX= week of the year, YZ last two digits of the year.

So a DOT code of 1516 was made in the 15th week of 2016.

Click to expand...

Right- thanks for the info, and that's exactly what I was looking for on the tire, but it isn't there. Haven't looked on the inside of the tire, but I'm familiar with looking at date codes and nothing I see on the outside matches any pattern. Seems like it has to be on there somewhere. Will look again when I get home from work, but I looked at it 3 different times and didn't see anything I recognized.

If they are Bad-Years they are probably on the inner side. Those dolts like to put the DOT codes on only one side of the tire.

adsm08 said:

If they are Bad-Years they are probably on the inner side. Those dolts like to put the DOT codes on only one side of the tire.

Click to expand...

So yeah- the date code was on the inside only. 3807. So the tires are basically 10 years old. Although by looking at the tread and the overall condition, you'd think maybe 1-2 years old.

So- do I need to replace them?

Is the cracking superficial? Or does it look like it goes deep into the sidewall (or tread, if that's where it is)?

If it's not deep, I'd say drive it for a bit, see how they fare. Just be aware older rubber that's age-hardened somewhat doesn't grip the road quite as well as new rubber would.

And FWIW, 235/75R15 was one of the available stock tire size options, so there should be no harm in going to 235s. Your MPG might drop very slightly if you have 3.73 axle gears (though it might actually IMprove slightly if you have 3.27 gears).

If it were me and the truck has 3.73s, I would stick with 31s.

4x4junkie said:

Is the cracking superficial? Or does it look like it goes deep into the sidewall (or tread, if that's where it is)?

If it's not deep, I'd say drive it for a bit, see how they fare. Just be aware older rubber that's age-hardened somewhat doesn't grip the road quite as well as new rubber would.

And FWIW, 235/75R15 was one of the available stock tire size options, so there should be no harm in going to 235s. Your MPG might drop very slightly if you have 3.73 axle gears (though it might actually IMprove slightly if you have 3.27 gears).

If it were me and the truck has 3.73s, I would stick with 31s.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Looks pretty superficial so I guess I'll drive a bit and see. I guess what I meant about going to the 235's was not COULD I do it, but more about how would it look and function on a 4x4 truck. I do have 3.73's- limited slip. I think I'd lose about 2" of height going with the 235's, and I wouldn't want it to look "small", but then again I'm used to the 31's- so I don't know...

I have a couple vintage cars that don't get a lot of miles on them every year. When I do drive them they can see some pretty high speeds. I have gotten more than 15 years on tires with these cars. While I don't ignore rubber appearance, the most important thing to me is integrity of the plies. I inspect for any bulging in the side walls and am aware of any unusual vibration when driving. Any hint of ply problem and they are replaced.

I just replaced the front tires on my 69 Fairlane Cobra that where over 15 years old. The rubber still looked very good and there was no indication of ply problems. I just did not feel safe driving at high speeds with tires that old anymore and I wanted to go to a slightly larger size anyway.

Tire shops typically will not repair or remount tires that are more than 8 years old. They sometimes even object to balancing them. They say it is the law but I think they mostly want to make a sale plus they don't want the liability.

If your tires are still true round with no side wall bulging, you should be good to go for a while. Just don't expect to get any service from a tire store on them. I would also not take any long trips on them. Long trips are hard on tires and old ones are more prone to failure.

07nhbpsi said:

I would stick with 265s' anyway there are far better tires than wranglers out there......235s will look like a car tire on it....

Click to expand...

Not sure if this will be helpful or not, but I’m currently looking at a ’91 Ranger that has 235 75/R15s on it. I don’t think they look weird, just... stock. If I buy the truck, I’m hoping to pick up a set of 265 75/R16s on newer Ranger rims that are for sale, and see if they will fit without putting a lift kit on it (I plan to lift it at some point anyway, but it would be nice if they’d just snug under there for a bit). If my math is right (and I’m no tire expert), the 235s currently on the truck are basically 28” tires, while the 265s would be 32”. But I digress. Here’s what the 235s look like on an unlifted ’91 Ranger:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0LaZ019ES6YVjFmQjN1LXFudlE/view?usp=sharing

As I say, not bad. Just "stock."

rangerenthiusiast said:

Not sure if this will be helpful or not, but I’m currently looking at a ’91 Ranger that has 235 75/R15s on it. I don’t think they look weird, just... stock. If I buy the truck, I’m hoping to pick up a set of 265 75/R16s on newer Ranger rims that are for sale, and see if they will fit without putting a lift kit on it (I plan to lift it at some point anyway, but it would be nice if they’d just snug under there for a bit). If my math is right (and I’m no tire expert), the 235s currently on the truck are basically 28” tires, while the 265s would be 32”. But I digress. Here’s what the 235s look like on an unlifted ’91 Ranger:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0LaZ019ES6YVjFmQjN1LXFudlE/view?usp=sharing

As I say, not bad. Just "stock."

Click to expand...

Thanks for the pic. Doesn't look bad to me at all. BTW, this website is really good to get a feel for tire size comparisons;
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

I also was looking under mine this past weekend and realized that there looks to be 2" blocks on the axle- read somewhere that this could be a stock 2" lift? Honestly, as it is, the truck is a little tall for me. I'm only 5'7"...