35's with 2 1/2" lift.

[snj8198]

These are Toyo MT's which have a flotation size of 34.5"x12.9" mounted on American Eagle Mohave 16x8's with 4 1/2" backspace. As you know not all 315's are going to be quite this wide but even so you may have issues if you can't tuck em in further to keep regulators off your tail. Since this picture I have installed a top mounted overload spring and 1" block in the rear to level the truck out. It looks and holds a load better.

On a personal note I don't really like my set up for what I do with it, too wide of a tire and too much contact patch for the weight of the vehicle and how I use it. I really like the 255/85's on narrow wheels but I prefer a tad taller tire just not the width that usually comes with it. I can find 35's in narrower widths but I would have to jump up to an 18" rim and I'm not keen on dropping the $ for bigger rims right now. A true 35"x10.50" on a 16" wheel is what I'm really after but the pickings are slim again unless I jump up in rim size.

[Mike C]

With my 16.5 x 9.75 Centerlines, there is no way I could clear a 12.5" wide tire without 4" lift. As it is, they very slightly touch the curl of the fender when turning.

As you note, tire sizes and marked sizes can vary dramatically. My 36" 12.5 16.5 Goodyears RTII are the same height as my 35" 12.5 15 BFG MT's were.

I like tall and narrow also and I went with 33" 10.5's on my A1 because I thought the 12.5's were too wide. (The 35's were definitely too tall!) My other choice, which may work for you, was the Super Swamper LTB in 34" 10.5. They are most likely a true 34" high which would make them same height as the 35" BFG MT's.

At least for the jeep, highway use was irrelevant so the bias construction didn't bother me, but Swampers are know for stiff sidewalls, and the jeep is a flyweight. This too steered me to the radials in the end.