Ask The Editors: Does Bigger Tires Always Mean Better?
Are there any downsides to going bigger?
Quite a few actually- while you would indeed gain some additional height and well a smoother ride over obstacles, you are putting additional leverage strain on all of the componentry surrounding the tires themselves. Among these the axles, bearings, CV joints and even the differentials.
Perhaps the biggest downside, however, would come in the form of having to fine-tune the CV to match engine output with the new tire diameter.
Our best advice would be to google up your specific make & model along with the tires you’re considering and then to spend some time browsing forums – including those of the tire manufacturer themselves, to see what kind of mods actual users recommend and what, if any, equipment failures resulted from the mod.
