Adding Larger Tires To The Ford Transit
The Ford Transit comes with pitifully small 235/65-R16 tires and at a diameter of just 28″, it really limits the Ford Transit’s off-road abilities. At about the 21,500 miles mark, the stock tires were ready to be replaced. Instead of replacing them with the same size we went bigger with 245/75-R16 tires at a diameter of 30.5″. This is about as large as you can go on the Transit with minimal modifications.
Gidget’s side profile with the new 245/75-R16 Tires.
Below you can see what Gidget looked like with the stock tires. Gidget is a QuadVan 4×4 and has about a 2″ inch body lift so her stance is a little different than a stock cargo van. The stock tires are crap, with no traction in snow or sand, we patiently waited for them to rack up enough miles to warrant replacing them. At 21,500 miles the tires had a tread depth of 5/32″ to 6/32″ and were getting close to their safe operating lifespan.
Gidget’s side profile with stock 235/65-R16 tires.
Stock 235/65-R16 tires on the driver’s side front wheel.
Below is what she looks like with the new 245/75-R16 tires. An increased tire diameter of 2.5″ results in a 1.25″ increase in ground clearance. Doesn’t she look good!
Testing out the new tires on a little dirt.
New 245/75-R16 Falken Wildpeak A/T3W driver’s side front tire before modifying the pinch weld or the air dam. We probably should have washed our sweet hub caps before taking the picture 🤷🏻♀️.
Here is a side by side size comparison of the old tire and the new tire.
Side by side comparison of our old tire size versus the new tire size. Tire on the left is the stock 235/65-R16 and the tire on the right is the 245/75-R16 size. Graphic from tiresize.com.
We went with the larger 245/75-R16 size as it’s the biggest tire that will fit on the Transit with minimal modification. The passenger side front wheel just slightly rubs the pinch weld when turning right. And when turning slightly left it hits the front bumper air dam.
With 245/75-R16 tires the passenger side front wheel just slightly rubs when turning right.
To make more room for the larger tires we took an angle grinder with a metal cutting wheel and removed about 1.5″ of the pinch weld from the back of the wheel well. We removed about 1″ from the plastic air dam at the front of the wheel well.
Parts of the pinch weld and plastic bumper we cut off to make room for the larger tires.
After cutting out some of the material we filed the sharp edges and put several coats of paint on it.
Before trimming the pinch weld the tire would rub in this position. Now we have about 1.5″ of clearance.
Before and after of the pinch weld.
It’s hard to tell but we took about 1″ off of the front bumper air dam.
No modification is required to fit 245/75-R16 in the back wheel wells.
Back wheel well with 245/75-R16 tires.
It was important for us to have a full size spare tire so we bought 5 245/75-R16 tires knowing that it wouldn’t fit in the spare tire spot under the van without some work. Turns out, if you deflate the tire to 25 PSI you can get the spare to clear the rear differential just barely. It won’t go all the way up into the proper spot but you can get it high enough.
This requires you carry an air compressor in case you actually need to use the spare.
Even though the spare is lower than stock it is still higher than the rear differential and the shock mounts.
Ratchet strap keeps the tire from hitting the rear differential and provides stability. Strap is attached to holes on the hitch assembly.
The tire just clears the rear differential. There’s about 0.75″ of clearance, hopefully that’s enough.
Another shot showing the ground clearance. Spare tire is the least of our worries. Replacing those shock mounts might be our next project.
We went with Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires as the reviews are really good for the type of driving we do and are considerably cheaper than the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2s. If you decide to increase the tire size like we did, keep in mind that your speedometer and odometer will be off and you’ll need to carry an air compressor with you from now on.
Once we do some significant off-road driving we will update this blog post. So far their on-road performance is great. We can’t even tell we are driving with rugged all-terrain tires.
hello;
is there a noticeable increase in tire noise with the Falken tires?
No, I can’t notice any increase in noise over the stock tires.
and how did you you correct the inside of wheel from rubbing at the inside body?
The inside of the wheel doesn’t rub the inside of the body.
any change in economy?
Probably, but it’s hard to say as now the odometer isn’t correct.
Can you have the odometer be adjusted?
Nope, not possible, at least yet.
Will this size tire fit without the lift done yet? I will be getting the foes lift just not yet. Tony
I’m not too sure, maybe someone else in the comments knows.
Did you ever get any feedback regarding this issue? I have a 2wd T-350 and the small times just look out of scale. In some situations I don’t have enough clearance for the brush guard brackets. I like the way yours looks but I’m skeptical of lifts. I’ve had nothing but problems the two times I’ve tried them. I would prefer to add an inch or so just using the times.
Your speedometer will read about 10% lower than unmodified tire size (larger wheel will take 10% longer to complete a revolution). So what would have read 50 mph unmodified will read approximately (conservatively) 45 mph with the replacement tires. Were you drive with the replacement tires at an indicated 50 mph, you’d actually be driving approximately 55 mph. An indicated 75 mph would actually be approximately 83. If 90% of your driving is on Interstate at an actual 70 mph, you may want to extrapolate the appropriate ‘indicated’ mph.
An independent test is to take advantage of the occasional California test sections where they’ll have signs that read 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. Knowing that going at an actual 60 mph takes one minute to go one mile. I’m guessing that if you set your indicated speed at 54 for that one mile, it should take 60 seconds. Hope this helps!
Did you have any concern with the lower tire weight rating of the new tires compared to what Ford puts on for the stock tires?
No concern as we weighed Gidget and did the calculations before buying the tires.
A lot easier, for every 10 miles add 1 mile or 10 = 11 > 20 =22 > 30 = 33 > 40 = 44 ? 50 + 55 ……… 100 = 110 > or 30.5/28 = 1.089 so round it up to 1.1
you can use 265/75R16 in your rear wheels. I’m using Continental Terrain Contact 265/75R16 E in the rear wheels and Continental 245/75R16 in the freont wheels. It looks Great.
265/75R16 Diameter is 31.7 so my speeed is 31.7/28 = 1.132 or 13% faster than the speedometer.
you can verify it if you are using a GPS. The GPS will read the actual speed while your speedometer will be reading the teorical speed as designed for the factory wheels. 50 mph is speedometer is 56.6 in the REAL. in interstate to be at 70 mph I should set the cruise control to 62 mph (62 x 1.13 = 70.06)
RAMIRO, BSME, RPE – EX PROFESSOR OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Just get a cheap GPS to use for your current speed/odometer.
Is there a off road tire that requires no trimming and will not pinch or rub
Yes, many to choose from, I recommend going to one of the tire retailer website and putting in the stock tire size to see what is available.
Are the tyre upgrades suitable for the rear duals?
Thank you so much for the information I put the new tires on my van now it looks like a work van not a minivan everything worked out perfect thanks again 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷
With the larger tires did you still use the recommended tire pressures stated on the door frame?
No, when using the door frame pressure the van is harder to steer and tends to not want to go strait, kind of meanders back and forth. By letting about 10 PSI out of the fronts and backs it is a much nicer ride and it’s not too low to trigger the TPMS warning.
How did you figure out which PSI to get to?? Just purchased the BFG’s and curious about how to figure out the best PSI to run at.
Trial and error. I just kept lowering it a few PSI until it stopped feeling squirrelly.
Have you checked fuel mileage at all since going with the bigger tires? Has it made any noticeable difference?
MPG are slightly reduced. Which was to be expected by going with rugged tires.
Agreed. Do you know by how much approximately?
~1 to 3 MPG
Thanks for your sharing! I am about to order new tires for our 148″ WB regular length and debating between the KO2 255/70R/16/E and the Falken AT3W 245/75R16. Good to see that you can put in spare location with a little modification.
So now that you have had several months on the Falkens, how do you like them? Would you buy again?
Yes, I would buy them again. They are usually priced cheaper than the KO2 and have similar performance.
Do you need the 2″ aftermarket lift before you can install these tires? And do you think there is enough clearance for snow chains with this setup?
Also, thank you for the informative and through posts.
I’m really not sure as I have always had the 4×4/lift.
On the back tire’s there is. The front’s would be super tight, might not be possible on the fronts.
HI! If I used non-AT tires like Cooper or Michelin would there be the same rub issue? I know the AT tires have a higher shoulder and maybe that is what hit?x
On my van it was the tread that hit. But yeah I agree not AT tires will have a better shot at not rubbing.
Question about the spare. So I went with the KO2 255s, which are 30″ diameter and am having a difficult time fitting in spare location. I deflated to about 20-25 psi. The only way that I can get it to clear the differential is to have it at an angle and not within the curved recess at rear bumper area. Were you able to get yours to tuck into the recessed area at back??
Kind of, see my pictures above.
Thank you for leading the way on the oversized tires! I just had my buddy install some 215/85/16 snow tires I had left over from the Sprinter I used to have. The specs show them to be just slightly taller than the 245/75/16’s you are running. Did the same pinch weld and air dam trim you did and I have no rubbing at stock ride height.
I just put 225/75R16 on my 2017 Transit 350 HD Dually. In process I swapped out the fronts only and attempted to drive it to a tire shop to complete the install, but I got 2 alerts.
1) service brake system now
2) hill assist not available
I quickly returned home and put old stuff back on front and all systems good now
Any insight on what happened?
Or was it just because I only did front 2 and not rear?
Not a mechanic but my guess is the Transit computer detected the different sized tires and freaked out. I would have kept driving it to the tire shop. I occasionally get the “hill assist” error when parallel parking, it goes away once I turn the van off and back on again.
Adrian or Matt:
Getting ready for new tires on my 2016 Transit 350 Dually and wondering what the max size tires I can go with just the minor modifications Matt did? Adrian, did you ever get the issues with your tires sorted out on your dually? Any advice? Thanks, Jim
Having played with different tire sizes on a lot of sports cars, I can say that yes any modern vehicle with stability control or even just anti-lock brakes (anything with wheel speed sensors) can have a problem when it detects that the wheels are turning at differing speeds because you don’t have the same size tires all the way around.
It won’t know as long as all four corners are the same size, but if you only change the size on one axle it will definitely know that.
In your case, it perceived that you were continuously spinning the rear tires since they were rotating faster than the fronts (front tires are bigger, rear wheels turn more revs to go the same distance)
Guys – thanks for putting out this absolutely fantastically comprehensive resource. Looks like we’ve got some work to do on our 2015 Ford Transit before we can get some bigger tires on there.
Hey Matt – hard to tell from your pictures if the departure angle is impacted. I can see that it is a bit lower than a hitch, but is it low enough to come between a line drawn from the bottom of the rear tires to the bottom of the hitch? Also, curious if you think it would fit better if you deflated it completely. I carry an onboard compressor. And for all you folks wondering about what tires fit on transit, here is the master thread: https://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/wheels-tires-brakes-suspension/67217-list-tire-sizes-fit-transit.html#/topics/67217
No, I don’t believe the departure angle has changed. If you deflate all the way how are you going to re set the tire bead on the rim?
Good news on the departure angle! To reset the tire on the bead, at least from what I’ve read, involves compressing the tire around the middle of the tread, which forces the edges of the tire up against the bead. Apparently common for off roaders who running really low tire pressure. Of course, if that technique works, then it’s unlikely that letting all the air out and strapping it down even further is going shrink the tire at all.
I’m just aboiut to fit the same size tires to a transit Quigley with a 2″ lift. Did you consider beating/rolling the pinch weld over flush with the arch rather than grinding it off? I’m a bit concerned about removing 4″ of weld and opening the panel gap to potential leaks from wheel spray.
I don’t have the tools are the ability to roll it over. Just used what I had on hand. I’m not worried about what’s left of the weld separating.
Me local shop guys went this route and highly encouraged over cutting, fwiw.
Quadvan is doing mine now, and I believe they just pound it with a hammer.
Anybody know of a shop in Virginia, WV, MD or PA which can do the mods? I already have the Quigley lift.
There’s a shop in Sykesville, Maryland that did ours. I believe the name is old town motors.
John RNR in Va Beach is going to do my lift and front receiver .
DIY, it took me all of 30 min to roll the seams flat and chop 1/2″ off the plastic.
What was your final measured ground clearance at the rear shock mounts after the the upgrade? Stock they sit at a mere 6.5″. Thanks!
“We went with Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires as the reviews are really good for the type of driving we do ” – I looked through some reviews, and couldn’t contextualize- what type of driving do you do that these are suited for? long range interstate? mild off roading? sever winter weather? I’m deliberating between Falken and BF KO mostly because of price point, and wanted to see what they excelled at for you. thank you
Lots of interstate followed by very short beaches, so lots of sand, and forest roads.
Hey, Matt. Great info, thank you! Looks like I purchased too big for our transit…I went w the KO2 255s and about to send it in for a 2.5″ lift (which we want anyway). Was just told I need spacers to get the 255s in but you think I should just exchange for the 245s…you didn’t need spacers behind the stock wheel due to its positive offset? Seems you’ve had no difficulties and going w 255s may also look odd with the van. Appreciate your insight.
I did not use any spacers with my tires.
255/70r16 required no modifications to fit my transit w/ the vancompass lift. just fyi
[…] ~65mph) and (2) you’ll need to shave a little off the wheel well so the tire can clear. This is a good article on how to trim […]
Bought these tires for my 2016 150. Shop wouldn’t put them on because Max PSI rating was only 50. Van is rated on door for rear 65 psi, so it was a liability for them if I filled to door recomendations. Had to go with same tires but slightly smaller and skinnier. The have a 115s rating and 80 psi max. Will see what the shop says about them.
The Falken Wildpeak A/T3W that we went with are rated at the higher PSI.
Matt I will make a contribution to your kitty if you can provide with information or a description
of what the 10 pins on back of upfitter switches do. I have looked every where for this information.
2019 Transit
Can you help me?
Thanks
Dale
Try https://www.fordbbas.com/home site for info
https://madocumentupload.marketingassociates.com/api/Document/GetFile?v1=4793751&v2=040119082137&v3=60&v4=d7ac4c69db0d34ebf25a7bc4476797cee4e4e25962d72787e111318f&v5=False
Matt,
Do you have an update on how mounting the larger tire below went? Have you hit it? Has it stayed in place? Any adjustments since this configuration? Thanks a ton!
Still in place. No issues. Have not hit it.
Thanks for the post about adding larger tires! I am a bit confused by your write-up though as it only specifies the passenger side front wheel well modifications and does not say anything about driver’s side wheel well modifications. Some of the images reference what looks like the driver’s side unless the images have been mirrored for some reason.
Can you confirm that both front wheel well sides require the same modification or is it just passenger side?
Thanks for any clarification!
Both sides need modifications.
Cool! Thanks for clarification!
Hi Matt,
Any thoughts on van roll? I’ve purchased the K02s and have a month to wait before they arrive. Hoping to minimize the roll with these and maybe an aftermarket sway bar setup. Traveling across the open interstate in WY, UT and WA these last few months has taught me I have to correct this roll somehow. Thanks for all the info above!
Since it’s been a while since you mounted your spare, have you had any problems?
No problems.
Just installed this size tire (Maxxis Bravo AT-771 LT245/75R16) on my non-lifted, 2017 Transit 350 with minimal front wheel well plastic trimming and folding of the pinch weld. No rub and tires are at door pressure ratings. Literally, just drove home from the mechanic, so no details to add at this time.
GREAT WRITE UP. Just bought the Falken Wildpeak 255/70s for my stock 2018 250 Transit.
Your run through seems complete. So there is nothing other than the pinch weld and air dam that I have to worry about when installing the 255/70’s?
I’m carrying the spare on a rear mount swinging hitch.
The Falkens didnt work out. Amazon sent me several tires sized at 245/75/17. So I put Cooper AT3 245/70/16’s on my 2018 Transit 250. They went on perfectly without having to clip the pinch weld or the front air dam. However my on board tire monitor computer does not like the extra 10 lbs or air pressure (80psi) that the Cooper’s carry.
Tom,
How are the new tires doing? Any modifications to the vehicle? Did the spare fit in the wheel well? Do you have any pics of what it looks like?
Hi Matt, thanks for all the great information! I was wondering if you have to do these pinch weld mods before dropping the van off at the tire shop? Or is it possible to drive it a short distance without the mod?
You can drive it a short distance, just take it slow and avoid large bumps.
How much did the Quigley 4×4 and lift modification cost? Was it worth it? With the long body of the transit, I assume there are still some places you can’t go, just trying to weigh my options…
Thanks for the informative post. Thanks to you I decided to go with 30.5 inch tires. However I didn’t cut that metal part, I bent it and hummer it down. My van looks much better now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DINAqboyYI
Hi,
I have a 2019 T350 LWB SRW lowe roof Van. It was a bus conversion with 10 seats in the back. I removed all but 3 in the 2nd row, so I have basically a 5 pass Van with loads of cargo room. I mainly use the Van empty or very little load, but needed the room in case I have large items to be hauled. None of the large items will be more then 700lbs. So I removed a lot of seat and seat brackets and absolutely sure I will never load more then 700lbs in the back. I do tow an enclosed trailer (6×12 sa) (1200lbs) with approx 1000lbs max weight. So my trailer’s weight is less then 2500lbs.
My question is, can I downgrade the tire weight capacity ? Standard is the E load rating which is 12,800lbs gvw rating. Based on my calculations my van is less then 6000lbs but lets use that. 6000 + 700 + 2500 = 9200lbs IF I add the entire weight of the trailer as added weight. It never happens, my tongue weight is probably less then 900lbs. An XL weight rating tire with 112 load index is 9876lbs. Well under the 9200lbs max gvw I calculated. In reality my max weight on the car will be around 7700lbs max. So do you think that a XL 112 load rating tire in a 235/75×16 size with 50psi max will compromise anything ?
I’m replacing my old Chevy Express Conversion Van for the same job. That Van had a 109 XL tires and while it was slightly lighter as that was a 1500 Van, due to the conversion (high top, added cubicles, heavy captain chairs, etc. it was pretty similar (5700lbs). I never used anything more than the 109 XL tires in 235/75/15 size and never an issue.
The factory 235/65×16 is extremely small and rough riding tire. I adjusted the inflation back to non-conversion van size (52-54psi) from the 52/74 which was done as they anticipated a lot of people carried constantly in this Van. Originally the van was used as a Hotel transport van. I purchased it 1 year old with 21k miles. It has 23k miles and the tires are still decent, but can’t stand the ride in this Van. Coming from the chevy, its like going from a Cadillac to a tractor. On the Chevy I had trailer tow rear shocks with added tow-spec leaf spring and HD front shocks due to the conversion, yet it was comfortable and had a great ride. The Transit is just super hard and uncomfortable. Our roads in upstate SC is pretty bad, which makes it even worse. What is your opinion ? Should I be concerned with the load rating even if I’m never going to get close to the maximum weight ?
Thank you
Hi Laszlo
Did you get any responses to your question on 245/70r16 tires? There are a number of options out there rated at 118 (2,910 lbs) that puts total load capacity at 11,640 lbs – well over T250’s 9000lb GVWR.
Very interested to hear if there’s any issues using this spec?
Sorry, I know this is an old thread. I ended up using a 225/75/16 E load rated Yokohama tires. I switched at 36k miles and now the van has 86k miles. The 50k miles with these Yokohama’s were less jarring then the original /65 but still not comfortable.
I now need new tires. I have a same issue as before. Should I still opt for the E load rated tires or go with the lower weight rated tires. In the 50k miles I put on a Van in 2 years, not once I put more then 700lbs into the van, plus 5 persons ~ 850lbs. The Van is 5500lbs and we never exceeded the 7050lbs plus the trailer behind was around 2400lbs. The tongue weight is about 150~200 lbs. max.
A 235/75/16 tire would be the same weight cap as the 225/75/16 but lower max tire pressure. 50psi vs 80psi.
I drive on a highway and I drive a LOT. 25k miles a year on average. About 60% of with a trailer (6×12 enclosed or 5×12 open).
I really do want more comfort in the van, so I’m leaning towards the 235/75/16 tires with 112 load rating.
I’ve got a set of new BF Goodrich 31×10.50R15 tires, All-Terrain T/A KO2 – 69948. I’m trying to determine if I can fit these on my 2021 Transit, with a 2″ lift? Will it require modifications similar to what you’ve described in this article (I.E. removing some of the pinch weld from the back of the wheel well and removing some from the plastic air dam at the front of the wheel well?) Or will they fit without those mods? Sorry, I’m just really ignorant when it comes to tires/sizing… And I tried to compare the sizing of your tires in this article with what I’ve got and… couldn’t figure it out. I’m trying to do research. thanks for your advice.
Tire Size:31×10.50R15
Style:All-Terrain T/A KO2
Rim Diameter:15 Inches
https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/bf-goodrich-31×10-50r15-tire-all-terrain-t-a-ko2-69948/_/R-BDKZ-69948
Moreys – thanks for your help. Based on your article and info in the fordtransitusaforum, I ordered 245/75-16 tires for my stock rims (Transit 350, no lift). (I chose Conti Terrain Contact ATs because I predominantly drive on paved roads and highways.) I will modify the pinch weld. I note that you are both engineers (even an ME who does control systems!), so I thought I’d ask if you think the change in wheel size has had any effect on the electronic stability control.
[…] can safely move up to a 245/75-R16 with a diameter of 30.5 in wheel […]
[…] gives it a more interesting look that other unlifted Ford Transit Connects don’t have. Paired with larger wheels, this can drastically improve the appearance of your […]
Google Van Compass there in Rathdrum Idaho. Get one of there lift kits…AMAZING…it’s the Best and only way to go !! Be safe out there…
On the spare tire mount. Did you force it into the rear well or does the spare sit just underneath the original spare tire well. I know your said it didn’t roll up all the way but not sure if you tried to smash it in there. I used your method with the straps but the tire is really scrunched up in there and it was a pain in the but to get up there. Hope it does not mess up the tire. Thank you!
I deflate the spare tire to around 10psi so that it will squish a little more. I do a 5 tire rotation yearly and haven’t had any issues with whatever tire was last in the spare location.