Chevy 2500HD Tire Question Please

[RKassl]

Just wondering how many folks with this truck have changed from the stock 245's to the next size 265's? Any tire brand you would like to recommend?

I am getting new tires on the Monty and seriously thought of a larger tire on the truck.

As always, thanks for your advice.

[ejc1214]

Hey Bob,
I traded a 2500HD and I used to run 265/16E Michelin LTX on 8" rims. No problem with the tires. I took the rims and tires off and put original tires back on when I trade about a month ago. The original rims are usually 6.5" wide and it is not recommended to install 265 on them even though people do it. Pinches sidewall in and you could have blowout. Most tire manufacturers say you should have at least 7" but 8" is recommended. I hope this helps.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Not recommended unless you want the expense of reprogramming the transmission. Up sizing tires changes the circumference of the tire thus throwing off the shifting points. Got this from a Firestone dealer first and than verified by GMC.

[DHenry]

Firestone/Bridgestone dealer recommended to me that I put the 265's on my truck. I did have the reprogramming done by the Chevy dealer, cost $135.00.

[Dave e Victoria]

I ran Michelin 265's on stock rims for 35000 miles and still had good tread when I traded. Original 245's were shot at (35,000). Reprogramming is a piece of cake for all functions except the speedometer itself. It will always show relatively minor error. I used Hypertech programmer to correct for tire diameter. Took about 5 minutes including time to measure tire circumference. Actually, I really don't think the reprogramming is necessary at all as you are talking about a very small difference in diameter. The ride is better with the 265's and the michelin is a stronger tire than the one's delivered originally on my 2500HD BTW, I pulled a Cambridge for near 3000 miles with that truck and those tires before i crossed a scale. I had grossly overloaded the tires and still had no problem. Go for the wider rims if you want but definitely go for 265's (IMHO)
Dave

[gitrdun]

You can put whatever tires you want on it. There is a programmer you can buy that only programs the size tires you install. I perfer the 265 because anything bigger you will need to do gear changing and that is expensive.

[Montana Sky]

I think I am with Glenn on this one. I cannot find a reason to upsize the tires on my truck, the OEM size do a fine job for me.

[rames14]

Just did some calculations. Your mileage (and speed, will be off by 3.8%:
Wheel Diam. Circumference
265 75 16 31.6 99.4
245 75 16 30.5 95.7
104%

For each revolution of the tire, you will go an extra 3.7 inches. I am not sure if that's an issue unless you already maximize things like driving speed. It could be enough to push you into that ticket that you didn't need.

[G McCall]

I have run 265x75x16 Goodrich Kos on my stock rims for 45,000. No problem at all.
I run a power adder programmer so the Speedo recalibration was no problem.
Gives a little more clearance for the rear-end set so ridiculously low to the ground. My truck is a 4x4 but so you would think the truck would be designed for some off road duty.
I do a little "grading" with the rear end off road.

[padredw]

I think I posted my experience on this topic once before, but it doesn't seem to appear here so....

With the larger tires, by checking my odometer against the Interstate highway signs for several hundred miles, I found that my "loss" on the odometer was very near to 3.34% (Not too different from rames14 calculations). Mine, however, is based on actual travel, not on calculations, and supports rames14 calculations.

To get my 'actual' miles I can multiply the odometer reading by 1.0345 and get very close.

I haven't noticed any problems with transmission. Should I be looking for something?

Just to add: the reason for the larger tires in my case was simply that my local dealer had them in stock and recommended them. I have no competence to comment upon the wisdom of that decision except that I have experienced no problems. dw