What Are The Biggest Tires I Can Put On A Chevy Colorado?
The Chevrolet Colorado is a series of mid-size compact pickup trucks marketed by American General Motors. The American General Motors introduced them in 2004 to replace the GMC S-15 and the Chevrolet S-10. The truck’s design is made in a way to make adventures in style and look easy.
What Are The Biggest Tires I Can Put On A Chevy Colorado?
Stock Chevy Colorado’s come in four different tire sizes, but there are a huge variety of modifications that you can do to fit larger tires on the Chevy Colorado. Certain modifications like lift kits can fit larger tires but they reduce towing capacity, so it’s important to decide upfront what your priorities are.
The truck is named after the U.S. state of Colorado. The Chevy Colorado is one of the most customizable trucks in the mid-size segment, which in turn means you can get an extended cab with both a long and short bed.
In the American market, the Chevy Colorado is the only mid-size truck with a diesel option, and it offers both automatic and manual transmission options.
Mid-size trucks offer a little bit less towing capacity, smaller interior and are generally much cheaper on the pockets. For a mid-size truck, the Chevy Colorado is firm, comfortable and not too floaty. This makes it strike a perfect balance.
In general, mid-size trucks have a smaller engine, tow a little bit less, and hold less weight on the body, i.e. payload. The Chevy Colorado keeps thing simpler as it does not offer luxurious features and materials which have become more popular in high-end full-size trucks.
The Chevy Colorado competes in the mid-size revived truck section which includes several recently updated trucks.
What Are The Best Tires For A Chevy Colorado?
Tires are a key component in any vehicle, and they help improve fuel consumption, vehicle handling and safety. When choosing your tire size, it’s always advisable to check the owner’s manual to get the appropriate size of tires for your truck.
Mixing up different tire types is foul play as this will lead to the vehicle’s deteriorating performance and affect the ability to drive smoothly and safely.
How To Select The Right Tires
One can find the truck’s tires’ information on the owner’s manual or one may look at the tire sidewall to determine what size tires you have on your truck.
Different tires’ specifications are indicated on the sidewall; they include special tires abbreviated as ST, width in millimeters, the aspect ratio (which is the ratio of height to width), and the rim diameter.
The load range of the vehicle/ the ply rating is also indicated. The code can range from B to F where:
- B= 4 ply rating
- C= 6 ply rating
- D= 8 ply rating
- E= 10 ply rating
- F= 12 ply rating
This does not mean that a tire with a load range E has ten plies, it means that the tire has the equivalent strength of 10 plies.
Tire sizes are mostly expressed in the common format of 234/76R13. In the indicated example, 234 is the width in millimetres, 76 is the aspect ratio, and 13 is the wheel diameter in inches. In a vehicle, the speedometer, gearing, traction control, odometer and torque all dwell based on the distance the wheel travels during one full revolution.
If the wheel’s diameter is changed large enough, the speedometer readings might be inaccurate, i.e. reading a lower speed than the actual speed.
Changing your tires’ diameter drastically could lead to changes in these settings and derail the truck’s performance and safety.
When changing the tire size, one must ensure the use of new tires of the same load range unless your truck’s owner’s manual recommends a different size and load range. Also, all the tires must be of the same size to properly manage the truck’s weight.
Mounting tires larger than those that are stock is one of the best ways to customize your truck easily. This is because tires are essentially your vehicles overall performance and safety. After all, the rubber is really meeting with the road here.
Picking The Right Tire Size
The tire size on your Chevy Colorado will solemnly depend on the year the particular truck was manufactured. Tire upgrades offer more aggressive traction and off-road experience and are some of the most popular truck modifications.
A stock Chevy Colorado truck has the following tire sizes; 255/65/17, 265/65/17, 265/60/18 and 255/55/20.
These sizes equate to between 30.1 and 30.6 inches. Additional tire sizes can also fit but are slightly larger. On a Chevy Colorado with stock suspension and rims the largest tire size you can put is 265/65/17s.
This is the ideal size as they will function properly without any additional modifications or rubbing problems.
To fit larger tires, you might need to lift you truck based on the lift level, i.e. full suspension lift or a levelling kit. A levelling kit is a more popular and economical way to get clearance to fit larger tires.
With a basic levelling kit, you can add lift without breaking much of your budget.
The kit includes fittings and spacers that lift the truck cab and bed above the truck’s original suspension and stays in place. This helps ensure that your truck gets extra ground clearance and that the wheels don’t rub themselves against the fender wells. The maximum lift obtainable is generally three inches.
In many cases, the ride quality suffers when one upgrades to a heavier tire than the stock one. Fuel consumption and torque on the wheels also suffers.
Using bigger tires is only recommended if one plans to use the truck for off-road purposes or carry out Overlanding applications.
Bigger tires on the Chevy Colorado using a 2-3″ lift requires one to go close to thirty-three-inch tires. With this modified suspension package, you can only fit the below sizes on the rims; 265/75/16, 265/65/17, 265/70/17, 255/75/17, 275/70/17, 285/70/17.
With 33″ tires, there is a need to do fender trimming to create space for the wider wheels, and an increase in the rim’s backspacing to create clearance on the inside of the wheel and the upper wishbone arm.
The problem with most trucks is that the manufacturers tend to limit you with the wheel clearance arc. This mostly restricts your from placing wider tires that are more than 33″.
Running any wheel bigger than 33″ on a stock rim and suspension will always cause rub. To prevent this, some parts will need to be trimmed like the plastic fender of the mudguard needs to be moulded out of the way to allow the wheel to lock properly.
Chevy Colorado Tires
Many different factors must be considered when doing a tire upgrade concerning the size. All these variables need to be regarded to avoid running out and spending a lot of money on oversized, expensive tires that do your truck no good at all.
The first thing to do is primarily determine the purpose of the upgrade you are about to undertake.
You must ask yourself certain questions before you proceed. Do you require a more load capacity which will require you to consider the tire load rating?
Will you need off-road capability or maximum practicality while in turn maintaining articulation? What other truck upgrades do you intend to do in the future?
Answering these questions will help in determining which suspension package to opt into to accommodate larger tires.
However, if your main upgrades purpose was to improve aesthetics and no intention of going off-road, your trucks stock suspension is up for the task and will not require a lift.
With any vehicle upgrade, there is always an increase in the vehicle’s overall fuel consumption. This comes into play since the tires are positioned under the suspension and become part of the unsprung weight. The tires rolling a heavier mass does impact directly on fuel consumption.