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All terrain tires on 2017 Pathfinder

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:45 am
by iero
Dear all

I would like to mount AT tires on my Nissan Pathfinder 2017 in order to go in Californian "desert" rock tracks (Death valley, Mojave)..

On another car I changed the original tires for bigger BFGoodrich and I was pretty satisfied. I would like to put something like that (BFGoodrich ko2 for example).

But on the PathFinder, I have 235/65R18 (original size) and I don't know which size I can go for. Maybe 255/70R18, but I'm not sure it will fit.

What do you think ? any idea ?

Thanks

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:06 am
by palmerwmd
It depends how hard core u want to go.

I personally love the Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10s.
They are smooth and eminently streetable but are AT (and mountain snowflake) rated.
had them on 2 vehicles now.

And they are fairly affordable too.

BUT it sounds like you may want something a little bit more aggressive (but not QUITE a tire you put on only for offroading so still must be streetable)

Even though I have no personal experience with them two newer designs I might consider if I had to replace tires right now would be:

Falken Wildpeak AT3W

They are getting great reviews on the Toyota and Xterra forums

Another tire to consider hard is the

http://us.coopertire.com/tires/discoverer-at3-4s.aspx

Also getting good reviews on the Xterra and Toyota forums.

The KO2 are a well established and respected stalwart choice they are a bit more expensive but are a known and respected quantity though they might be a bit louder on the road than say the Dynapros.

The new tire size you mentioned would give u a 2 inch taller tire.. which should be still ok but cannot be said for sure.. also u will start seeing some speedo and milage counter discrepancies.

My recommendation would be to keep the extra diameter down to 1 inch .. this will give you a useful increase in ground clearance of 1 inch... while still closely maintaining the stock feel of the vehicle on the hiway.

Play around with this handy tire size calculator to get a better sense of how things might look and affect your speedo:

https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:08 am
by palmerwmd
PS: Welcome to the Nissanpath!!!!! :D

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 1:07 pm
by iero
Thanks a lot @palmerwmd for your answer and the welcome message !

You are right, the Hankook, Falken and Cooper seems very good too, I will look for them too

As I don't find any "all terrain" tires that fits my original size, I was looking for other "compatible" sizes, but it's hard to know what could fit in my car. I will try to play with the calculator to find a 1 inch sizes ! Thanks a lot for this recommandation, it's very helpful !

If I understand well the calculator, my tires are 235/65R18, which means that they are 30" diameter. So I in order to keep my car rims, I could go with 265/60R18 or even 275/60R18. How do I ensure that it will not touch the car when I turn the front wheels ? Is there any way to know that ?

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 1:44 pm
by palmerwmd
iero wrote: If I understand well the calculator, my tires are 235/65R18, which means that they are 30" diameter. So I in order to keep my car rims, I could go with 265/60R18 or even 275/60R18. How do I ensure that it will not touch the car when I turn the front wheels ? Is there any way to know that ?
With nearly all vehicles you are safe if you only go an extra inch.
Nissan has a tradition where a Offroad trim of a given truck/SUV has an inch taller tires .
Even though this trim does not currently exist for the R52 Pathy I would expect a 1 inch taller tire to fit w/o issues and if it was my Pathy would feel comfortable in ordering it.
No guarantee of course.. but I think it will give u what u are looking for.

2 inch may work also but may influence the suspension geometry too and then w/o experience with your gen Pathy one would be guessing really guessing if it will still work.
So I am not recommending it (though u may eventually find someone who has done it)
But if I owned a R52 I would not hesitate to go an inch taller.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 2:07 pm
by Grumpah

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 2:13 pm
by palmerwmd
On the note that Grumpha is hinting at,, desert Rock trails may be beyond the ability of a R52 , or even a stock R51 for that matter.

I do believe that a R52 with aggressive tires can accomplish quite bit but rock crawling I would not recommend.
I do not even take my stock XTerra PRO4X there.

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:50 pm
by iero
Thanks @palmerwmd & @JayArras !

Yes, desert rocks could be hard, but with proper tires you can get on most of death valley or mojave tracks.

Last week in the middle of death valley :

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Jdvaafy.jpg[/img]

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 7:46 pm
by Grumpah
That's quite a panoramic shot! Almost looks like a Nissan Pathfinder ad. Image

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:53 pm
by palmerwmd
What a beautiful pic!

Please send more of those our way.

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 7:29 pm
by iero
Hello all

I've been in a tire shop to discuss with them and they think that 255/70R18 might be better than 265/60R18 and could fit on my car.

Using tire calculator, they are 0.7' wider and 2.1' taller than my actual tires.

I took my ruler and I measured the space between the front left wheel and the car when I turn completely and it's ~1 inch. Here is the picture taken from below the car (the ruler is in cm not in inches, sorry for that).

https://imgur.com/a/6cm1PSY

So I don't think it will fit.

But looking on internet, I found that Hankook DYNAPRO AT-M are available in 255/60R18. It's almost the same size that my actual tires (235/65R18).

What do you think ?

Thanks for your help

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 7:49 pm
by palmerwmd
The Hankook in that size it has the same circumference as your stock tire so it will not rub on top.

its .7 inches wider though according to spec...

Plus Dynapro ATM2 is usually a hair wider than spec.. so 'Id estimate probably an inch wider.

How is your play width wise when turning all the way left/right?

Then imagine the tire a inch wider in total or .5 inch wider each side.
So do you want a wider tire or a taller tire?

Since its wider your dry turning in curves should not suffer.. since its AT and mountain snowflake rated your winter and offroad should significantly improve over stock.
and it should look kick ass. :twisted:

.. but it will not add any ground clearance..

Even so this is probably what I would do on an R52.. but that's just me (I am not a tire professional and no guarantee made by TheNissanPath yada,yada, etc, etc)
And no rockcrawling! :D

PS: The KO2 will be more "Offroady " though, than the Dynapro ATM, even though both are AT rated... so if thats a primary performance parameterfor you then consider those... Of course the Dynapro will still be quite superior to your stock tire in that AT respect while having near OEM smoothness.

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 8:24 pm
by iero
When I turn the wheels completely, I have at least 3cm (1.18 inch). This is the minimum I got between the rear of the left front tire and the body when I turn the wheels on the left. I will lower this distance if I take a higher tire (with greater sidewall), and not too much with a larger one. If I'm not clear, I can draw something :)

So If I choose the 255/70R18, it will add 1 inch (they are not a lot larger but it's 7 inch Sidewall compared to my actual 6), so it could fit. It might be a good option

For information, in the shop I visited, ko2 are priced $269 each, cooper $189 and Falked $180

Even If I like the bfgoodrich a lot, I might consider something taking coopers or hankooks :)

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:04 pm
by iero
Sorry, I'm completely lost here..

So, actually, I have 236/65R18, so 30 inches diameter (6 sidewall) and 9.3 wide.

I you see on my last picture, It seems that the my limit is more the sidewall size than the wide ?

If I go with 255/70, it is 32.1 diameter (7 sidewall) with 10 wide. So, I have +1 inch sidewall and if I turn the wheel to the maximum I only have 1.18 inch.. so I will have only 0.2 inch left with the new tire, but I will have +1 inch clearance.

If I go with 265/60, so 30.5 diameter (6.3 sidewall) and 10.4 wide. Here I will have a lot more space left (but only +0.3 clearance)

So I don't understand why the tire shop tell me to get 255/70 to be safe and
not 265/60

In the next post, I've seen somebody that use 265/60 on pathfinder2015, so those will work on my 2017 if I understand well ?

https://www.pathfindertalk.com/forum/12 ... tions.html

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 4:25 am
by smj999smj
You should call Tirerack.com. I'm sure they could find something to fit your needs:

https://www.tirerack.com/content/tirera ... pport.html