BFG KO2 (or Falken WildPeaks) without lift on Badlands, 235/65/17 or 245/65/17 ??

[LBinWNC]

Having gone thru dozens of threads I have confused myself…

don’t want to lift our badlands but do want to ditch the scorpions after 400mi.

Will either of these fit without rubbing, crazy re-alignment etc…

No heavy off roading just Forest service and back country roads and possible some beach.

thanks
Lou

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[Rhel]

You will fit 245/70R17 on your Badlands No lift and no rubbing
I dont no why everyone is saying else

yes they will both fit

 

[Jmuns]

You will fit 245/70R17 on your Badlands No lift and no rubbing
I dont no why everyone is saying else

Try full lock and compression now.

 

[Jmuns]

Having gone thru dozens of threads I have confused myself…

don’t want to lift our badlands but do want to ditch the scorpions after 400mi.

Will either of these fit without rubbing, crazy re-alignment etc…

No heavy off roading just Forest service and back country roads and possible some beach.

thanks
Lou

Both of those tires and both sizes will fit. No issues.

 

[Rhel]

Try full lock and compression now.

I have driving on them for few month no rubbing or nothing also goin off-road on them no proplem

 

[RSH]

235 65R 17 Wildpeaks are a factory option from Ford on the Badlands, First Edition and Heritage Limited. I have 245 65R 17 Falken Rubitrek tires on my Badlands (no lift), have not had any problems with them in 20,000 miles.

 

[RogueRodney]

Rhel:

Thanks for the video. I'm super jelly of your location, I'm in Texas and it is hot, flat, and largely treeless where i live.... so hoping to move in a year or two.

Anyway, I appreciate the video, can you do something similar, but with the wheel fully cranked right (max turn, think someone will have to be in the car). Does the back left edge of the left tire, touch the fabric in that situation?

I'm on 235/65/17's (the Falken upgrades that come with the Badlands), with 1" spacers. If I turn my wheel fully I'm almost rubbing (I can get like 10 sheets of paper flat to slide betweene the tire and the fabric but it leaves marks on the paper).

I know Meanderthal reported rubbing on his 245/70/17's but he had the 1" spacer. He also had gone to a 16 wheel to get the greater height in the tire sidewall.

Appreciate ya man, happy trails.

RR

 

[LBinWNC]

235 65R 17 Wildpeaks are a factory option from Ford on the Badlands, First Edition and Heritage Limited. I have 245 65R 17 Falken Rubitrek tires on my Badlands (no lift), have not had any problems with them in 20,000 miles.

what made you pick those over the wilds peaks?

 

[Escape2Bronco]

I have the optional 235/65-17 Falkens. They work great but don’t look as aggressive as the square shoulder BFGKO2 or the Falkens 245/65-17.

 

[RogueRodney]

LBinWNC:

Hey, I have a 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Badlands. I believe it is still like this, but when you order you had the option of the stock 225/65/R17 or upgrading to the 235/65/R17's. These are Falken Wildpeak A/T3W and come on the vehicle when upgraded (though despite advertising that you get a full sized spare the spare is only the 225/65/R17.

There has been alot of discussion on tire sizes on these forums (never hurts to revisit though).

There is one factor I don't see very often, that is the fender flare... I have the bolt on fender, yeah, I agree it is pretty useless as it extends the car fender about 1" from the vehicle for no gain, but it does look pretty cool.

If you aren't running a fender flare, I would definitely suggest a 245/65/R17 Tire to get the aggressive off road look.

One day I pulled up to a Big Bend in a parking lot, it was lifted (I have a Badlands that is lifted with a 1.75" lift and this big bend was a quarter of an inch higher than my Badlands). It was also running on 245/65/R17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires and it looked fyre!

Note: I have about 200 pounds of skid plates on my car (JCR), so not sure if it was actually lifted higher, if the tires made a difference, or if my plates were weighing me down... but I was very impressed by the Big Bend build. Also knowing they're car was likely 10K less than mine rubbed some salt there too...

Anyway, there are several good tires at the 245/65/17 sizing, I wold lean to the Toyo Open Country A/T III's or the Nitto Ridge Grappler also at 245/65/R17's. Rhel's video shows they fit into the well, but the rub normally happens at max turn. From what I can see in the video of Rhel, it looks pretty similar to how my smaller tire fits when the tire is straight on, but at full turn I damn near rub.

I've seen the Grapplers on other cars (Taco's and Wranglers) and they look really nice....

If you have fender flares though, and you want to push that tire out to the edge you need a spacer. I have a 1" spacer (someone posted that a 1.25" works as well), and if you have that, you can't get the 245/65/R17 without rubbing at maxiumu turn. I think you may be able to if you can find a .75" spacer, but I haven't seen those. If anyone finds, please post.

Note: I'm not advocating anyone modify their vehicle without knowing the risks. I did my spacers in ignorance of what it would do to the driving dynamics, and believe I just got lucky, but adding spacers technically does change the driving dynamics of the car, so be aware of that. I can say I've had my spacers on my car for about 4 months, have been off road and travelled for extended periods at speed (around 85-95 mph), and I do not believe that the spacer poses a serious risk on the Bronco Sport when it is limited to about 1". I would not put them on a wranler unless I REALLY needed to, that thing is already a death trap at speed (90+ mph).

Anyway, at 235/65/R17 you are looking at the most aggressive tires being the Falken Wildpeak A/T 3W's or the Toyo Open Country A/T III.

When my Falken's wear out I'll likely get the Toyo Open Country A/T III's as I understand they are a slightly better tire and they look slightly more aggressive.

Note: If I lose the spacer and go to a 245/65/R17, then I lose about .75" from the loss of the spacer to the outside of the vehicle which would bring my tire into the inside of the fender flare.

The real question I have is will the 245/70/17 rub at max turn.

A few notes, Delm posted that he put 255/70/17's on his ride without rubbing, but I think he did it by going to a different wheel/rim. He seems to know what he is talking about and said it wasn't rubbing even at max turn. He did have to do some trimming to get them to work.

Also, the above was just a discussion on aesthetics of the tires and how aggressive they look. I've been surprised by reading the reviews of tires and looking at the speed ratings.

The BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires look awesome and have a strong following on these threads. But they also have speed ratings of 112 mph. Most the 245's mention have speed ratings of 118 mph. Whereas the 235's oddly have 130 mph... I have almost never driven above 112 for more than a minute or two when passing cars. But these things carry my kids and if I'm passing a car at 112 with 38K miles on the tire, I would like the extra measure of caution.

Additionally, the 245/65/R17 Grapplers look amazing, but reviews have suggested that they don't handle wet conditions as well as other tires. That could just be a few reviewers, but it is something to think about if you have other options.

Finally, thanks to this forum, I've been modifying the hell out of my ride and LOVE IT. I wouldn't have done 1/2 the things I've done if it wasn't for this forum and the excellent community we are building. Almost everything I have learned about cars has been from this forum, thank you all so much!

RR

 

[RSH]

what made you pick those over the wilds peaks?

The Rubitreks are slightly better on road where the majority of my driving is.

 

[Jrl]

Having gone thru dozens of threads I have confused myself…

don’t want to lift our badlands but do want to ditch the scorpions after 400mi.

Will either of these fit without rubbing, crazy re-alignment etc…

No heavy off roading just Forest service and back country roads and possible some beach.

thanks
Lou

I have been running 235/70/17 on my first edition for several months now with no problems. Wrangler workhorse 235/70/17 on stock rims .I have just about 3/8 to 1/2 inch at full lock to the well .

 

[Big Ben]

Having gone thru dozens of threads I have confused myself…

don’t want to lift our badlands but do want to ditch the scorpions after 400mi.

Will either of these fit without rubbing, crazy re-alignment etc…

No heavy off roading just Forest service and back country roads and possible some beach.

thanks
Lou

I have KO2 255 65 R17s on my Big Bend, with no lift. They don't rub at all. You won't have any issues.

 

[The Rinzler]

I have KO2 255 65 R17s on my Big Bend, with no lift. They don't rub at all. You won't have any issues.

How much room do you have left over?

 

[Discount Tire]

@LBinWNC something to consider, the BFG KO2 would be a higher ply rating than the Falken and stands to be a rougher ride. The Falken is always a solid choice used by many forum members. Sorry for the late reply.

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