Xterra tire clearance test + photos

Wanted to run some snow chains, but was worried that I would have some clearance issues, so decided to do a little test; figured others might find this useful:

---- My truck:
My Xterra is a 2004. Have a 2" body lift as well as a ~2+ suspension lift. For the suspension lift, I'm running stock leafs with AC adjustable shackles on the rear (2-1/8" of lift) and for the front have the AC control arms from the 3" lift, but with the torsion bars adjusted so that the truck is level. On a side note, I think this type of lift is better vs doing the full 3" lift because I still have downward travel (i.e. droop) on my front wheels.

Running BFG AT KO2s - 265/75/r16 -> which converts to 31.6x10.4x16. These are on Mickey Thompson Classic III (8” wide, 0 offset, 4.5 backspacing). The stock backspacing is 5.5" in case you're curious, so my wheels are slightly pushed out.

On the front have a Shrock bumper, so no clearance issues there!! :D

Truck on level ground for reference:
img_20180808_100542-jpg.66904



---- Experiment:
Fitting the chains on level ground, looked like things just cleared. But I was certain that things will be rubbing once the wheels are turned/stuffed. Decided to find a slope and do a little experiment. Here are the results:

Lots of droop on the rear. Awesome!
flex-jpg.66895



Other side, rear tire fully stuffed:

flex-2-jpg.66896



Chains on:

chains-stuffed-jpg.66897



First rubbing spot: the rear of the rear wheel well (photo taken from the inside looking out):

chains-rear-clearance-rear-wheel-well-jpg.66898



But the bigger issue was actually lack of clearance between the inside of the tire and the body sheet metal:

rear-stuffed-inside-clearance-jpg.66899



With chains, you can see they get jammed:

rear-stuff-inside-clearance-chains-jpg.66900



To test the front, I turned the truck around:

front-clearance-1-jpg.66901



You can see with the wheel turned there is very little clearance on the back of the front wheel well:

front-clearance-jpg.66902



Close up of the gap:

front-clearance-2-jpg.66905



By the way, I had removed the front mud flag and cut back the plastic fender trim already. Hammered back the sheet metal of the wheel well just a bit, but can probably do a bit more to add more clearance.

In general, looks like chains on 32x10.4s is a no-go, even on a 2" body lift Xterra. Fits fine on level ground but if you actually plan to off-road with them, where your suspension will be flexing, those chains will rip everything up! Will have to step down to 245/75/r16 for the winter tires I think (30.5x9.6x16) in order to comfortable fit chains.
 

RainGoat

Member
Not that it’s an adequate substitute but they do make cables. I had to use those on an older sedan with stock wide, low profile tires. That said, I can’t imagine you’ll need chains with those BFGs until you REALLY need CHAINS.
 

trae

Adventurer
For my 2nd gen, manual recommends class S chains, which basically means cables. I'm running 285/55/16 which is roughly 33" with no issues with 1.5" spacers.
 
Not that it’s an adequate substitute but they do make cables. I had to use those on an older sedan with stock wide, low profile tires. That said, I can’t imagine you’ll need chains with those BFGs until you REALLY need CHAINS.

I'm in Canada, fair bit of driving on steep icy/snowy logging roads in the Winter, so definitely need good real chains!
 

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