Just sold my Jeep and picked up my new weekend toy, a 95 bronco with a 3" body lift and off road 33 12.50 15's that are very noisy. Since I don't go off road I plan on buying Michelins to quiet down the ride, my question: how small a tire can I go without it looking too small, I plan on leaving the body lift in place; also anybody have any idea how the larger tires affect speedometer reading, both mileage and mph. I heard the bigger the tire the faster the speedo shows and it racks up more miles on the odometer...thanks in advance.
Well on how small can you go before it looks to small is completely a matter of taste, I think you'll find with the lift you have anything shorter than 33 inches will look small. I run a 33X10.50R15 on my 95 with no lift looks great doesn't rub but it sees very little off road time.
To calculate your speedometer error there is a simple formula that you can use.
Original tire Revs per mile divided by New tire revs per mile, multilied by a specific speed, equals the actual speed.
Your 95 came with a P265/75R15 with approx. 677 revs per mile
Your 33X12.50R15 have approx. 637 revs per mile
So at 55 MPH on your speedo you are actually going 58.4 MPH!
Given that speedometers aren't exactly calibrated like rally computers there will be a slight error even with the original equipment tire size, there is also a varience in the revs per mile from tire type & company to another