escape the ordinary
Wheels and tires.
These are 17x7.5" double five-spoke from an early 2000s Sequoia. With 4.5" backspacing, they are perfect for a 1st gen Tacoma.
TL;DR - I'm done with 16" wheels and the limited tire selection they offer. My next set of tires (and therefore wheels) will be 17".
Leave a CommentMay 22, 2023 With the Tacoma living in Las Vegas now, it's harder to perform various maintenance tasks as they pop up and between trips. As such, with a few general maintenance issues - oil changes, tire rotations, etc. - and a few items in recent Rig Reviews needing attention, I drove the truck home from the Three Days of R&R trip for a little TLC (Tacoma Loving Care). On my list for a warm spring day were the following tasks: Routine maintenance - Change the oil, Rotate the tires Grease drive train. Check the new SPC UCAs for play in…
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That's not right either. After running on this for two miles or so at 65mph, even though it looks pretty normal, the tire is toast.
TL;DR - I got my third Cooper ST/Maxx flat ever, all on the same set (my fourth) of tires. I still think they are one of the best tires out there.
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Valve stems that insert from the outside!
TL;DR - My Cooper ST/Maxx tires finally gave me a bit of trouble. Still, I'll probably buy a 5th set when these wear out because they've performed better than any other tire I've seen others run on the trail.
Leave a CommentFor much of my childhood, summers were spent in the Plumas National Forest. I have such fond memories of waking up in our favorite campground, earning Junior Ranger patches, and fishing in creeks recently stocked with so many fish that the stream bed was obscured by wriggling tails. And yet, when out exploring as an adult, I've spent almost no time in the Sierra, much less the Plumas National Forest. So, it was with great anticipation that we set out to wind our way through on the Plumas National Forest Backcountry Discovery Trail. Like a BDR, we figured this would…
22 CommentsTwo of my favorite camping conveniences just got better. Ever since I modified my tire inflator to extend the hose on it - enabling me to inflate tires standing up rather than crouching down - I've been very happy. Old guys don't want to strain their knees when out camping. Similarly, I've been happy with the LED light strip I added to the CVT Mt. Shasta RTT. While I didn't write up the mod in any serious way - it just seemed too obvious at the time - it's been really nice to move around in the tent and get…
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TL;DR - I've really liked the ST Maxx tires, but they are on their last legs. Time to start a search for replacements.
Leave a CommentI recently discovered a dreaded gear oil leak on my 4Runner, and knew it meant only one thing - it was time to change the rear axle seals (and bearings and brake shoes since they were now saturated with oil). In addition to the story of the 4Runner repair, and later the Tacoma repair, I figured a detailed set of instructions for anyone wanting to tackle this themselves would be nice to put together, since it's hard to find that written down in one concise place (maybe even impossible before now). This is of course based on two amazing resources -…
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TL;DR - The wheels are awesome and the bronze is a great color IMO. It does not however hold up to brake fluid that sits on the paint for an extended period of time.
Leave a CommentJune 12, 2019. (and really, the preceding two weeks) It's no secret that over the last few years, I've been through quite a few sets of wheels. I started with my stock 15" aluminum alloys, which "had to go" as part of the most expensive brake upgrade ever and resulted in the Tacoma wearing a set of steel wheels for a couple of months. I knew these were temporary - and the long-term solution was yet to come. I knew when I bought them that the SCS Steath6s were the last wheel I'd ever purchase for the Tacoma. I mean, what more could…
29 CommentsMarch 31, 2019. Ever since we picked up the 3rd Gen 4Runner back in September 2018, we knew that it needed some work to really be a viable family adventure vehicle. Some of that work is cosmetic, and some is mechanical - but all of it took a back burner to the various trips that we had planned and the winter weather that prevented too much work on any of the trucks. But now, things are starting to look up for the 4Runner. Spring is here - or at least threatening to be - and it's time to start getting…
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Igor on the left, the Tacoma on the right.
TL;DR - To solve the problem with mud being flung everywhere with my SCS wheels that stuck out past the fender flares, I installed some new-to-me 1999 4Runner wheels on the truck, which sit under the fender flare. This solved the mud issue, but introduced a slight incompatibility with my new ADS front suspension - the tires rub on the shock reservoirs at full lock.
Leave a CommentI love the look of the SCS Stealth6 wheels that I've been running for the last 14 months. The dark bronze and six spokes are fantastic. Even the lug nuts are significantly better than OEM. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I really do like stance added to the truck by the 3.5" backspacing - having the wheels and tires pushed out a bit wider makes the truck look ready for anything. But, I can't stand the mud. That same backspacing that gives the truck a cool stance also pushes the tread of my 255/85R16 Cooper ST…
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TL;DR - I love the look of these Stealth6's, but I'm on the hunt for new wheels; or at least some solution to the amount of mud that gets thrown into/onto the truck when I run around in wet weather.
Leave a CommentThis question is asked often enough that I figured it was finally time to put together an answer that gives lots of information, but that doesn't have to be re-typed again and again. Because that will save everyone a bunch of time, hopefully! So, let's start with the basic question that gets asked: What's the biggest tire I can run on my 1st gen Toyota Tacoma? There are of course variations to this question - some people wonder "with no lift," or "with a 1-3 inch lift," or "without cutting" or "with wheel XYZ" - but in the end, the…
20 CommentsJanuary 12, 2018. The day has arrived, finally. For three months, I've had a set of SCS Stealth6 wheels stacked, in the boxes they arrived in, in the living room. @mrs.turbodb has not been happy. In that time, I've been trying to decide what tires I want to run on those wheels. I knew I wanted 33's, and I knew that I wanted as little rubbing as possible, but that left me with three options: BFG KM2's or KM3's @ 255/85R16 - these have the right profile (tall and skinny) for less rubbing, and a nice aggressive tread pattern, but…
5 CommentsJanuary 6, 2018 For every vehicle I've owned, I've kept a gas/mileage log. Every bit of gas I've put into those vehicles has been recorded - originally into an actual log book, and now directly from the phone into an Excel spreadsheet. There are lots of good reasons to do this - but perhaps the best reason is that gas mileage is a great indicator of overall vehicle health - you should do it for that reason if no other. But I'm a data geek, and recording this mileage info enables my OCD to kick in - to calculate all…
7 CommentsDecember 4, 2017. Having recently installed bigger-than-stock tires, it was of course clear that I needed to do something to get them to fit up front, even before I get my new wheels installed... I mean, they didn't rub when driving on perfectly level ground which was nice, but pair a turn with some articulation of the front suspension and I had a bit of rubbing (just discernible on the bottom of the plastic) in the rear of the wheel well (like everyone). The "normal" solution is to cut out the rear of the fender liner and bash down the…
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