Pavement Princess gets new 33x11.5" glass slippers

[97CargoCrawler]

33X11.5R16 Thorbird TSL's by Interco on Pro Comp 7069 Wheels, 16X8 4"BS -11mm offset flat black (The tire specifies 16X9 wheel but Interco's website says 16X8 is fine):











A quarter:




Here's a comparison of three tires. Left to right we have 31X10.5 BFG Mud Terrain KM (no longer available), 33X11.5 Interco Thornbird and 33X12.5 BFG All Terrain T/A KO's:



Here's another comparison shot next to the 31X10.5 BFG Mud Terrain T/A KM2's that I have on the van right now:





Does the glass slipper fit?



Indeed!



Quite well in fact, I was shocked! I could run these right now with a little trimming and no extra lift!







Clearance with current lift (drivers side wheel):

Wheel straight ahead:



Wheel turned full lock to left:





Full lock right:







Nothing touches! The wheel is about 3" away from the sway bar at full lock!

Hub to fender distance is about 23" with my current lift (4" spindles, 2" blocks and 1.5" cargo coils). Once I put in the 3" lift HD coils I might have something that looks more like this:



I don't think I will need to trim much, if anything. I used a jack under the frame for that pic.

OK, back to current lift pix with no jack....









Rear wheel clearance with current lift (2" shackles and 4" HD spring pack):





If I swapped my spring hanger around and centered the axle I could runs these right now.





They stick out a few inches (yes I know the slider door is gonna be a problem):





The new wheel is so big you can see the van tilting:



I love the way they look and I'm pretty happy with the fitment. I won't be running these until I lift the van a bit more. I have an AAL to put on back with maybe a block spacer and new coils for the front. I'm hoping for at least 2" more, maybe 3". I'm going to have a lot more weight in my van pretty soon so I need to account for that too.

Reviews on the Thornbird tires are pretty bad. They slip in mud, snow and water. They are loud and hard to balance. These tires are not for everyone. I live in CA and my van is a DD on pavement 99% of the time. The only thing I will encounter is some rain on occasion. They work great on rocks, dirt and sand. I'm taking a bit of a gamble on these tires. They do look awesome. For most they may be as practical as a glass slipper. For my situation I think they will work just fine.

If you're gonna dream, dream BIG!

[astroturf]

D A M N . . .

How did they balance out? How much weight per? They look awesome!

Congrats, Jim

PS How has the TPMS worked? Thanks

[97CargoCrawler]

They balanced OK. I confirmed with the tech that these tires do not balance very well. There are quite a few weights on the back, enough for 50 guys to go fishing.

The TPMS works! I actually sat in the van and watched the readings pop up as the guy was filling the tires with air. The guy was about 500ft away filling the tires as I was watching the numbers pop up!





It's going to come in real handy with these tires.

Of course I took it apart too to see what makes it tick:



I see TXD and RXD pads on the board so maybe I can interface it with a computer if I can figure out what kind of data protocol it uses.

[krsowles]

Sweet looking tires! Curious what you think of them cause it is what I'm looking at for my Jeep. My tires getting a little embarrassing!

[T.Low]

Thats it. What's your address; I'm moving in next door. You are the Phashizzle! I so want to be your neighbor.

Parking that van in the anyone's yard would instantly raise the property value. Can I get a "Hell Yeah!" ?


What's the status of your old tires? Wornout? (how many miles?) Just bored?


Feel free to post a few pics from even a little further back to get a good sense of the macro view, if you've got some.

Awesome.

[mdmead]

Wow, pretty impressive!

That is one mean look.

I'm not a fan of black wheels, but those coated ones look good on a white van. (And would look real good on my white Bronco!)

[97CargoCrawler]

Thank you Gentlemen!

Unfortunately I do not have any pix from a distance. I had to park close to the garage because the middle of the driveway has a dip in the concrete for irrigation. I wasn't able to get the jack high enough in that dip to get the 33's on! Sorry 'bout that.

My front tires look like cones right now because the guys I relied on for my alignment were morons. Next time I'll do it myself. The rears are almost new. I just bought them last year, January and they only have maybe 1K miles on them. By the time these 33's are ready to go on my front tires should be garbage. I'm purposely not rotating them this time around because I don't want 4 coned shaped tires. Not sure what I'll do with the rears and wheels yet. Maybe get another van since I have enough add-ons laying around for two.

I think these are probably the most aggressive "street" tire you can get. Interco advertises them as a mud tire made for street use. The TSL's (triple side lugs) only kick into action once the wheel sinks into some mud. Then they act like paddles. On the street those lugs only serve to grab curbs, take out the sides of other cars, make noise and give off a feeling of I'd better get the hell out of the way. I will be anxious to try them in some mud. But not until my gears, posi and winch are installed. I also need to fix my alignment, but I'm not going to bother with that until after the new coils and BJ spacers are in. I have a lot of work to do before I can use these wheels.

[astrozam]

Meaty beaty big and bouncy

[completetech]

Very nice.

Two questions...1 where did the front turn signals come from? And 2. Same for the from grill/bumper push bar on the front

[97CargoCrawler]

You mean in my sig photo? Sorry dude, those Ambers are photoshopped along with all the lights and winch on the grille guard. If you want that look you need to paint them.

The guard is real. I bought it on Ebay. I wasn't a name brand guard as far as I can remember. I have the install instructions for it and there is no brand name on those. It was for a 2500HD or 3500HD series Chevy truck. They have roughly the same front end dimensions as our vans. I bought it like 5 years ago so I don't even know if the same guy is still selling them. Do a little research on front end dimensions and you should be able to make an informed purchase. You will of course need to fab up all the mounts for it. I was lucky and mine came with bracketry that I was able to rework and make fit with some cutting, re-drilling and welding. The guard was like $300 shipped which was crazy at the time and even more so now. Surprisingly it is pretty heavy duty. The uprights are 1/4" thick as well as all of the brackets. I could easily mount a winch on it. Especially since now all of the brackets are welded to my bumper relocation brackets:











I do have all of those lights shown in the photo and they will be going on this summer along with dual HID headlights:

[snapple]

Thats it. What's your address; I'm moving in next door. You are the Phashizzle! I so want to be your neighbor.

Parking that van in the anyone's yard would instantly raise the property value. Can I get a "Hell Yeah!" ?


What's the status of your old tires? Wornout? (how many miles?) Just bored?


Feel free to post a few pics from even a little further back to get a good sense of the macro view, if you've got some.

Awesome.

HELL YEAHHHHH!!

[doyoulikeithere]

Sorry but I cant help but wonder - if it were to get 2 flat tires on the same side, would it simply flop over? LOL...
Especially, with 600 pounds of roof rack filled with gear on the roof (from the PP roof rack thread).
IMHO, if I saw this 2 wheel drive van pull up somewhere, and I saw a really short guy get out of it, I would laugh shake my head and say Oh That explains it.
BTW, those guys who aligned your front end, the ones you called morons, well, I'm sure they have a side to that story too.

[97CargoCrawler]

You are always trying to start some kind of shit. Look back on your life, I'm sure this behavior repeats itself over and over. Grade school, employment, life.

doyouthinkIcare

[H2OJoe]

Crawler that is going to be one badass looking van. Hell it looks bad enough right now. Please keep us
informed. You might want to buy the lot next door and set up camping pads for when we all come over
to oogle your van.

Joe

[97CargoCrawler]

Pack your bags.