I'm definately putting on a 3" Suspension lift sometime in late December or early January. My question is for you guys running 32's or 33's, how much power was lost? Obviously the X was not made for horsepower with it's puny 180hp SOHC engine. Is there a huge difference? Also, there are mixed reviews as to rather or not 33's(285/75/16) will fit up under an 04' Xterra with just a 3" suspension lift without metal trimming. What's the real answer. Thanks guys.

Alpine Spirit ran a 3" SL for a while and wheeled hard with 285's with no problems. It depends on your wheel backspacing. The closer to stock, the better. Hell, a 31" tire will rub with an 8" wheel. A 285 is closer to a 33x 11.50, 305/70 is closer to a 33x12.50. If you are in altitude, 33's zap what's left of any power, esp. with an auto. For around town driving it's ok. There is always a compromise between street drivability and off-road performance.

I run the TrXus 265/75 R16s which measure 31.9". When wheeling hard they rub for sure, not enough to damage anything but they do give a loud rumble (mostly in the back) that lets me know I am stuffed. I would not even consider a bigger tire without a body lift.

As for power with 32s I don't think you will notice much difference at all really.

If you were on a 10 speed bike, it feels about like you are one gear higher than the one you're in...so you're in 8th, and it feels like you're in 9th.

That's my attempt at perspective.

This doesn't bother me, and its not that big a deal considering I rarely need more ooomph than that....albeit even the stock gears and tires leave other's whining about the X being too slow, etc...

I do enjoy the extra traction of the 305/70/16's on the road though, my braking and handling is much better than with the Generals.



For 33's....they stuff up the same as stock...so, you need a 2" BL, or bumpstop extensions to prevent hitting on compression.

I did the 2" BL, as I wanted to preserve articulation....a few hours of work with a few freinds, and it was on....2" for about $150-ish, not too bad.

Between 31" A/T's and 32" M/T's it's pretty significant, FWIW. I run both and on a steep mountain pass it's the difference between going up the hill in 4th gear or having to drop to 3rd. It also equates to about a 3 MPG fuel mileage decrease.

But, my Xterra is about 700 lbs overweight, so maybe on one that isn't so heavy the difference would be less.