Hi All. Still lovin' this Xterra since 2012; Tires? and Piston Slap?

Hi all! New here. 2012 Xterra S 4x4. Best vehicle I've ever owned! Bought it new, 110k miles later I hope to keep it for many many more years!

Two questions I had trouble finding information on (little help?)
1. Tires. Need new ones. and looking at options for slightly bigger tires. Tons of info on tires here!!! (Geez) but my question is real simple: OE tires for my Xterra (model S) are 265/70 R16. The Pro-X uses a taller tire (265/75 R16). From reading threads, it seems alot of us are just putting the 265/75/16's on non Pro-X models?? Can we do that? I understand you can't upsize tire height without messing up the speedo/odo and possibly other stuff? I ask, because I'd like to use the Pro-X size tires, but not quite interested in vehicle modifications, or messing anything up.

2. "Piston Slap". No search results come back for that search here. But yet... I know many of us have that noise before engine warms up. I understand it's not possible to fix without a new or rebuild engine. I also understand it's not a big deal; just let the Xterra warm up a bit before driving. What say you? Do you have the noise? Have you done anything to correct it?

Thanks all and sorry to load my questions on the newbie welcome thread. Likely a newbie thing to do. lol!

-James

Welcome in! We like pictures...

You can put any tire on your vehicle that'll physically fit. Yes, the speedo is set up to _expect_ the stock size, so if you put larger/smaller on then the speedo will be off; faster if smaller, slower if larger. That can be mitigated to some effect with gear change in the diff. It doesn't damage the car in any way though.

No opinion on the 2nd note.

Oh my. I don't think I'll be changing any gears in any axles anytime soon. ... or.. do I say that now just because I'm new here and just wait a few months.

Do you know if the 2nd Gen Pro-X has different gearing, braking, suspension, fenders, etc then the other models in order to to accommodate the bigger size OE tires ? Or is it just all computerized parameters?

-James

James said:

Oh my. I don't think I'll be changing any gears in any axles anytime soon. ... or.. do I say that now just because I'm new here and just wait a few months.

Do you know if the 2nd Gen Pro-X has different gearing, braking, suspension, fenders, etc then the other models in order to to accommodate the bigger size OE tires ? Or is it just all computerized parameters?

-James

Click to expand...

The pro4x has an "upgraded suspension", 32" tires and 3.36 gearing(automatic) as opposed to 3.13 on the other models.

You can run 33s with minor modification(see melt mod). Gearing doesn't really become and issue until you go to 35s

Welcome aboard fellow '12 owner! I still love mine as well!

The upgrade from 265/70R16 to 265/75R16 is so small that at 70 mph your speedo will only be off 1-3 mph. There's already a bit of a percent error in any speedo. For instance, I still have the stock size tires on my Xterra, and the speedo is high a couple of mph, compared to a really accurate GPS data logger we compared it against. Even the GPS in a Garmin or even a decent smartphone will be accurate enough to tell you what the difference is at a steady speed.

Also, the speedo correction for a tire size change is a percentage, not a steady mph change across your whole speed range. So if you are 1-2 mph off at highway speeds, you'll be half that at 35 or so.

J Everett said:

The upgrade from 265/70R16 to 265/75R16 is so small that at 70 mph your speedo will only be off 1-3 mph. There's already a bit of a percent error in any speedo. For instance, I still have the stock size tires on my Xterra, and the speedo is high a couple of mph, compared to a really accurate GPS data logger we compared it against. Even the GPS in a Garmin or even en a decent smartphone will be accurate enough to tell you what the difference is at a staeady speed.

Also, the speedo correction for a tire size change is a percentage, not a steady mph change across your whole speed range. So if you are 1-2 mph off at highway speeds, you'll be half that at 35 or so.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Very helpful! And presume I can use my S 4wd stock rims because width (265) and diam (16) are the same? More specifically, the 2012 Pro-4x used the same size rims as the other models correct?

James said:

Thanks! Very helpful! And presume I can use my S 4wd stock rims because width (265) and diam (16) are the same? More specifically, the 2012 Pro-4x used the same size rims as the other models correct?

Click to expand...

Welcome to XN! You are correct. No fitment issues.