Mud Tires for a Chevy Silverado 1500

Start with what Chevrolet fits

Chevrolet’s 2026 Silverado 1500 configurator lists one standard tire per trim, and most are P-metric highway or all-terrain tires. The WT and LT start on 255/70R17. The RST gets 265/65R18. Custom and LTZ get 275/60R20, and the LT Trail Boss and High Country get an all-terrain in the same size. The two off-road trims are the exceptions: the Custom Trail Boss runs a Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT in LT275/65R18, and the ZR2 a Territory MT in LT275/70R18.

Worked out from the sidewall numbers, the 17-inch tires are about 31.1 inches tall and the ZR2’s is about 33.2. That 2-inch spread matters more than the trim badge when you pick a mud-terrain size.

Standard tires from Chevrolet’s 2026 Silverado 1500 configurator (Crew Cab, short bed), read 30 September 2026. Heights are calculated from the size, not measured.

The load range question, in numbers

Chevrolet’s configurator lists a maximum GVWR of 6,900 lb for a 2WD Crew Cab short bed with the 5.3-litre V8 and 7,200 lb for a 4WD Crew Cab short bed with the 3.0-litre Duramax diesel. At 7,200 lb that is 1,800 lb per corner.

The ZR2’s factory Territory MT in LT275/70R18 is a Load Range C tire, 115/112Q, rated 2,679 lb at 50 psi on tiresize’s figures: 10,716 lb across four, about 1.49 times that 7,200 lb GVWR. A Load Range E mud-terrain in the same size is rated 3,640 lb at 80 psi, 14,560 lb across four, or 2.02 times. That is about 36% more capacity than the factory tire, and a much stiffer casing.

Towing is where the extra capacity gets used. Chevrolet’s 2026 trailering chart tops out at 13,300 lb (Double Cab standard bed, 2WD, Duramax, Max Trailering Package and 20-inch wheels), and a trailer’s tongue weight sits on the rear tires. The ZR2 is rated much lower: 8,800 lb with the 6.2-litre V8 and 8,700 lb with the diesel. If you tow near your truck’s rating, an E casing is capacity you will use. If you never tow, the factory C casing already carries half as much again as the truck is allowed to weigh, and an E mostly buys stiffness you feel on washboard. You rarely get to choose, though: in the sizes below almost every mud-terrain is Load Range E.

The weight penalty

The factory mud-terrains are light for what they are. The ZR2’s LT275/70R18 Territory MT is 50 lb, and the Trail Boss’s LT275/65R18 is 46 lb, on tiresize’s figures.

A Load Range E mud-terrain in the ZR2’s own size weighs 62.3 lb (BFGoodrich KM3) to 66.1 lb (Falken Wildpeak M/T): 12 to 16 lb more per corner. On a Trail Boss, the nearest size we track, LT285/65R18, weighs 62.0 lb (Maxxis RAZR MT) to 67.3 lb (Nitto Trail Grappler): 16 to 21 lb more per corner, roughly 64 to 85 lb of extra unsprung, rotating mass across the truck. Our fuel economy guide covers how that shows up at the pump.

What fits without a lift

Chevrolet publishes no maximum tire size, so we will not invent one. The nearest thing to a stock-suspension limit comes from ReadyLIFT’s 1.5-inch leveling kit for the 2019-on truck, which states a 33×11.50-20 tire on a 20×9 wheel at 0 offset. That kit is not for the Trail Boss or the ZR2, and some wheels need a 6 mm or thicker spacer to clear the brake caliper.

What the numbers do show: on a Trail Boss, LT285/65R18 measures 32.6 to 32.8 inches in the six mud-terrains we track, about half an inch over the factory 32.1. On a ZR2, LT275/70R18 is the factory size, measuring 33.2 to 33.6 inches in the six. On a 17-inch WT or LT, LT285/70R17 measures 32.8 to 33.15 inches, 1.7 to 2.1 inches taller than stock, so check the leveling-kit limit above before you buy.

What a lift actually buys

ReadyLIFT publishes a tire size for each Silverado kit, which makes its claims checkable. Its 4-inch Big Lift for the 2019–2024 Trail Boss (4 inches on top of the factory 2) states a 35×12.50 on a 20×9, 0 offset wheel without trimming, and a 35×12.50 or 325/60R20 on a 20×10, −18 mm wheel with trimming. On 18s, only a −12 mm offset works, and ReadyLIFT does not recommend 18-inch wheels with it. It is not for diesel trucks.

Its 6-inch kit for the 2019–2024 truck states the same tire sizes, but it is not for the Trail Boss, ZR2 or diesel models, or for trucks with Adaptive Ride Control. Both kits say they will not fit late-2024 and 2025 trucks with round U-bolts without a separate part, and ReadyLIFT lists newer kits for 2025–2026 trucks. Check the kit page for your exact truck before you buy anything.

The speedometer

Going from an RST’s 31.6-inch stock tire to an LT275/70R18 measuring 33.2 to 33.6 inches is about 5 to 6.5% taller. From a 31.1-inch 17-inch tire to LT285/70R17 is about 5.6 to 6.7%. The speedometer and odometer read low by the same share, which also skews fuel-economy figures. Our tire size calculator does this arithmetic for any size pair.

What is actually made in Silverado sizes

Of the six mud-terrains we track (BFGoodrich KM3, Nitto Trail Grappler, Toyo Open Country M/T, Falken Wildpeak M/T, Maxxis RAZR MT and Milestar Patagonia M/T-02), these are the sizes that suit a Silverado 1500:

Tire Size (tiresize.com) model specification pages, as collected in our specification dataset. Load is the single-tire rating for the Load Range E version.

Note the last column. A 35×12.50R20 carries 3,195 lb per tire, less than the smaller LT275/65R20 at 3,750. A bigger tire is not automatically a stronger one. The F-rated 35×12.50R20s from Nitto, Toyo, Maxxis and Milestar carry 3,640 lb, and are worth pricing if you tow.

What we would buy

On a Trail Boss: LT285/65R18, in whichever of the six is cheapest that week (the price tracker has dated prices). It is about half an inch taller than the factory tire and carries 3,640 lb in Load Range E.

On a ZR2: stay in LT275/70R18, the factory size, so nothing new rubs and the speedometer stays honest. Pick Load Range E only if you tow near the truck’s 8,700 to 8,800 lb rating; otherwise the factory C casing is lighter and already carries half as much again as the truck.

On a lifted truck with 20s: 35×12.50R20, the size ReadyLIFT states for its 4- and 6-inch kits, after reading the load column above. On a stock-suspension WT, LT, RST, LTZ or High Country, check your leveling kit’s stated maximum before going past about 33 inches.