Jeez, ease up. The folks are trying to find out what works and what doesn't ... Some will toss in anecdotal comments and we'll breeze right through them. Others will throw numbers at it as we may read it a bit more carefully. Why the nasty tone ...
In the end, it's all about application and use. There are lots of pickups out there with what are basically passenger car tires. 2-ply sidewall, very flexy and soft. Nice ride, but no durability or load carrying capability and poor handling (think Firestone and roll-over Exploders ...). If the need is to haul, go to a LT tire first. Up the load rating, not the overall rolling diameter.
If the vehicle has power to spare, upping the diameter by 1/2 inch or so may make it more enjoyable on the road, especially if you can reset your apparent final using the ECU programing. That way your engine will be happier and your speedo will be on.
Going for ground clearance and approach/departure angles is a thing for off-roaders. No harm, if done right. Also depends on if you have a two-speed transfer case... A lot of off roaders will take the highway hit because they can Lo-Range it off road and they'll have enough torque to roll the bigger rubber.
Yeah, tall narrow is best in most situations but sand. Sand is all about foot print area and tread/terrain conformance. The finer the sand, the bigger overall (both height and width) the tire needs to be. I have 265 70's on my big bronco, and even at 12 psi, they were marginal in the Oregon Dunes in some back country slip-faces with fine sand.
It's a bummer getting down into a bowl and finding out you don't have enough tire to climb back out ... But this is entirely different than highway performance.
The OP might be right, but I have never been happy with OEM tires on most trucks. I might not go much taller, but Ill usually go a bit wider and reach for more sidewall durability, even if the ride suffers a bit ...
