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 Post subject: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:59 am 
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Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:30 pm
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Location: Henderson, NV 89052
Wheels: 16'' vs 17''

Hello all. I have a general question. Right now I am running 15'' wheels. My tires do not have much life left and was looking into getting a new tire and wheel combo.

Right now I am running 31x10.50 on a 15x7'' wheel.

For the type of off-road driving we do as a club, would there be any advantages / disadvantages to running 16'' or 17'' wheel verses my current 15''?

Thanks for taking the time to read my question.

-Walter

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:21 pm 
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Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:36 pm
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Location: Las Vegas
I've always run my 15" steel wheels from 28" to 35". I still love them.

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:56 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:42 pm
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Location: Cookeville, Tennessee
15's are cheaper, hold more air plus more sidewall make for a smoother ride. Those are my thoughts.

This may explain it better then I can.



Aspect Ratio - A tire’s aspect ratio is the distance from the ground to the wheel in relation to the width of the tire. Extreme off-road tires generally have a very high aspect ratio, while street tires have a much lower ratio. In the off-roading world, a higher ratio means more sidewall surface and flexibility, which allows the tire to better conform to the various and unusual surface shapes for improved traction. This flexibility is exactly what you would not want in a street tire. In recent years, larger wheel s have become commonplace in off-roading. When the wheel size is increased and the tire’s diameter stays the same, the tire’s aspect ratio is decreased. If a 37” diameter tire is the desired size for your vehicle and you use a 15” wheel, upgrading to an 18” wheel will reduce the aspect ratio. With lower aspect ratio tires, you will have a more grounded vehicle that is a lot less squirmy. The tradeoff is a little less flexibility when off-roading, but improvements in street performance and fuel economy.

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:45 pm 
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Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:30 pm
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Location: Henderson, NV 89052
Thanks for the detailed responses. I have not purchased tires for this truck in over a decade. I am amazed at how much things have changed, and not always for the better. Seems like the bigger rims (17+) are more show and for street performance. I think I am going to stay with my 15'' rims for now. Thanks again. :-)

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:32 pm 
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15's are still the best option but a lot of companies such as Nitto are not making tires for anything smaller than a 17.

Think of it this way. 35" tire on a 15" rim gives you 10" of sidewall. on a 16" gives 9.5" and on a 17" gives a 9" sidewall.


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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:48 pm 
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Location: Lost Wages
The rule of thumb many of the off-road magazines tout is do not have a rim bigger than 50% of the tire diameter.
My thoughts on it are it all depends on what your future plans are. If you are staying on 31's then I would stick with a 15" wheel. If you are looking at going bigger, then 17's wont be an issue. And as others stated, it will get harder to find 15" tires.
I would skip 16" all together. I don't think that is a size that will be well supported for long.

As far as upgrades go, I almost ran into an issue when I upgraded the Jeep to the Vanco brake system before I sold it. I got really lucky that the 15" wheels I had were designed in a way that they barely cleared the calipers by 1/8". But most 15" wouldn't work.
So if you plan on increasing your braking capability, you may want to consider jumping up in wheel size.


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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 10:30 am 
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Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:30 pm
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Location: Henderson, NV 89052
Great insight. I blew the sidewall out while on i215, and started thinking of future plans for the 4Runner. 20 years ago I had an 1984 Toyota X-Cab. I ran a 35" bfg on a 15x10 rim. I needed 7" of lift to clear them which would be way too tall for me now. With this 4Runner, I would like to go with more of an expedition type vehicle.

As I began the tire research, I first started to look at factory Toyota wheels. I wanted the truck to still look as factory as possible. This is when I noticed that there were 16" and 17" rims available. I used the google machine to do some research which was pretty much echoed on this post.

If money was not an object, I would get a nice looking factory Toyota 16" rim/wheel and get a set of bfg 265/75R16 (31.7x10.4R16) . I like the size of approx 32x10 which is a size I can not find in a 15". (The closest I can get is either my current 31x10.50r15 or 33x10.50r15 which would require a lift kit and/or fender trimming). The 32x11.50R15 is available but does require getting a new set of rims. On some forums, a few people claim to have installed them on 15x7 rim with no issues while most have said that tire shops refuse to install on a 15x7 rim because the required rim width is 8-10".

With the expedition type build, I want to do a mild lift, winch, rock sliders, lockers, and possibly a new gear ratio since the third member will already be apart for the lockers. Tires and wheels are the first step :-)

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:11 pm 
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I'm running 285/75/16 BFG KO2's now.

Some things though to take into account at least as far as my Jeep WJ goes

The tire is 11.2" wide. This causes it to rub on the swaybar and control arm/inner fender. To fix this you have to either run a different offset or use a spacer. Either option though will require trimming of the fenders.

Now that being said, there are now 2 more sizes in the 16" from BFG.

245/75/16 30.4"/9.8"/16"
265/75/16 31.6"/10.5"/16"

When I bought mine those sizes were not available otherwise I probably would have gone with the 265 one as that would require the least amount of work to make usable on my jeep.

So why am I telling you this? Well as you know, I'm building my WJ for Expedition stuff as well hence the roof mounted tent ;)


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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:47 pm 
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Hi Walter I sent you an e-mail

ed beaumont

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 Post subject: Re: Wheels: 16'' vs 17''
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:41 pm 
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Ed: PM sent. Hope it gets there. To confirm, my email address is wdcroley@netzero.net.
:D

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