Why are wheels so big? (Truck Edition)

When I ordered my F-150, I got every option except nav and the stupid 20" chrome wheels. I stuck with the standard 17" aluminum ones, which look fine to me, give a better ride, and will cost me less when it comes time to buy tires.

I agree with the thread drift regarding bloat of the trucks, and the remarkable height of the beds.

But, when offroading, or even driving around in the back field, having larger diameter tires makes it a whole lot easier to get around and not get stuck in holes and ruts.

No arguement that many of the trucks are posers and have never seen even a dirt road.

I "upgraded" from 17" steelies with chrome caps that were 17x8 to Denali 17's that were 17x8 and went from a 245/70/17 tire to a 265/65/17.

I won't buy 20's.

xflowgolf wrote: From a design perspective..EVERYTHING on trucks has gotten bigger. The wheelwell and wheel arch are drawn in such a way that even 20's on a fullsize truck don't look big anymore, just adequate to fill the arches. Model bloat. Most truck 20's though still have plenty of tire on them to prevent pothole damage. Large wheels aren't in and of themselves bad. Big rigs run 22.5's and 24.5's quite reliably.

This is what I'm looking at. The trucks wheelwells are huge. The beds are way too high.

Maybe I'm thinking more in the lines of 22"+ wheels. The tires are just too low of a profile for me on a truck.

I built a K5 Blazer with 40" tires(off-roaded as often as I could)... Mounted on 15"s. No one ever said "Cool truck man, but your wheels are tiny!"

Other thing is brakes. I bet 99% of the new trucks out there can no longer fit 15's because brakes have grown bigger along with everything else.

I can imagine moar brakes is not such a bad thing for heavy duty towing.

RossD wrote: I bought a used '06 F150 with 20" wheels and I like how it looks. Although, it makes tires expensive and hard to find. When I had my steel 18" spare on, I thought that it looked better. I have thoughts of just getting all spare wheels to cut down on tire replacement costs, then sell the 20"s. As for the weiner comments, my girlfriend is not complaining... And yes my truck has been stuck in the mud, is often dirty and full of truck type cargo.

Those don't look horrible, but I will go with you on the expensive tires.

My favorite is people who lower a truck making the payload 200lbs, the bottom line is people buy trucks as an accessory/jewelery. The good news is the metal mulisha and monster energy stickers are a factory option to show how you, despite not riding dirt bikes, are BAD! I think a sideways is also optioned as is a bad attitude. How many new trucks do you see out there with dings and dents and a beat up bed? Not many right. Some people actually use their trucks to haul goods and services, soil and cement, parts and tools. Other people buy a truck for heated/cooled leather seats, magnaflow muffler and 20" rims.

This is one of the reasons I'm pondering replacing my rotting 97 f150 with another 97. Right now the shifter kart stand at the perfect height to slide right into the back.

On the flip side 23mpg for a new '50 is pretty damned tempting when I get 15 currently.. on the highway... unloaded.. and is gutless to boot. Stupid 4.6L motor.. with only 16 valves... and no PI heads... and a 3.08 rear end.

Back on topic, even in 97 the stock 16's look TINY in the wheel wells, but I'd rather have a properly reading speedometer than have wheels/tires that look "right". As it was my wife was doing 20 over on a regular basis on the interstate because the tires were so much taller.

Did they also design pickups with these high belt lines and the rear ends jacked up so high, so when you put a trailer on the back, the truck looks level? Because that's the only reason i can think of.

benzbaron wrote: My favorite is people who lower a truck making the payload 200lbs, the bottom line is people buy trucks as an accessory/jewelery. The good news is the metal mulisha and monster energy stickers are a factory option to show how you, despite not riding dirt bikes, are BAD! I think a sideways is also optioned as is a bad attitude. How many new trucks do you see out there with dings and dents and a beat up bed? Not many right. Some people actually use their trucks to haul goods and services, soil and cement, parts and tools. Other people buy a truck for heated/cooled leather seats, magnaflow muffler and 20" rims.

I lowered my 89 fullsize, added a rear sway bar and wider tires and still carried 1800lbs of rock in the bed multiple times. It handled SOOO good for something that size. It just needed some more power... that 4.3L V6 was a good engine, but 3.08 rear gears and a 5spd manual killed it! But it would run 110 quite easily.... or so I was told

Now that you mention it, the 17's on my 250 diesel do look small.

Having owned multiple full size trucks, bigger is always better.

I can not imagine that Blazer with 40" tires on 15" rims handling at all with 12.5" sidewalls. Understand that handling is relative, but with big mash mellow tires with soft sidewalls would have to make the thing feel floaty.

DaveEstey wrote: Now that you mention it, the 17's on my 250 diesel do look small.

That looks normal to me.

Normal or not, I enjoy the cheaper tires!

benzbaron wrote: Other people buy a truck for heated/cooled leather seats, magnaflow muffler and 20" rims.

Hey! I love my heated and cooled leather seats!

You won't see mine all beat up, though I do use it for towing and hauling. But I paid over $40k for it, so I plan on taking care of it and keeping it looking nice for years to come. I see it as protecting my investment. And it'll tow and haul just as much clean as it will dirty.

As far as the diameter thing, I'm pretty sure that the OD of the tires is the same from one option package to another on the same truck. By getting 17s, I just have taller sidewalls. I learned my lesson my last truck, I had an 07 with the same wheels as the 06 FX4 posted earlier. They did look good, but then I had to drop a grand on new tires. That stung a little.

benzbaron wrote: My favorite is people who lower a truck making the payload 200lbs, the bottom line is people buy trucks as an accessory/jewelery.

I've lowered many trucks and they still hauled/towed everything I asked them to (and would have regardless of height). From ATVs and dirt bikes to engines/car parts and building supplies. But I love customs regardless of make or model. And I love custom trucks.

Like this:

we lowered our f-150 when we had it. and still managed to have over 2k lbs in the bed multiple times and tow a trailer over 8k lbs multiple times never had a problem. added bags to the back that could be pumped up when i needed pay load. and if im not wrong the most current f350 comes with 22.5's and the 20's on like a toyota tundra are like 265 60 r20 meaning they are just huge.... same sidewall as most trucks had in 98

For an offroad vehicle you want bigass tires and small rims. Smaller is basically better, it means more room for tire meat. When you hit 17" your offroad tire options disappear, 13" -16" is the butterzone, 15" and 16" being the most popular.

I stand corrected, I just figured the rear suspension needed some compliance to hold a load. I see trucks around here slammed to the ground and just though there was no way you could haul, I must be wrong. I guess the trick must be to set the rear suspension up correctly after lowering.

benz yep if you do it correctly no loss whatsoever. infact if you do it right itll still ride good too. most of the time people dont do it right,. dont get shortened shocks and end up with a vehicle with the shocks being basically hydraulically locked up and a terrible ride. like a 97 f-150 when done correctly can be lowered 4 in the front and 5 in the back and still have 5 inches of up travel in the back and 4 of up in the front

I guess I'm a little poser-ish. My Ramcharger has 2" lift and 33/12.5r15 tires. I just like the stance. I don't have any plans on going any more off-road than my gravel road at the house.
I hope the new wheels and tires and a new steering shaft help the ride and handling though because it is a handful on the road.

Bonus(?): I checked the shipping status on UPS. I ordered from TireRack on Sunday night and they are supposed to be here tomorrow. Each wheel and tire combo (4 tracking numbers) weighs in at 72 lbs!

In reply to rmarkc:

What did you get for wheels and tires?

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to rmarkc: What did you get for wheels and tires?

4 15x10 AR AR23 SDC

4 33X12.50R-15 Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac C