Forum Discussion

anutami's avatar
anutami
Explorer III
Jan 08, 2017

20" wheels vs 18" wheels for XTC

Looking at upgrading to a 3500 Ram and notice they offer a 20" wheel/tire option.

Curious what opinions are on how well these wheels and tires would handle offroad with of course our 3k lb camper, protruding boulders, washboard roads and heavy sand areas we frequent vs the standard 18" wheel/tires. Is there a decent selection of E rated tires?

20" sport package option, sidewalls look thin


Standard 18" wheel/tire


Thnx in advance
Truck Campers
  • Second_Chance's avatar
    Second_Chance
    Explorer II
    Jan 08, 2017
    You'll find the selection of load range E tires extremely limited in the 20" wheel size. My truck came stock with the 20" option and I wish it hadn't. The remarks above about lower profile tires and decreased load capacity are correct.

    Rob
  • towpro's avatar
    towpro
    Explorer
    Jan 08, 2017
    Boy i would take that Pre DEF Ram junk line with a grain of salt.

    I been doing Diesel since the 70's and I skipped that whole revision from 2007 that did not use DEF.
  • hedge's avatar
    hedge
    Explorer
    Jan 08, 2017
    I don't offroad like you do but when I went from 18" rims to 20" rims I noticed no difference at all.
  • burningman's avatar
    burningman
    Explorer II
    Jan 08, 2017
    I'd go with the 18s, because for off-roading I consider even those too big.
    The truck probably needs at least 18s to clear the brakes though.
    No real off-roaders run big-diameter rims with short sidewalls.

    You might also look into buying a nice low mileage pre-DEF emissions junk nightmare Ram instead of a new one before you give up your '01 Ford, which is an excellent truck itself.
  • Buzzcut1's avatar
    Buzzcut1
    Nomad II
    Jan 08, 2017
    less sidewall usually means less footprint when you air dowm in the soft stuff

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