Pros and cons on replacing 17" wheels and tires with 19.5"
Just want to see if there are any negatives and positives besides cost. It is time to get new tires for my 2006 3500 Dodge Mega cab. Thanks
Forum Discussion
d3500ram wrote:
I went through this dilemma in trying to figure out the best options for me. In the end, I went with a one-size larger tire as noted in sig. The larger Load Index gave me the comfort I needed for the weights after a very thorough analysis. I could never find an actual documented capacity of factory wheels but I could safely assume that factory rims will be at least capable of the tires around them from the factory.
This is probably the most cost effective and reasonable solution. I did this on my F250 as well. Went form 275 to 285 tires.
Depending on what current wheels you have, you could very affordably buy some OEM wheels on Ebay from people that have upgraded their wheels.
I got a 5th OEM wheel to match my wheels, and bought 5x 285 sized tires for the truck when I got new tires.
Generally, you will gain a couple of hundred lbs if you go one width size up. Not shilling for a particular manufacturers, but I'm quite happy with the Nitto Terra Grappler G2 tires that I got.
I went from 275/70R18 to 285/65R18, keeping the weight rating at 3640 per tire. Went with the 65 ratio sidewall for garage clearance reasons and to have a stiffer sidewall. If I had gone to a 285/75R18 tires, I would have gained 400 lbs in tire weight capacity. Those are 4080 lbs each I believe.
However, there was no real point to doing that, as it would have potentially created garage clearance problems, the wheels are only rated to 3590 lbs, and I don't carry that level of weight.
In the end, it was a no-brainer. I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing with the 17" wheels also. ***Edit*** Upon looking further for you, it looks like the selection of tires for 17" wheels is limited, so you may have to search and do more research.
However, for the price of maybe 2 of those 19.5" wheels, you could more than likely get 4 OEM 18" leftover wheels for your truck on E-bay. Much better tire selection for 18" wheels than for 17" wheels. You could probably sell your 17" wheels on E-bay, or sell them locally. Up to you.
