New Truck 17" Wheels

[RVhiker]

I'm accustomed to having 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickup trucks. Chevy at least has changed the standard wheel size to 17" on new trucks. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having 17" instead of 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickups?

[Grit_dog]

garry owen wrote:

daamac wrote:
I'm accustomed to having 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickup trucks. Chevy at least has changed the standard wheel size to 17" on new trucks. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having 17" instead of 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickups?

i didn't care for the 17 inch rims and had a chance to get a set of older rims from a earlier model.

16 inch rims. i feel they ride better and caliper clearance is within 1/8 of a inch from the 17's.

now i will have take off tires i can use on my trailer when they get down on tread wear.

Ride better?
Ha, it's your story, tell it how you want. Fwiw, rims don't have a "ride" but tires do!
To dispel another myth, I had tires rated almost 4000lbs on my last 17" rims.
Maybe hard to find in 265/70 size though.

[rhagfo]

daamac wrote:
I'm accustomed to having 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickup trucks. Chevy at least has changed the standard wheel size to 17" on new trucks. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having 17" instead of 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickups?

On your 2500 if you want to change your wheel size skip the 17" and go to 18"! The step from 16" to 17" will cost you tire capacity, going to 18" will be an increase.

[2112]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

2112 wrote:
I'll be buying new tires soon and was thinking of going from 17"to 18" rims.
Will I gain anything going from 17" LT to 18" LT other than pretty new rims?

Best bang would be keep the 17's and upgrade to "E" MS2's.

blt2ski wrote:
For 2112, I would not go to E rated tires on your truck, D or C rated maybe depending upon the payload pkg on your F150. One does not need 12K lbs of tire capacity on a rig usually with 6600-7200 or so lbs of gvw. You will be traveling at 30-40 lbs of psi in the tire, so spend less, take wife out to dinner, and get the lower load range tires of equal size.

Marty

Thanks
I'll keep the 17"s

[blt2ski]

The big reason for larger rims, same diam tire is the brake rotors are bigger.

A couple of other things NOT mentioned so far.
Braking distance is lowered some, probably 5' with 70's vs 75's. As the sidewall is shorter, less shrinking, so braking is better. Same with take off, and traveling, so mpg's are better. Probably a .1-.3 better......but from a manufacture stand point with CAFE points on the line. that can be a lot!

From a driver but stand point, none of the things mentioned are probably super noticeable.

One thing I have personally noticed when switching from higher profile tires to lower, is the front tires do not wear on the outside as bad with lower profile tires. So I get a few more miles per tire set. This is probably because I do a lot of city driving, so more turning, more wear on the front tires, vs some that do mostly interstate straight run driving do not have this issue.

Another problem as noted, one may have to go up a load range to carry the same load, as the load is not carried by the tire itself, but the air inside the tire! This is noted in the 17' vs 16" 300 lbs less for the 17. A D rated 16" is rated to 3000 lbs, or closer to the 17" 3100 lbs rating than the E rated 16" equal at 3400.

For 2112, I would not go to E rated tires on your truck, D or C rated maybe depending upon the payload pkg on your F150. One does not need 12K lbs of tire capacity on a rig usually with 6600-7200 or so lbs of gvw. You will be traveling at 30-40 lbs of psi in the tire, so spend less, take wife out to dinner, and get the lower load range tires of equal size.

Marty

[Cummins12V98]

2112 wrote:
I'll be buying new tires soon and was thinking of going from 17"to 18" rims.
Will I gain anything going from 17" LT to 18" LT other than pretty new rims?

Best bang would be keep the 17's and upgrade to "E" MS2's.

[garry_owen]

daamac wrote:
I'm accustomed to having 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickup trucks. Chevy at least has changed the standard wheel size to 17" on new trucks. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having 17" instead of 16" wheels on 3/4 ton pickups?

i didn't care for the 17 inch rims and had a chance to get a set of older rims from a earlier model.

16 inch rims. i feel they ride better and caliper clearance is within 1/8 of a inch from the 17's.

now i will have take off tires i can use on my trailer when they get down on tread wear.

[BenK]

Driven by the Fashion Statement Crowd...Laughable when they first
came out

Larger dia brake disc does have a longer moment, but centrifugal
forces becomes an issue. Think larger fly wheel needing more braking
to slow/stop...even though longer moment (lever arm)

Other issues crop up with larger dia disc made of cast iron and
is the fly apart speed is approached and dependent on the tires
revs per mile or dia.

The big one for the Fashion Statement Crowd is reduced 'ride quality'
with the higher weight of larger dia wheels and brake discs

As for the load rating of both the wheel and tire...in the early
stages of transition to larger dia had limited sources and options
At very high prices

Now the choices and prices have come down a bit

With the masses going towards this type of 'look', choices and
ratings are coming up there.

Personally, I like 16's and the look it has on a TRUCK...

[2112]

I'll be buying new tires soon and was thinking of going from 17"to 18" rims.
Will I gain anything going from 17" LT to 18" LT other than pretty new rims?

[rhagfo]

dockmasterdave wrote:
My 2014 F 150 came with 18" wheels.
The tires are rated for about 2200lbs each. GVWR just over 7K
You may want to look at the specific application, not everyone else's.
Not all XX" tires have the same load ratings.
Some of my trailers have the 15" wheels that used to be common on 1/2 ton trucks. Now those tires are getting harder to find.
Ordering 16" instead of the stock 17" may bite you in the axx later.

Likely your F150 has "P" rated tires, "E" rated tires carry a higher load rating.

[dockmasterdave]

My 2014 F 150 came with 18" wheels.
The tires are rated for about 2200lbs each. GVWR just over 7K
You may want to look at the specific application, not everyone else's.
Not all XX" tires have the same load ratings.
Some of my trailers have the 15" wheels that used to be common on 1/2 ton trucks. Now those tires are getting harder to find.
Ordering 16" instead of the stock 17" may bite you in the axx later.

[rhagfo]

daamac wrote:

APT wrote:
Oh, I think I misunderstood. You are looking at replacing your 2008 with a new 2015/16 and 17" are the smallest offered. The brakes on 2015 (maybe starting in 2011?) are larger, thus 16" wheels do not fit.

That's the deal. My current tires, LT265/75 R16 E have a load rating of 3415 pounds. I thought (incorrectly?) that tires that fit on larger diameter wheels on a pickup had a lower load rating. Wrong?

Only if you step up to 18" rims!!!

17" tires have a LOWER rating for the same width!!

265/75-16E = 3,415#

265/70-17E = 3,195#!

[RVhiker]

APT wrote:
Oh, I think I misunderstood. You are looking at replacing your 2008 with a new 2015/16 and 17" are the smallest offered. The brakes on 2015 (maybe starting in 2011?) are larger, thus 16" wheels do not fit.

That's the deal. My current tires, LT265/75 R16 E have a load rating of 3415 pounds. I thought (incorrectly?) that tires that fit on larger diameter wheels on a pickup had a lower load rating. Wrong?

[rhagfo]

APT wrote:
Newer vehicles weight more, thus the trend of larger brake hardware in order to provide the same or shorter stopping distances. While you may not like or care about the appearance, much of the market does.

My third comment in tongue in cheek.

You may be able to find 16" wheels that fit your truck. Is it the 2008 Silverado in your signature? Tirerack for example lists many 16" wheel choices. Junk yards should also have used OEM wheels that fit.

Since you got what you got,I would not spend much in changing that size unless appearance was your main goal. Tire costs for the same tire in the sizes rhagfo listed are not significantly different enough to justify new wheels.

Edit: Oh, I think I misunderstood. You are looking at replacing your 2008 with a new 2015/16 and 17" are the smallest offered. The brakes on 2015 (maybe starting in 2011?) are larger, thus 16" wheels do not fit.

If looking new go to 18" wheels, not for looks, but as stated eariler tire weight capacity. The 18" tire have more more weight capacity then the 16", and way more than the 17".

[APT]

Newer vehicles weight more, thus the trend of larger brake hardware in order to provide the same or shorter stopping distances. While you may not like or care about the appearance, much of the market does.

My third comment in tongue in cheek.

You may be able to find 16" wheels that fit your truck. Is it the 2008 Silverado in your signature? Tirerack for example lists many 16" wheel choices. Junk yards should also have used OEM wheels that fit.

Since you got what you got,I would not spend much in changing that size unless appearance was your main goal. Tire costs for the same tire in the sizes rhagfo listed are not significantly different enough to justify new wheels.

Edit: Oh, I think I misunderstood. You are looking at replacing your 2008 with a new 2015/16 and 17" are the smallest offered. The brakes on 2015 (maybe starting in 2011?) are larger, thus 16" wheels do not fit.