Help me decide between 17/18 or 20" wheels

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Adam Moskowitz

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What's up guys..still between a rock and a hard place on which way to go with my truck. 74 crew cab, 7" of lift with a duramax, one tons, etc. I found the wheels I'm going to get but I can't decide which size. I'm personally a fan of wheels that have some kind of lip (minimal backspacing) but the wheels I want only come with low backspacing if I go with a 20" wheel. If I go with a 17 or 18, they have a lot more backspacing. I will be running a 37 or 38/13.50 tire. Anyone have any pictures or suggestions on which to go with? I mainly just haven't seen enough to decide between the two. Will mainly be my daily driver but I do go offroading
 

Kyle Childress

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What's up guys..still between a rock and a hard place on which way to go with my truck. 74 crew cab, 7" of lift with a duramax, one tons, etc. I found the wheels I'm going to get but I can't decide which size. I'm personally a fan of wheels that have some kind of lip (minimal backspacing) but the wheels I want only come with low backspacing if I go with a 20" wheel. If I go with a 17 or 18, they have a lot more backspacing. I will be running a 37 or 38/13.50 tire. Anyone have any pictures or suggestions on which to go with? I mainly just haven't seen enough to decide between the two. Will mainly be my daily driver but I do go offroading

20x10 with 35x12.5R20 tires, 4" all spring lift, my truck is strictly on road, maybe in 4wd everyonce in a while. If I was doing heavy offroading Id of went with a 17" max.

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77 K20

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Look at tire options also. I believe 17" tires have the most sizes/selection to choose from.
 

squarebodyparry

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I have a set of 17 inch rims on my cummins and have always liked more tire to rim ratio. Bought a set of open countries off a guy that had 20" rims on the already. They are starting to grow on me. I have a set of 18 rims for mudding. These rims have a -24 offset

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dvdswan

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Personally, I'm not a fan of the larger rims, I guess I just go back to my younger offroading days and tire contact and sidewall grip with lowered psi in the tires. Maybe it because of some lifted trucks that get larger rims and then put on low profile tires. Makes them look like the truck forgot to do its leg workout at the gym.


The two trucks pictured above, not my cup of tea but they are still bada$$ looking trucks.

What does matter, how YOU want your truck/vehicle to look. If you like it and other people don't, that's their problem not yours. Their opinion doesn't matter. It's YOUR truck!
 

Craig 85

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I just got tires and wheels on my truck last week. I'm old school. I couldn't find the wheels I liked in 17's, so I stuck with 16x10 with 4.5" BS. Tires are 305/70's. This will at least give you some perspective of wheel depth and how far they stick out past the fender. My rear tread is flush with the wheel well trim. The front tread sticks out about 1/2". If you're looking at a 13.50", the tread would be out of the front fenders about an inch.

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shiftpro

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I still prefer 16" x8" with 4.5" backspacing, even running 35" rugs. Keeps the rim well protected. And I like the looks. Actually prefer the 16.5s but tire sizes are hard to find, unless you're like me and dig BFG All Terrians which several come in 16.5s.
I guess I could live with 17s... as long as they had my preferred backspacing.
Also really pisses me off that the larger rims and tires go up in price so dramatically.
 

RecklessWOT

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If you're going to be running something as large as 38s then there might be enough tire to look proportionate, but IMO large wheels and thin sidewalls just looks really tacky on a truck. On a sports car I understand the handling benefits, but on a big lifted truck it looks wrong to me.

And even if you have enough rubber to not look cheesy it makes the truck look less beefy despite having the same overall tire size. When you step back and look at the truck as a whole you can tell it's huge, but looking at the pictures above of the trucks with 20's if you focus on the wheels themselves it gives the illusion of not being huge. Looking at the 33x12.5x15s on my truck are the opposite, they look HUGE but when parked next to a brand new pickup truck I realize that our tires are practically the same size. If you convert the stock tire sizes on some brand new trucks they're already running 32, 33, 35 inch tires, but they're wrapped around big rims and tucked up neatly in the wheel openings rather than having big fat sidewalls and sticking out under the truck. Long story short, why spend big money on wheels and tires if they're only gonna look as cool as the stock wheels on a newer truck. If I wanted that look I wouldn't be driving around a 30something year old truck.

My personal tastes aside here are a few things to consider- tires for larger rim sizes are more expensive and there are less options. Also, the thinner the sidewalls the stiffer the ride. These trucks already ride like bricks especially with a suspension lift, more rubber under you would help soak up some the bumps in the road.
 

4WDKC

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If you're going to be running something as large as 38s then there might be enough tire to look proportionate, but IMO large wheels and thin sidewalls just looks really tacky on a truck. On a sports car I understand the handling benefits, but on a big lifted truck it looks wrong to me.

And even if you have enough rubber to not look cheesy it makes the truck look less beefy despite having the same overall tire size. When you step back and look at the truck as a whole you can tell it's huge, but looking at the pictures above of the trucks with 20's if you focus on the wheels themselves it gives the illusion of not being huge. Looking at the 33x12.5x15s on my truck are the opposite, they look HUGE but when parked next to a brand new pickup truck I realize that our tires are practically the same size. If you convert the stock tire sizes on some brand new trucks they're already running 32, 33, 35 inch tires, but they're wrapped around big rims and tucked up neatly in the wheel openings rather than having big fat sidewalls and sticking out under the truck. Long story short, why spend big money on wheels and tires if they're only gonna look as cool as the stock wheels on a newer truck. If I wanted that look I wouldn't be driving around a 30something year old truck.

My personal tastes aside here are a few things to consider- tires for larger rim sizes are more expensive and there are less options. Also, the thinner the sidewalls the stiffer the ride. These trucks already ride like bricks especially with a suspension lift, more rubber under you would help soak up some the bumps in the road.


33x12.50 15 front 305/70/17 rear

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