In the market for new rims... What's the ideal rim dia?

off-roader

Expedition Leader
Over the years I've been seeing more and more of a shift from a 15" diameter rim on 4x4's to larger dia. rim sizes (16 -18"). Should i stick with 15's or go bigger? What size wheel should I be looking at for the widest selection of off road tires in the near future?

TIA.
 

Saiyan66

Adventurer
If you have a lightweight vehicle then stick with the 15's. There will always be tires for them and they are significantly cheaper than 16 & 17 inch tires. If you need more load capacity from your tires then 16's would be the next logical choice. 17's really only exist because brakes on trucks got so dang big that anything smaller wouldn't fit. Any wheel larger than a 17 is purely for looks (unless its a 19.5 or 20 military setup).
 

CodyY

Explorer
Over the years I've been seeing more and more of a shift from a 15" diameter rim on 4x4's to larger dia. rim sizes (16 -18"). Should i stick with 15's or go bigger? What size wheel should I be looking at for the widest selection of off road tires in the near future?

TIA.

Depends on the vehicle.

16 on my diesel van
18 on my Silverado
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
If you have a lightweight vehicle then stick with the 15's. There will always be tires for them and they are significantly cheaper than 16 & 17 inch tires. If you need more load capacity from your tires then 16's would be the next logical choice. 17's really only exist because brakes on trucks got so dang big that anything smaller wouldn't fit. Any wheel larger than a 17 is purely for looks (unless its a 19.5 or 20 military setup).
Well fully armored up and loaded for a trip I'll be no more than the 5k lbs range so I guess it's pretty light weight.

This might be a good site for you for future reference.
http://www.wheelsanything.com/
??? Clicked on Off road tires.. no change to page. Clicked on all of the links in the mid-page banner (Wheel & Tire Packages, Shop Wheels, etc.) & the page shows "information coming soon". Dude, I don't need advertising. I need advice which that site has Zero of.

Depends on the vehicle.
16 on my diesel van
18 on my Silverado
Yeah it will be for a built up 96 Montero (see sig for build thread). I'll eventually be moving up to 37's but these rims will be for street tires which will be no larger than 33"x10.5 or 9.5 AT's.
 

jeff parker

Observer
Look at what size tires you want to run and see what wheels will work. For me I found much better selection in 16 than 15.
 

sasfrontier

Observer
I personally like 15's for anything up to a 35" tire. If going bigger than a 35 i like to step up in wheel size, for street driving having to much sidewall can leave you with a vague steering feel.
 

Betarocker

Adventurer
Depends on the tire diameter. I run 18" rims, but I have 37" tires. Within reason, rim being 1/2 the diameter of the tire is the rulle of thumb I go with.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
17's are the new 15's. Don't believe me, look at tire sizes, especially 37 sized tires, they usually start with the 17" rim size and then slowly release other sizes. Lightweight or not, if you are looking to replace your current rims, skip 16's and go to the 17's. 15's are a dying rim size in the offroad/truck world.

Jack
 

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