Met a guy today I have heard alot about through friends, has a chevy with the LBZ (? its the better one lbz or lly whichever) anyway he has done a good amount of work to his truck and even my dodge friends said his truck is super fast and not to run him. He put on his 22.5" rims about a month ago, loves the looks but not the performance. Says his truck is slow now, and he wants to put the stockers back on, told his wife just for the winter but truth be told he wants to leave the stockers and sell the 22.5's. His other option is is to look into changing his rear to something like a 4.33 or 4.51( I have no clue what he said) but a larger rear end ratio to help turn them over. My next mod early next year was going to be 22.5" rims , even convinced the wife , but is my truck gonna turn into a slug. Ive spent alot of time to get her big a** quick, I would hate to compromise that completely giving her big shoes. Or is the larger rear ratio a valid option???? Sorry for the long post. Just tryingto get someimput before I get my mind set, cause once its set its a done deal, and Im real close on the 22.5's.

 

Even if you change gears to compensate for the taller tires you will still lose a substainial amount of performance and stopping power. The 22.5's are very heavy, and they act like big flywheels. Ask any honest person that runs them.

 

I dont see how you would still have the lost power if you switch to steeper gears. That how it works right, bigger tires + lower gears= keeping the engine in the powerband. The loss of braking i do agree. Guess an exaust brake would come in handy.

 

I agree with the above post, but mathematically you can figure out how much your effective gear ratio will change with the new wheels, if you measure the diameter of the new and old tires. The best chance you have of keeping a "similar" level of performance is to regear your truck to compensate for the difference in tire diameter. If your truck already has low gears (like 4.10s), you would notice the larger tires less than if your truck has higher gears (like 3.55 or 3.73s). It's pretty expensive to change your gearing, especially if you have a 4x4.

 

The problem is, even if you match the gearing to the tires, it still takes more power to turn a heavier wheel and tire, just the same as it takes more power to stop them.

 

I am sure I lost eprformance given the extra unsprung weight. With that said, I would not give up my 22.5's for anything. THe improved fuel exonomy far outweighs the downsides and I can spin my tires in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and have in 5th when it's been wet out. The Cummins has so much torque, that I don't think my truck is slow at all. It's a monster!

 

I just have to add my 2 cents on this topic. I have 3 set of 22.5" on both of my tow trucks and a set on my personal truck. I own a recover company (Repo Co) Here in Dallas TX , the business I am in time and speed is very important , I have talked to the drivers to see if the wheels have slowed down their response time in doing a repossession they said it's was minimal if any. The only thing they seem to have a problem with is the breaking takes a little longer to stop.. Nothing slotted rotors can't fix. The gas mileage has improved and the tires will last well over 200K that alone is worth the cost of the wheels. With the cost of tires and fuel the 22.5" will pay for them self's in about a year!

 

stick with a 18" or a 20" max, any bigger and they start to look like a 4x4 sportscar.