Aesthetics aside, will a 16" rim provide any better performance than a 17"? For the price of the rims & additional cost of the same size tire, I really need some measurable gain to justify the expense. Ride, fuel economy, cornering........ Any advise (well almost any ) is helpful

Cheers

 

IMHO I don't believe it's worth the extra expense, unless you really like the look of the 17" that you'll be buying, or if you're getting different tires and the size you want isn't available on a 16" wheel, which usually only occurs when you are buying over sized tires. From what I can tell from your sig, you don't have a lift so I'm assuming stock tire sizes. I don't believe you'll notice any better ride or fuel economy, maybe a little better cornering due to less sidewall flex, but probably hardly noticeable. JMO

 

The one advantage of the 17s over the 16s is that you could put the bigger brakes on the truck and they will last longer then what you have. Its a great upgrade.

 

You won't want the 17" when you go to buy tires, I just put BFG All Terrian KO's on my truck. I stayed with the 16" even though I have a 17" that I have listed for sale.

285/75/R16E were $199
285/70/R17D were $210

These were the prices mounted and balanced. I researched Nittos Terra Grapplers also and here is the prices I got.

285/75/R16E $139
285/70/R17E $188

 

Yea dislike my 17's because of higher priced tires less, selection to pick only reason I went with 17's first time was got a killer deal on tire and rim combo since someone else tried them on a chevy and wouldnt fit without major rubbing. Now im gonna pay the price when it comes time to replace tires.

 

I had 16" with new Goodyear 265's on them. I switched to 17's with Michelin 235's and it was like driving a new truck. It handled alot better. I am glad I made the change. I like the look and I don't think I'm going to go with an oversized tire anymore, the handling is that much better.

 

The stock 16inch alum rims are known to crack on the inside bead, I got 2 rims with cracks in them!! so I searched a local buy and sell paper and found a set of 16in steel rims purely by accident, I have no idea what they came off except they have a dodge symbol on them, and the off set is off by 1/4 inch.
when I was looking for alum replacement (stock) there was none to be found and the only salvage yard that thad them wanted 250each!! I went to a repair shop that specilizes in rim repair and he claimed he had fixed hundreds of them and it was a common problem.
My truck is a work truck so steel is OK for me, but the alum does look better
I'll try to post a pic of my steel rims and the cracks in the rims.
From what I remember the rim shop said the 17inch (stock) do not have the same issue as the 16's

 

It is very hard to justify getting 17's on our trucks. The biggest reason that they run them now is to clear the larger brakes on the newer trucks. If you are going to larger brakes, then yes you should get 17's but if not, they are hard to justify. The truck will corner a little bit better with 17's because the sidewall won't be as tall but most people won't notice this and if you go to a larger tire, it will actually go the other way.

The major disadvantage to 17's is the cost. Both the rims and tires are more expensive. You also don't get as large of a selection of tires.

The only way that I could ever justify 17's is if I convinced myself that I needed to upgrade to larger brakes.

 

Ditto Dartmouth's post-- word for word.

 

imo the tire selection for 17s is waaaay better than 16s.
there are just so many vehicles that come stock w/17 and 20s that all the good sizes fit bigger rims and the tire companys really cater to what sells.

long story short i wanted 37s or so tires for my 16s and i could not find a tire that would work for all aroud driving/towing. so i ended up buying 20s and new tires cause of tire selection...........seriously thats how it happened

 

instead of looking at 17 I would go to 19.5 way bigger selection easier to get tires and you could always get them regrooved when they start to wear out and if you're looking to carry a lot more weight they will do that easy just my $.02

 

I'm thinking about running 265's. Not anything larger. Costco said they wouldn't install 265's on my stock steel 16" x 6.5 rims. Not a legit install. Only way to go bigger than stock size is to go w/ 17's. Anyone else had this issue?

 

They won't mount 265's because of the rim width. All you need are wider rims, not bigger diameter.

 

I just bought some Hummer Limited Edition 17" rims on E-Bay for $420 plus $60 shipping. They are SWEET! And made by ALCOA! I got bigger rims for the brake upgrade option because my brakes suck now.... What are the biggest size 17" tires I can put on my stock-height truck? I'd like to put on 315/70R17s if they wouldn't rub too bad. I have 285/75R16s now that equate to 285/70R17s for tire rpms but would like to go a little larger....

For everyone wanting cheap wheels, check out E-Bay or your local 4x4 shop. My local shop was going to sell me some 3rd gen Ram wheels with newish tires for $400-500. You can't go wrong with that.... Just buy take-offs everytime you need new tires and you get new rims, too!

 

Thanks to everyone for their insight. I decided to go w/ 3rd Gen rims to accommodate a slightly larger (285) tire. I found a chromed set of alloys on Ebay for $250!!! Local seller, so pick-up is a snap. I think I done good ! Now.....what kind of A/T tires?