Should I keep my stock 17" rims or move to 16"

First off, I'm a noob who's buying a new Tacoma TRD and I'm switching out tires first thing. Tires for 17" rims are expensive compared to 16" rims. Should I keep the 17" or see if I can down size. I'm planning on putting on either the Toyo Open Country AT or the BFG All Terrain. Opinions?

 

With a smaller rim, you can get a larger sidewall. As another fact, 17" wheels are SUPER hard to find and as well as the tires to go with them.

As soon as my funds grow more, I'm going to convert to 16" wheels and 305/75/16 tires.

Oh and welcome to TW!

 

Thanks. Anybody else want to chime in? I wonder if my dealer will just switch them for me?

 

I run 15s with 31x10.5s and I love mine. I have Mickey Thomspons with an offset and I like them alot. I would go down to a sixteen, much cheaper and easier to buy tires for those wheels. Although then you have to buy both, which is more, unless you've got some sixteens sittin around. Its a tough choice, just depends on your budget!

 

I doubt a dealer would want to trade wheels off a Base or an Offroad. Just saying.

 

I just posted a reply over at another tire related thread which can be seen here with a pic of my wife's 07 TACO TRD with the stock Sport 17" wheels. We went from the stock 265 65r 17 tires to 245 75r 17 Revo 2 [1.5" taller now]. I wanted something for her that was safer on our wet roads but also something that would fill the stock 4x4 height wheel wells. We've had them on now for about 4 months and for us they are a great setup.

cheers,
Thom

 

I thought about the same thing when I got my truck with 17's but when I started pricing tires they really were not the much cheaper so I really could not justify the cost of new rims. Now if you want to trick out the truck with aftermarket rims then I would go for the 16s.

These days tire shops can get a set of tires in within 24 hours if they dont have them in stock so unless you live out inthe boonies I dont buyt he idea that 17s are harder to find but that is only from my experience. I am in CA and was able to order some 17" Nitto TG and the shop who did not even carry Nittos had them at the shop in 12 hours.

 

Look at the pics of the tires. Never thought about going backward in wheel size but I will admit I like the look of the tire on your truck. Any handling issues? Thinking along the lines of body roll?
thanks Ken

 

Greetings Ken. THX For the Q's. The rig rides sooo much better with these tires. All handling including road-snow, wet, dry, on and off pavement. We have a shell on the back and it is usually loaded with 500 to 600 lbs of gold prospecting gear on most days.

Part of my comment included reminiscing of my days in Nevada with my FJ40/Chevota (Chev327 under the hood i dropped in). We all swore by tall & narrow tires for our off road adventures and certainly on the road with snow/rain. Then some years ago i ran accross expedition portal that has an article that really laid out the reasoning for the tall & narrow being a good choice for nearly all conditions (except MAYBE StreetBling). Their "Position" in the paper states; "A tall, narrow tire is a superior choice for all off-highway surface conditions with the exception of deep, soft sand or mud." It is an interesting read. So for myself, the idea was not one of 'going backward', but rather, finally putting the tires on the rig i believed would match the stock height with the 17s effectively. : )

Also, this size is 2.98% larger than stock and under the recommended 3% max by Toyota. So there would never be any issue with negligence if it came down to an insurance issue from an accident involving the rig.

happy shoping!

 

hey if you get 17" put a price together for sale,

 

Great information. I will definitely search out and read the article. While I would like to have a slightly larger tire, i'm tot really interested in lifting the truck. This is my daily ride for the next 5 or more years and don't want any unusual problems.
Currently have 17's but I can find aftermarket 16's online. Been looking at General Grabber AT2's as a replacement tire. Mainly due to lower price and yet decent traction. Had Yokohama Geolander ATS on my F150 and they are an option too. They handled really well in the Northwest in most all traction conditions.
Hehe, when I lived in Nevada, I always had the biggest, widest tire that would fit under my Chevy. Seemed getting stuck in the sand was always the one thing I was looking out for.
take care and thanks again. Ken