16" vs 17"

New guy here. I was wondering what your thoughts were on 16" vs 17" rims. I have an opportunity to swap from the tires/rims that come with the Sport package size 265x65-17 to TRD rims with 265x70-16 tires and was thinking this might be a good idea just from a tire replacement stand point. It seems 16" tires run about $50 cheaper than 17". Do you guys see any issues with this swap? Vehicle is mainly a daily driver with light weekend offroading. Will I notice more road walk or decreased handling with the 16"s? Thanks for any insight.

Thanks,
Matt

 

Is this one of those stupid questions from a newby no one wants to touch?

 

17'' size tires cost more than a 16'' tire of the same size and 17's have a smaller market. i don't think the 1'' difference will effect performance or handling. and on a personal note, i like as much tire as i can get; thus my 16'' wheels.

 

within reason, a taller wheel with shorter sidewall is better for on road handling with quicker/crisper steering response.

more sidewall is better for offroading as there's more rubber sidewall to flex when an obstacle is encountered, and there's more air volume in the tire.

All that being said, we're only talking about a 1" difference here, and I bet most TW members couldn't tell which wheel was which in a blind driving loop test, given the same brand of tires on both rim sizes.

Personally, if I had the "sport" I'd keep the 17s with it, rather than changing just for the sake of changing.

 

Just stick with the 17's. They may be more expensive for the tires, but they will balance much much better (especially road force) and will meet your needs just fine.

 

X 2

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt

 

I went the opposite way 16" to 17" cause I like the TRD Sport rims better than the ones mine came with. I didn't have an issue finding tires or think they were really that much more expensive than the 16". I was looking at about a $10-20/tire upcharge for the larger rim size depending on the tire. Some of them were a big jump to go from 16" to 17" but I just eliminated them from my search.

 

I have the stock 17"s right now, but I am thinking about going down to a 16" so I can have a few more tires to chose from, and looks like I might save some money too. I dont know 100% if 16"s will fit a 09 TRD sport, but it looks like it will go one just fine.