My 2012 has 18" wheels, the same year Raptor has 17" wheels. Why?

I think i know the answer, but what do people think about switching wheel diameters? I only see occasional off-road conditions and they're mild at best, but i'm sitting here wondering if my new wheels should be 18" and keep my current (stock size) tyres - 275/65/18 (which i like) or if i switch to 17" wheels and get some slightly wider and marginally taller tyres - 285/70/17

What are you reasons? why would you switch to 17" wheels? why would you stay with the 18's?

 

Wheel size doesn't matter much. You can get virtually the same overall tire height and width with 15", 16", 17", 18" or 20" wheels. The only difference is price and the size of the hole in the middle. In theory a smaller wheel puts more rubber between the wheel and road for a softer ride and slightly better off road performance. Bigger wheels mean less rubber between the wheel and road for a more sporty handling vehicle when driven aggressively. But there just isn't that much difference between 17" and 18" wheels.

You can get bigger tires for 18" wheels too. 275/70/18's are a bit over 33" tall. Close enough and you'll save the expense of new wheels. 285's are only 10mm wider. That's less than 1/2".

If you just have to buy new wheels then it doesn't matter much. I'd look at prices and see if you can save a little money by going to 17" wheels and tires.

 

But any money saved by going to 17" will be more than lost in the purchase of new rims unless you're planning on buying new ones anyway.

IMO - marshallr has summed it up fairly well.

 

Yes, new wheels are on the cards, so it's a case of do i switch to 17's or stick with 18's, going to 17's nets me a saving of about 1 to 1.5 lbs a wheel/tyre combo, so nothing meaningful, but i'll get a lot more tyre along with that. I'm not needing new tyres either, which is good because i can't currently get my choice of tyre in the 275/70/18 which is what i'd like to do, i don't want to go LT right now.


Also, when switching wheels, there's a certain amount of offset shenanigans going on - no idea if this is correct, as a tyre calc told me otherwise , but stage3 basically told me a flush fit 18" x 9" wheel is around a +18 offset (give or take) and a flush fit 17" x 8.5" wheel is around 0 to +7

 

Hey Maxx, you know you want those Raptor wheels. I don't have any photos I can post showing a down the side view with those wheels and 315/70/17, but I can tell you on your 12th gen that those wheels will bring that size tire sidewall, just a tad beyond flush from the fender.
I've got 17X9, +20 on 305/70/17 That brings the tires out a little further on my 13th gen, I can show photos pretty much that will show you how far those stick out. Regardless, I'm also using a 2.5" coilovers on it, and I wouldn't go anything less.
My '12, also had a 2.5" coilovers.
Here's what I have of the '12.

 

I wanted to put my 17" Ranger wheels on my F-150 with taller tires ... same overall height for the better ride ... the offset was wrong, wouldn't clear the rotors.

My point, make sure you can clear the rotors ... smaller wheel might need a different offset to clear the rotor.

 

I'd swap to 17's just because most larger than stock 18" tires are load range E and with !7's there are more options for load range C's.

 

Offset won't get you in trouble with near oem size tires as the bolt pattern is specific to Ford and is in use in a limited number of vehicles that share the same offset range.

I opted for 17's to get more rubber without a large diameter change, went from 32.1 to 32.7" tires. Stepping up to LT-C from p-metric, the on-road manners barely changed ( a touch harsher due to the stronger thread core), but off-road, the additional sidewall lets me air down more. The new tires are more protected against puncture while riding a lot smoother when not on the princess trails we commonly refer to as blacktop, tarmac, and concrete.

 

Thanks John, what were the wheel specs on the 12th? I don't know the offset for Raptor wheels, but 17 x 9 you say?
Are you saying on mine, the 315/70 tyre will come just a little outward of flush with the Raptor wheel?

I'm looking at a narrower tyre, a 285 over the stock 275, on a 17 x 8.5 wheel, but at zero offset (might start a wheel thread if i can ever work out viable offsets)

 

This is my current setup, factory +44 offset 7.5" wheels, with stock 275/65/18 tyres, but a 1" spacer added. The tyres protrude 1.5" outward from the wheel lip - likely because a 7.5" wheel is the minimum width for a 275 tyre.







In my head, i calculate this as being on +19 offset wheels, but i don't know if that's actually true, because i don't know where the rim width interacts with the offset, making the spacer an unknown addition compared to a wheel with natural offset.