18"vs 20" wheel ride quality

[Zengineer]

Would it be fair to say that 20's are more susceptible to bumper rash than 18's? Or is this not the case in a truck where a 20 inch wheel and OEM tire still gives you 6.5 inches of sidewall?

We have some pretty tricky drive thrus where I live and I don't want to bugger up my wheels if I get 20's.

Curb rash I assume you mean...

Yes the wheel lip is closer to the ground with a 20 but as you mentioned it is still 6+ inches above the pavement. In my mind 20 is the natural size now that stock tires are taller than years ago. Unless I crawled rocks I rather have the better handling and general sqishiness that comes with a smaller wheel. In the summer my car has 255/35/19's and maybe 3"of sidewall and I've managed to keep them rash free for 6 years.

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[guppydriver]

Curb rash I assume you mean...

Yes the wheel lip is closer to the ground with a 20 but as you mentioned it is still 6+ inches above the pavement. In my mind 20 is the natural size now that stock tires are taller than years ago. Unless I crawled rocks I rather have the better handling and general sqishiness that comes with a smaller wheel. In the summer my car has 255/35/19's and maybe 3"of sidewall and I've managed to keep them rash free for 6 years.

Yep.....curb rash...blonde moment

The part of your comment I bolded though. Wouldn't you definitely want smaller wheels if you crawled rocks? So you could air down the tires? Sounds like for a pavement princess, the 20's wouldn't be too subject to curb rash.

The more interesting question. How have you kept your wife from driving your car for 6 years?

 

[pg318]

Would it be fair to say that 20's are more susceptible to bumper rash than 18's? Or is this not the case in a truck where a 20 inch wheel and OEM tire still gives you 6.5 inches of sidewall?

We have some pretty tricky drive thrus where I live and I don't want to bugger up my wheels if I get 20's.

Mine came with the base 17s, so when I was looking for a used set of wheels to pretty it up, I looked at mostly 20s, and a few sets of 22s. Almost all the 22s had curb damage, few of the 20s did, so that's what I bought.

There is a difference in the ride, for the worse, since the 17s have about 6" of sidewall, but it's also a lot less wallowy. Overall, I'd say it's a worthwhile trade.

 

[Zengineer]

Yep.....curb rash...blonde moment

The part of your comment I bolded though. Wouldn't you definitely want smaller wheels if you crawled rocks? So you could air down the tires? Sounds like for a pavement princess, the 20's wouldn't be too subject to curb rash.

The more interesting question. How have you kept your wife from driving your car for 6 years?

Yes, typing on my phone while eating...

Meant to say unless I was rock crawling I would not want smaller wheels...so smaller wheels better for offload.

I guess I just don't drive into things no matter what size wheels and with the 157 wheelbase you have to pay attention.

She drives it some but isn't allowed to parallel park and is pretty careful.

 

[Zengineer]

A 1996 F150 came with roughly 29 inch tires on 15 inch wheels. A 2022 with 20 inch wheels has a 33 inch tire. The amount of sidewall is almost the same. I'm not saying everyone should get what I got but it is kind of a misconception that 20 inch wheels on a modern F150 are some low profile mall crawler rubber band low rider tire. I forget what year my "Nite" was, it was a beater that I bought used. I think it was a 1992 and also had 235/75/15's.

 

[AgieF150]

I prefer squishy ride do I dropped 22 to 17 and 18” rims.

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