What is the attraction to 20"+ rims?

[mblatz]

You see sports cars with low profile tires and an expert driver might be able to corner a little better

It's 100% design with sports cars too, not handling. Look at how high profile F1 tires are, they have HUGE sidewalls. Performance-wise it's width that matters, not height.

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[Bryan Simon]

I ordered the 18” HDPP wheels and the come with some pretty good size tires.

 

[KBKEITH]

My order just looks mean!!!!!!

Notice my avatar. ?

 

[SBrentnall]

I'm ordering the Lariat sport, and I think the 18" wheels look great. They don't look too small for the wheel wells at all.

 

[ellnemm]

My last truck had LT265/70SR17 tires and I thought they looked pretty big. Living in Montreal I appreciated the taller tires when running in to a pot hole or sliding in a curb in the winter. I ordered the Lariat sport with 18 rims. The taller the rubber the better the truck tire it is.
If I want to feel the road and drive on the edge a little bit, I drive the car in the avatar.

 

[brnt]

FWIW, due to options, my truck is coming with 20" rims. I plan on buying a set of cheep steel wheels in either 17" or 18" diameter (17 if it will still fit over the brake calipers) and 33" K02s for off road travel and snow.

As others have said, a taller sidewall is more flexible and provides a more supple ride, in addition to moving the wheel farther out of harm's way.

 

[Knickell]

I agree with a lot of the others on this thread. I like how the 20”s fill out the wheel well, but I didn’t like any of the 20” factory wheel options enough to drop over another $1,000 on them.

I was okay with how the 18” aluminum wheels with gloss back accents looked that are the base wheel with the Sport package. Since I’ve been enduring this long-A wait, they have really grown on me, and it’s easily my favorite factory wheel option by far. My only slight concern is that 18 inchers may look a little small and leave an empty looking wheel well on a truck of this size.

Like many things with these trucks, the only real way to know is to see it in person...

 

[Reeltime]

Looking at the inventory of the new trucks (stock orders) arriving at dealers I see almost all the new Lariats have 20" rims. I believe in the Lariat the default is 18" rims in the Chrome and in the Sport. To get the 20"rim you have to select it as an option. Obviously for the dealers to build trucks with 20" rims the demand must be high but I just don't get it. For me, I see no advantage to the larger rims and in fact I see it a huge negative. The negatives for me are, less sidewall that can scuff the rim (it is a truck and meant to go over a few bumps), not a fan of the look (this is obviously a personal thing), rougher ride, more expensive tires, my experience is the tires seem to handle terrible at about 50% wear so they need to be replace far sooner than a tire with a higher aspect ratio. I have had two cars that have had tires with less than a 50% aspect ratio and in both vehicles I was taking the vehicle in for balancing and alignment but it ended up that the tires were only 50% worn and needed to be replaced. Anyway, I'm obviously a minority with this option as the dealers can't seem to order anything but and 20" or higher.

Some of did not have a choice. Max trailer towing forced 20” rims for my lariat with chrome package.

 

[Bajou]

had 20's since a long time and like it, on my limited there was 22's... wow really nice looking and i was getting many comments about how nice and clean that looked.... but my ride was affected, the huge bumps felt almost the same but it seemed to feel all the small bumps and cracks... now with 20's and wow, so comfy! but for a short time... i ordered a limited again because it looks nice... can't understand myself !

 

[Tbanks10]

I ordered the stx 18s. I think they look way better and I plan to get bigger tires to fill the gap. All my local dealers are mostly getting 20s. I’m sure lopro tires handle better but if I want good handling I would buy a corvette

I just measured my 2017 F150 18’s against wife’s 2019 Explorer with 20’s. Exact same height from top to ground. The wider black sidewall on 18’s makes them look smaller in wheel well but they are not any smaller.

 

[Tbanks10]

I just measured my 2017 F150 18’s against wife’s 2019 Explorer with 20’s. Exact same height from top to ground. The wider black sidewall on 18’s makes them look smaller in wheel well but they are not any smaller.

I ordered the same wheels as you on my 2021 Lariot Sport as I didn’t want all black wheels or all chrome. Seemed like a nice meet in the middle choice.

 

[bosro]

I ordered the stx 18s. I think they look way better and I plan to get bigger tires to fill the gap. All my local dealers are mostly getting 20s. I’m sure lopro tires handle better but if I want good handling I would buy a corvette

Trucks are showing up in Alberta now and finally got a look.
I thought for sure I liked the 20s more but in person I think the 18s look better.
They seem to fill the wheel wells much better to me.
For 1k less I think Ill stay with 18s....I stick with stock size tires

 

[Lucidkevin]

Looking at the inventory of the new trucks (stock orders) arriving at dealers I see almost all the new Lariats have 20" rims. I believe in the Lariat the default is 18" rims in the Chrome and in the Sport. To get the 20"rim you have to select it as an option. Obviously for the dealers to build trucks with 20" rims the demand must be high but I just don't get it. For me, I see no advantage to the larger rims and in fact I see it a huge negative. The negatives for me are, less sidewall that can scuff the rim (it is a truck and meant to go over a few bumps), not a fan of the look (this is obviously a personal thing), rougher ride, more expensive tires, my experience is the tires seem to handle terrible at about 50% wear so they need to be replace far sooner than a tire with a higher aspect ratio. I have had two cars that have had tires with less than a 50% aspect ratio and in both vehicles I was taking the vehicle in for balancing and alignment but it ended up that the tires were only 50% worn and needed to be replaced. Anyway, I'm obviously a minority with this option as the dealers can't seem to order anything but and 20" or higher.

I notice that the higher payload trucks have 20” wheels. That could also be a factor. Just an observation in some of these threads

 

[Dc2Dave]

IMO. Tires should increase in size. Not the wheel! Order the smallest wheel possible, add bigger, better tires.

I agree with this. I ordered my lariat sport with the assigned 18” wheels. IMO , they’re the best 18’s designed for any sport appearance package. And for the $1400 that would cost for the optional 20’s . You could get the baddest 33”-35” a/t tires. However , the 20’s do have a nearly 1” bigger diameter tire than the 18’s (fx4). Thus making the ride height slightly higher vs 18’s. I will get my moneys worth out of the stock tires and go bigger when it’s time to replace on the better looking 18” wheel .

 

[cakryg]

The 18's are a very attractive base wheel. If I'm going to pay over a grand for a 20" wheel package then I'd rather order spec them out myself and order them from tirerack.

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