First time wheel and tire help

[tswannnlk]

Hi there. I recently purchased a 1500 Classic Warlock and I am looking to swap out the tires and wheels. I know basic knowledge of sizing but have never done this before and am looking for your guys' recommendations. I am going to get some 35 inch tires for the truck such as Trail Grapplers or AT K02's but I'm wondering if either 11.5's or 12.5's are the move. In correlation, I'm unsure if either 9, 9.5, or 10 inch wide wheels would be better for this type of tire/wheel combo. Im looking to mainly keep the truck on the street while also doing some light off roading. I understand that 35's will be a tight fit for the warlock and will probably going with a leveling kit or lift kit. Are there benefits to 12.5's vs 11.5's and the different rim widths? Does it mainly come down to looks over performance? Thanks In advance!

 

[diymirage]

I always run a narrow tire on my trucks, but I also plow with them

So if you're in a snowy part of the US, I'd suggest 10.5 wide tires

 

[tswannnlk]

I always run a narrow tire on my trucks, but I also plow with them

So if you're in a snowy part of the US, I'd suggest 10.5 wide tires

Yeah I’m on the west coast so snow isn’t really a concern

 

[GTyankee]

there are many wheel designs ..

Just make sure that they have the same number of LUGs
1500 Rams ....
Gen 4 Classics usually have 5 lug pattern
Gen 5, New Body Style have a 6 Lug pattern

 

[GTyankee]

this site allows you to look at different wheels on YOUR Ram

https://www.tirerack.com/vehicle-wheels/ram?gclid=Cj0KCQjwv7O0BhDwARIsAC0sjWOrdwBCinpjvPj-3AsEeeA8iWbs0zTKyNvFvCkjQBH77oDpE1pNdhQaAkeQEALw_wcB&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwv7O0BhDwARIsAC0sjWOrdwBCinpjvPj-3AsEeeA8iWbs0zTKyNvFvCkjQBH77oDpE1pNdhQaAkeQEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3756!3!354820922540!p!!g!!1500%20classic%20wheel&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1

 

[Atcer2018]

A few things to consider from personal experience. Your bio says your truck has the 3.6L V6. You will definitely notice an appreciable loss of gas mileage when leveling and adding larger tires.

I leveled my 2018 and only went up one tire size to 275/65R20 and my mileage dropped 3-4 mpg. LT tires can add a good amount of weight.

You’ll need to have the tire size changed in the BCM to correct the speedometer reading. I believe this also affects transmission shift points but I’m not 100 percent sure on the shift points. It’s been discussed in other threads on this forum.

The 3.6 is not a torque powerhouse and at highway speeds will most likely stay in 7th gear above 60-65mph due to increased weight and drag. This has been my experience and I live near sea level with very flat terrain. At lower highway speeds below 60mph I can cruise in 8th gear but the slightest elevation increase in terrain will cause the transmission to downshift and it will hunt gears between 6-8 with any greater elevation changes. These are just a few things I encountered with a 3.6 leveled with larger tires.

 

[tswannnlk]

A few things to consider from personal experience. Your bio says your truck has the 3.6L V6. You will definitely notice an appreciable loss of gas mileage when leveling and adding larger tires.

I leveled my 2018 and only went up one tire size to 275/65R20 and my mileage dropped 3-4 mpg. LT tires can add a good amount of weight.

You’ll need to have the tire size changed in the BCM to correct the speedometer reading. I believe this also affects transmission shift points but I’m not 100 percent sure on the shift points. It’s been discussed in other threads on this forum.

The 3.6 is not a torque powerhouse and at highway speeds will most likely stay in 7th gear above 60-65mph due to increased weight and drag. This has been my experience and I live near sea level with very flat terrain. At lower highway speeds below 60mph I can cruise in 8th gear but the slightest elevation increase in terrain will cause the transmission to downshift and it will hunt gears between 6-8 with any greater elevation changes. These are just a few things I encountered with a 3.6 leveled with larger tires.

That makes a lot of sense. So maybe going with less wide tires that have a less aggressive tread pattern would be a better option.

 

[rzr6-4]

For mileage and front end component wear, I would agree on the 11.5 tires and maybe a 9" wheel. Just to help keep the weight down.

 

[tswannnlk]

For mileage and front end component wear, I would agree on the 11.5 tires and maybe a 9" wheel. Just to help keep the weight down.

Thanks. Would wheel width make too much of a difference or just determines how much tire bulge there is?

 

[Mb7640]

Does your walock have the all terrain package? I was thinking about doing this on my warlock but decided to keep the stock tire size and just went with better at tires. I went with the yokahama x-at l. I go off road a half a dozen times or so a year. Saying this mine does have the all terrain package with the 1 inch lift and 17 inch wheels. I have no issues going off road. Gas mileage did not change for me. Just my 2 cents. Goodluck with your decision

 

[rzr6-4]

Thanks. Would wheel width make too much of a difference or just determines how much tire bulge there is?

The larger width will have a noticeable increase in the force it takes to turn the wheels, which you may not notice in your hands from the power steering but your front end components will notice. In my last tire change I went from 33x10 to 35x12 and I’ve been dealing with some front end issues for the last 5K miles, nothing I cant work with but the larger tires definitely didn’t help.

Secondly, all of the extra mass from more weight is right at the very outer portion of the tire, which is where it will have maximum impact on your torque and milage. Since you said you won’t be doing any serious off roading the extra width isn’t giving you any performance, just aesthetics, which if you have a good looking tire it wouldn’t make any difference to me aesthetically if it was 10.5 or 11.5.

 

[Richard Kim]

Look at metric sizes. They tend to be lighter, higher speed rating and higher load capacity. I have been running 295/65R20's (35.1"X11.8") for the last 90K miles and have been very pleased with that size. Do your research and mess around with different sizes (i.e. 275 vs. 285 vs. 295). There are a lot of hybrid (between AT and MT) choices out that and great AT tire choices with aggressive tread and sidewall patterns. I have been running Toyo OC AT III's for the last 47K miles and they are the best tires I have ran. I fully expect to get 55K out of them. BTEW I am running the tires of 20X9 rims.

 

[Burla]

If you go smaller rim and same size as OEM, it really makes it easy, plus I went rebel knock offs which also make the offset easier. Basically, these are a direct replacement. Also, the most important thing if you want bigger is gear ratio.



truck pics versus oem, Ill just link if you want to visualize it. I needed nothing but balance, OEM knock off same size but wider tire smaller rim from 20 to 17. Call me Budget Burla but this entire set up was under 2 grand and didn't change handling or mileage.

new look

old tires

 

[Burla]

Lowest rim size is 17 pre 2018, dunno about your year perhaps the same? That 35 will cost you some money and work, odometer stuff, alignment, maybe spacer depending on rim,and perhaps change the drive more then you expect and hard to go back. That truck is leveled as well.

 

[tswannnlk]

Lowest rim size is 17 pre 2018, dunno about your year perhaps the same? That 35 will cost you some money and work, odometer stuff, alignment, maybe spacer depending on rim,and perhaps change the drive more then you expect and hard to go back. That truck is leveled as well.

That makes a lot of sense. It seems like because of the v6 engine and the stress that it puts on the steering components that keeping weight down should be a priority. Do you have any idea on how much an odometer adjustment and/or regear would cost?

 

[rzr6-4]

That makes a lot of sense. It seems like because of the v6 engine and the stress that it puts on the steering components that keeping weight down should be a priority. Do you have any idea on how much an odometer adjustment and/or regear would cost?

If I remember right a regear can be around $1k unless you get lucky and find used parts for cheap. Not sure how much speedo/odometer adjustment is but that's the route I'd take. If you get Alpha OBD I believe you can do it yourself, otherwise ask around your local mechanics if they can do it.

 

[tswannnlk]

If I remember right a regear can be around $1k unless you get lucky and find used parts for cheap. Not sure how much speedo/odometer adjustment is but that's the route I'd take. If you get Alpha OBD I believe you can do it yourself, otherwise ask around your local mechanics if they can do it.

Thanks so much. Do you think if I go the 35” route I could get away with just a speedometer adjustment and maybe changing the shift points instead of going for a full regear? The v6 pentastar does have less hp and torque than the hemi but could I get away with 35’s without any performance mods or putting large amounts of stress on the engine?

 

[Burla]

You need to know your gear ratio, and here gears are 3500 and that is only if they dont have to shave the housing. If you have a 4x4, you need gear front and back to match. Read table here, they really recommend 4.56 for 35's, 3.92 at a minimum, but why regear and go to 3.92? You will need a tuner for a few items, shift points odo, I think alpha can do it all but double check that.

 

[tswannnlk]

You need to know your gear ratio, and here gears are 3500 and that is only if they dont have to shave the housing. If you have a 4x4, you need gear front and back to match. Read table here, they really recommend 4.56 for 35's, 3.92 at a minimum, but why regear and go to 3.92? You will need a tuner for a few items, shift points odo, I think alpha can do it all but double check that.

Yeah that's out of budget for me. For my truck I am able to find the gear ratio for each of the individual gears but not the total gear ratio. Is there a way to calculate it?

 

[Burla]

You can use a vin lookup, you could look it up that way but I don't have that info. If I had to guess, you probably have 3.21's and those don't favor large tires, however when you have an 8 speed I do believe that mitigates a lot of the low rpm stuff so maybe it will work.