Hi,
I am just curious as to what you guys think about wheel setups. I am kinda debating what to do. I race pretty often and want to have good traction with street tires. I have a pretty slammed ride so ride is already pretty rough on the lightning rims i already have on there. So i was thinking about maybe putting on nice 16's with a 30" tire all around with wider ones out back and of course it will be tucking all around, more so in back kinda giving it the lowered drag car look. this way is cheaper and will provide a softer ride, but it is not as flashy/nice. then there are 18's with a 30" tire tucking all around, the same as the 16's but with more rim, thus a little more flashy and maybe a little softer ride than now. Then they are 20's which will probably tuck rim/tire, but then it will stiffen up the ride, more expensive, and they might bend or scratch, and that would break my heart. Basically i want it to look somewhat flashy, give a good ride and traction, and just look mean(especially if the tire is tucking out back) So what do you guys think? thanks.

 

Just so you know the bigger the wheel is will casue the tires sidewall area to be less which will result in a rougher ride becasue there is less sidewall to absorb some of the impact from potholes and such. If you want to try and improive the ride you should probably stick to either a 16" or 17" wheel.

Richard

 

I don't know what size tires you have now on the lightning wheels but I have 285 tires on lighning wheels and love them. The ride is fine, there is decent sidewall and the diameter is what it should be.

IMO factory sized tires for lightning were too short.

Dave

 

FIY....285 isn't the sidewall height, its the width of the tire. The next number such as 45 or 70 is the ratio of width of the tire to the sidewall height. I've got L wheels with the stock F1's (295/45-18) with 2/4 lowering and Steeda sway bars, and the ride isn't that bad. it makes the truck a lot funner with the shorter tires for handling the curves, you have less sidewall flex and thus it grip's the corners better. however you can get to small of sidewall and it will do no good. I would stick with the 18's, get some good grippy tires and have fun. $200 for each wheel isn't that bad of price.

 

Isn't tire sizing a pain in the but?

You're right about the numbers. I found a neat tire size calculator online and used that to try and get the size I wanted. the 295's you have aren't bad but I really wanted to keep the OD closer to the stock tires. 28" is just a shade short for my taste. I couldn't find any 295's with a 30-31" OD. So I went with the 285 55 18's Nitto 450 tires.

It took me forever to finally decide what tires to buy.

I'm happy though, they look and ride great. The widith is perfect for the 9.5" wheels. I wouldn't go any narrower though.

Dave