OEM 16" VS 18" Wheels...Ride Quality/tire question

[Kabanstva]

I recently got a spare set of oem 16" wheels for my LX.
It originally came with 18" wheels.

The goal was/is to put snow tires on the 16's and use them for winter only. However, after speaking to a knowledgeable acquaintance and hearing how much smoother the truck drives on the 16's, I am thinking of just putting some all season tires on them and using them year round.

Are there any decent all season tires that you guys recommend? I am in northern IL, winters are long and cold, not that much snow compared to the east coast, but we do get occasional foot+ of snow.

 

[JOFS]

If you need snow tires get them

The 18s ride nice and if you can go with some highway tires for summer they will be much quieter than all seasons or all terrain tires. They will ride better than any all season or at tires.

I have 2 100 series and I run dedicated 16 inch rims in the winter with studded snows. I run highway tires on one and ats on the other in the summer. The highway tires give the smoothest ride of any but the ats are better if I am off-road or on dirt

If you wreck once in the winter on ice or snow you will wish you had used studded tires.

I haven't experienced a smoother ride with 16s than 18s and would highly recommend snows if you live in a place that needs them
John

 

[Kabanstva]

If you need snow tires get them

The 18s ride nice and if you can go with some highway tires for summer they will be much quieter than all seasons or all terrain tires. They will ride better than any all season or at tires.

I have 2 100 series and I run dedicated 16 inch rims in the winter with studded snows. I run highway tires on one and ats on the other in the summer. The highway tires give the smoothest ride of any but the ats are better if I am off-road or on dirt

If you wreck once in the winter on ice or snow you will wish you had used studded tires.

I haven't experienced a smoother ride with 16s than 18s and would highly recommend snows if you live in a place that needs them
John

John, thank you. Can you recommend a good brand of highway tires? Is that just another name for summer tires? Never heard of highway tires, but then again I've never owned an suv before this either.

I've always had good luck with Blizzaks for snow tires, have used them on all my cars, is that the general consensus around here for the best snow tire as well?

 

[JOFS]

For winter tires I use nokian tires and love them

For highway tires I have michelins but I don't remember the specific model as they came with the truck but they were not adequate for the winter here

John

 

[landylover21]

I have a dedicated set of snows on my 16's and have all-seasons on my 18's. Ride quality really didn't suffer as much as I thought it would when I switched over to the 18's. Bumps are a tiny bit more pronounced but the ride is still smooth and cornering (for what it is) seems to be a bit tighter.

I had Blizzaks on my old Mercedes and they did really well in deep snow. Some people don't like the Blizzaks as I've heard people say the tread compound is different as they wear down. As in, it's a softer winter compound for the upper layer (which wears relatively quickly) and as they wear they have a harder, more all-season-like layer which doesn't do as well in the snow. I'm not sure of this so don't quote me, that's just what I've heard; I only had them for two seasons before I sold the car.

On my 16's I currently have the Nokian Nordman 5 SUV snow tires and they're pretty quiet and handle surprisingly well for a less-expensive now tire. I can't really say for snow and ice handling only because this past winter was pretty much nonexistent in upstate NY.

If you're keeping your 16s for an all-season tire, the OEM Michelin LTX M/S is an awesome tire (in my opinion at least). They actually handled better in the snow than the old Cooper snows I had on before. Treadwear was amazing and they were pretty quiet. They're kinda spendy but it's money well worth it. If they made them in the 18" size for these trucks I'd probably would have gotten them instead of the Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza Plus tires I have now.

 

[Live to Ski]

Related ?s:
which wheel gives the most options for tire sizes in US?

And, which wheel would support world wide tire availability?

 

[bamabrock]

You can just buy a set of takeoff tundra wheels off craigslist for the winter tires for cheap. The 16" wheel option is barely used on newer vehicles.

 

[apdxyk]

If you're keeping your 16s for an all-season tire, the OEM Michelin LTX M/S is an awesome tire (in my opinion at least). They actually handled better in the snow than the old Cooper snows I had on before. Treadwear was amazing and they were pretty quiet. They're kinda spendy but it's money well worth it. If they made them in the 18" size for these trucks I'd probably would have gotten them instead of the Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza Plus tires I have now.

What is it that you don't like about the Dueler tires, please?

Michelin Defender LTX M/S 275/60R18

 

[landylover21]

What is it that you don't like about the Dueler tires, please?

They're a decent tire but the tried and true LTX M/S is still my favorite all-season for these rigs.

The Dueler H/L Alenza Pluses are definitely louder than the LTX's, and when we did get the surprise snowstorm earlier this month, snow traction left a little to be desired as well. Treadwear will be ascertained as time goes by as this is only my second summer with them.

Here's a pic when I first had them mounted: old and new:

Cheers,

Rich

 

[maxse01]

I run a 295/75-16 BFG KO year round on my LC. They're quiet, handle great and I can use them offroad. The snow performance is excellent as well.

My wife's 100 has 275/60-18 Michelin Latitudes for sping/summer/fall, and 285/60-18 (on my stock LC wheels) Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1's for winter.

The newer all terrain tires are pretty much 1 size fits all in my opinion. I'm super impressed with the BFG's, and they probably won't be my last set.