Tire Size question - Keep 16 or move up to 18 for mild Off-roading

[BnvS]

Okay I am torn on what to do...I currently have standard OEM 16' wheels on my LC. My tires need replacing in about 10k or so miles. I live in the south so keeping good tires for snow is not a issue. All OEM suspension with no lift.

I do a little bit of off-roading nothing to intense. I currently have the Bridgestone Duelers which are great tires for onroad and I'h done some off-roading and are not bad at all, but I am sure A/T tires would be better. I would like to get some KO2 or some good A/T tires but only at a good cost. Currently I have to get new tires for my Minivan so getting new for

So my question is should I just look for 16' wheels. Or upgrade to 18' for little to no cost upgrade. I tell myself that the standard 265/70/16 are good enough. But I found some good deals on 2008 Tundra/Sequoia Wheels with tires for a really good price. A part of me wants to upgrade to 18' but then a part of me wants to stay at 16' (because then i dont have to find a 5th spare). With the 18' wheels I will have to find spare wheel.

The deal I found was someone giving 2008 Sequoia 18' tires & rims with same Bridgestone Duelers 275/65/18 with what looks like 20-25k miles thread left on them (link to them below - Hopefully dont screw me over). Would keeping 18' be bad for off-roading?

For the price I can justify keeping my 16' wheels for the 10k then replace these for new 18' KO2 or some other nice A/T tires.

Tundra tires and wheels - Auto Parts - Porterdale, Georgia - Marketplace | Facebook

Or screw all that and just look for some 16' wheels? like upgrade to a 275/70/16 or similar??

Again my basic premise is I do want to off-road from time to time. So is going with 18's going to be a big different, No difference off-roading?. or if i want to off-road its better to just stick with 16's and not worry about going bigger??

 

[staggrlee]

Non-Landcruiser Toyota wheels are going to require spacers due to rim offset differences from the other models. 18s are more than fine for light off-roading and it's the better rim for highway handling due to less sidewall.

The 16s have an advantage when airing down in that you do have more sidewall, so you're less likely to damage a rim or break a bead loose.

IMO save the money and hassle of changing out rims with spacers, and spend the money on the 16" tires you really want, unless appearance matters more to you.

 

[cmck]

Non-Landcruiser Toyota wheels are going to require spacers due to rim offset differences from the other models. 18s are more than fine for light off-roading and it's the better rim for highway handling due to less sidewall.

The 16s have an advantage when airing down in that you do have more sidewall, so you're less likely to damage a rim or break a bead loose.

IMO save the money and hassle of changing out rims with spacers, and spend the money on the 16" tires you really want, unless appearance matters more to you.

Ditto this and I have both 16’s and 18’s both oem LC wheels.

 

[TXLX100]

I have 18" steel tundra wheels and 265 tires (bought cheap while 16's being coated). The offset is + quite a bit, makes it look a little weird but works fine.

 

[gatormark91]

265/75lt16 is the upgaded 32" K02 size for Tacomas. I just put them on my 17 TRD Off-road. 4WheelParts sells them for something like $175 each. That is a touch less than the $280 each for the K02 18s on my LC. The 265/75 16 K02s will be plenty of tire for what you are doing

 

[BnvS]

Wait I thought the Tundra and Sequoia wheels didnt need any spacers? I thought I would just need to replace the 16' with the new 18' wheels and it would be all set. Is that not the case?

 

[gatormark91]

Wait I thought the Tundra and Sequoia wheels didnt need any spacers? I thought I would just need to replace the 16' with the new 18' wheels and it would be all set. Is that not the case?

They do not need any spacers to fit. I ran '15 Tundra 18" wheels with no spacers, no problem. HOWEVER - they need a 1/2" front spacer if you want the factory Tundra center cap to fit over the LC front hub. Then the options to fit a center cap become 1. putting a 2" hole in the front caps (which I did at first, looked fine to me), 2. putting on LC caps (most fit, some not so much), or 3. what I finally did, which was to put 1.25" BORA spacers on. I went with spacers because I will eventually be running bigger tires than my 33's, so that really isn't one of the options you'd probably need to consider.

 

[gatormark91]

A part of me wants to upgrade to 18' but then a part of me wants to stay at 16' (because then i dont have to find a 5th spare). With the 18' wheels I will have to find spare wheel.

BTW - Tundra 18's are some of the cheapest wheels out there, since every "lift-my-truck-6-inches" Tundra Bro dumps his factory wheels 10 minutes afte he buys his truck... I almost picked up a set here in Florida the other day, brand new take-off, for $200. I got my matching spare on eBay for less than $100.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

So my question is should I just look for 16' wheels. ?

You should keep your stock wheels and Duelers.

 

[pstevens3307]

My 04 came with stock 18s, so I don't have any experience with 16s. Unless @89GASHOG wants to expand on his remark that you should keep your stock wheels and Duelers, I'd say if you're driving mostly on-road you'll be better off with 18s. I've aired my tires down to 12psi when offroading with no issues yet.

As @gatormark91 says, there are great deals on Tundra wheels and tires out there. I needed to replace my tires and never liked the stock rims so I found a set of TRD rims with Michelin AT2s on craigslist or a lot less than the price of the tires new.

You don't need spacers, you just need to modify the front center caps slightly to fit over the grease caps and hammer the tops of the grease caps flat. There's a recent thread about this.

 

[Robinson13]

Keep your 16” wheels.
Off road the taller sidewall of the 16” wheel tire combo is much better as stated above and in my opinion.
It took some searching for me to find 16” LC wheels to replace my stock 2004 18” wheels, which I’m keeping for on highway use.

 

[aging fleet]

I'd stick with the 16s only because it keeps you from having to buy new wheels and I think they look great with a 285/75/16 a/t.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Non-Landcruiser Toyota wheels are going to require spacers due to rim offset differences from the other models. 18s are more than fine for light off-roading and it's the better rim for highway handling due to less sidewall.

The 16s have an advantage when airing down in that you do have more sidewall, so you're less likely to damage a rim or break a bead loose.

IMO save the money and hassle of changing out rims with spacers, and spend the money on the 16" tires you really want, unless appearance matters more to you.

Also, non 100 series, land cruiser wheels (aka, 200 series wheels) will need spacers to clear the hubs. I have 2016 200 series wheels and I needed 1.25" spacers to clear the drive hub flange.

I wheel just as hard with 18's as I did with 16's....

 

[Somebodyelse5]

You don't need spacers, you just need to modify the front center caps slightly to fit over the grease caps and hammer the tops of the grease caps flat. There's a recent thread about this.

I just want to get this out there as much as possible, since there wasn't much info when I looked. For factory 200 series rims, you will need wheel spacers to clear the drive hub flange, not just the dust cap. you will not be able to mount the front wheels without a 1.25" spacer.

 

[medtro]

I just want to get this out there as much as possible, since there wasn't much info when I looked. For factory 200 series rims, you will need wheel spacers to clear the drive hub flange, not just the dust cap. you will not be able to mount the front wheels without a 1.25" spacer.

I am running 2014 LC 200 series wheels, and I don't need spacers to clear the hub flanges. I will need spacers if I want to install the factory LC 200 wheel caps.

 

[fooldall1]

265/75lt16 is the upgaded 32" K02 size for Tacomas. I just put them on my 17 TRD Off-road. 4WheelParts sells them for something like $175 each. That is a touch less than the $280 each for the K02 18s on my LC. The 265/75 16 K02s will be plenty of tire for what you are doing

I kept the size Mark referenced here in 16 and they still look great with a meatier, 16" tire (the K02)

 

[aljollano]

Keep your 16” wheels.
Off road the taller sidewall of the 16” wheel tire combo is much better as stated above and in my opinion.
It took some searching for me to find 16” LC wheels to replace my stock 2004 18” wheels, which I’m keeping for on highway use.

X2

 

[Somebodyelse5]

I am running 2014 LC 200 series wheels, and I don't need spacers to clear the hub flanges. I will need spacers if I want to install the factory LC 200 wheel caps.

Hmm, the 2016’s definitely would not clear the hub...must be a different design

 

[geanes]

No need to go to 18"s just to go to 18"s. If you have 16"s, I say stick with those and go with a 33" tire like a 295/75/16. If you need to run spacers (not really necessary unless you go WIDE on the tires or just want a wider stance). You'll find that the same sized tires in a 16" vs 18" often cost way less. For example, the 295/75/16 KO2 (33.4") is $207 whereas the 275/70/18 KO2 (33.2") is $243. Had my LX come with 16"s, I would have stayed that route. However, I had 18"s and that kind of kept me in that size. Now that I upgraded my 18" wheels, I'm going to stay with that size for quite some time.

16"s have their advantage as well for off-road (aside from better pricing) and that is that you gain more sidewall which affords better rim protection.

 

[implayaz9]

I am in the same boat.. I am looking for wheels but looks like there is not much 17 inch options./ Either 16inch or go 18ins... a lot of people seem to run 16ins due to the cost on the tires.