It seems a lot of F-150 owners (at least on this forum) are all hot to get 20" rims.

Can someone explain what the advantage is? I think large rims make the truck slower off the line, adds more work for the brakes, reduces the range on a tank of fuel, costs more to buy tires for (and require replacement sooner), have a poor selection of tires available, reduce the grip off-road and over bumpy surfaces, act like skiis on the snow/ice and provide less margin of error for taking hits at speed (like a stray piece of lumber or other debris on the highway).

I'm having a hard time imagining what the benefit is. Help me out here, what am I missing?

 

Rim size has no effect on:

being slower off the line
reducing range of tank of fuel
require sooner tire replacement
reduce grip
act like skiis

 

Got the Goodyear 275 60r20 on now and the ride is a bit better.

 

No advantage. Some think the 20's look better. I would go with 17's (265 70r17) if the 20" polished didn't look so good.

 

Going from my 04 to the new 09 Platinum I was VERY disappointed in the ride. I now have 23K miles and I have to say I STILL HATE the ride!

Anyone that thinks this truck rides smooth has never ridden in a 04 Lariat Screw or they have never ridden on the concrete interstates in the south! I will say on smooth asphalt roads it does ride nice, but we don't have many roads like that around here.

I have a friend with a 04 F250 FX4 Crew and it as this 09 platinum ride about the same... RUFF

I still love my truck; just wish I could have my super smooth ride back.


Johnie

 

It's just preference. The 20's fill the wells nice and look good. I'm sure that is why most of us got them. My FX4 rides real nice. I test drove with both 18's and 20's. The ride was not much different IMO. I felt the extra $500 dollars for the 20's was worth it. It's not sluggish at all and has handled nice in the 3 snow storms we've had.

 

2009XLT 2wd. Just switched from factory 18" rims to factory 20" rims with Pirellis. Looks far better to me and does ride stiffer but is perfect for what I like. I am coming from a limited with 22" factory rims and Pirellis. 91,000 miles on that and after 4000 miles I much prefer the ride of this truck. Quieter tire also than the 22". I actually run 42psi for tire life also.
No-brainer for me but looks and feel are very personal

 

Got any pics with the new tires? I have the stock 275/55/20 Scorpions and am thinking of going to 275/60/20. Any issues? Thanks.

 

Big Slick, how are you liking your new tires? any pics? I am thinking of getting the same size tires. Thanks.

 

Running 275/60/20 and no issues.

 

I'm surprised you guys don't like the scorpions. So far I'm impressed. Very low road noise, very smooth ride, Unreal grip and hard wearing. Just last night i was on my way home from dinner with wife and had the radio off and i was amazed at how quite and smooth the truck is. This is even after 14 months of ownership. No idea what pressures i have in mine though. Our other cars/suv's all have sport suspension, low profile tires with massive rims so my platinum feels nice compaired to them lol.

 

Very happy with the Revo's. More aggressive than the Pirelli's, but still have good road manners. Check my gallery, the first three pics are the 275/60 Revo's.

 

Barrita i am impressed also they have low road noise smooth ride i run them at 36 psi and would buy them again with out hesitation.

 

I am almost 100% sure that "Sport Tuned" is what the shocks are on my '07 FX4 Scab Flareside with 20" wheels and it came with the Pirelli Scorpion P275/55R-20 tires.

I love them and they wear great and at 40 psi cold, handle great.

Haven't tried them in snow but local Vol FD has a set on their F-150 command / support truck (also a red F-150 FX4 Scab with shell) and they say they are just fair in snow / ice?

I even bought a set from a fellow in Wichita off his '09 for $200 plus shipping after he swapped to Nittos. Don't know how he likes those, but I'm set for a long time, got the next set like new stacked in the dark. Truck has 34K on original tires and they look "good" still so I'm not sure when I'll need to put this next set on.

I found that at 35 psi there was a certain wandering or lack of precision in steering, 40 psi cleared that up and that's how I run them now unless expecting a real load which means I bump them up to 44 rear anyway.

 

This is not true unless you want to get into picking fly dung out of pepper and match non-stock tire sizes not available through the vehicle manufacturer to the wheels available through the manufacturer. I've been down this road before, and stock/optional available 20" wheel combinations characteristically are heavier and provide greater rolling resistance than the standard available 17" or 18" wheel combinations. That alone creates more drag and more mass to get rolling, which in turn eats away at out of the hole performance and fuel economy whencompared to the smaller standard available "less than 20" wheel" counterpart.

My dad and I have been driving comparable trucks as far as engine, rear end, trim, etc., but I always used to get 20" wheels. There was a definite differnce in long-range fuel economy, around town driving economy (stop and go), as well as out of the hole performance. That is the main reason I went with 18" wheels with my current 2010 as I tow a large travel trailer and wanted all the grunt and mileage I could get - especially after enduring 20" wheels and tire on my last 2008 wasn't so great.