17" or 18"

Around the forums I have seen a lot of folks talking about wheel sizes. I noticed that the bead locks on the EVO page are a 17" wheel. The guy at the 4x4 shop around here recommends an 18" wheel. I figured I would ask all of you guys for your pro's and Cons as to which is the better option. If 17 with a spacer are better I will just keep my stock wheels for the time being and save up for some good bead locks. Is sidewall flex going to be an issue either way?

I did a crappy job of forming my question I hope you guys know what I am getting at though.:standing wave:

17" is the new 15" and is widely available. needless to say, it's what i would go with. there aren't too many tires available in an 18" and the ones that are, tend to be on the more expensive side.

The pros and cons of an 18 vs 17 is almost strictly the availability and cost of tires. In that case a 17 is the clear winner.

If u were comparing a 15 to a 20 then it would be in relation to your tire size. General rule of thumb is the 1/2 method. I.E. a 20" wheel for a 40" tire.

Now this isnt a method for sizing for EVERYONE. More or less sidewall will have their benefits and cons. More sidewall and when aired down you will have uncontrolled shift when off level or sudden weight shifts of the vehicle. Less sidewall will make the tire more ridged and make airing down less of an asset or option when needed.

So tons of options, but for the everyday wheeler and daily driver and most options, as eddie stated, the 17 is your best all around option.

Also, with the stock rim, the only problem that ull find is that most aftermarket tires recommend an 8"-10" wide rim due to the tire width. Most people ignore this recommendation and stick to their stock 7.5". Either way if u do stay stock and choose a larger tire, to save up for beads later, then u can just transfer those tires on to ur new wheels.

I can tell you that after running an 18" tire wrapped in 295/70/18 (measures to 34.5") on the trail with 15 pounds of air, they do fine. BUT, I would love to go to a 17" tire as mentioned before, the tire costs are significant between the two. I think a 17" looks good with 35-37" rubber too. Hope this helps.

I really do appreciate all of your responses. Thanks for taking the time to help out. :beer:

I have to agree with Eddie. I ran 18" Spyderlocks with 35" Mud Grapplers for my previous wheel/tire setup. When I was ready to upgrade to 37" tires, I was very limited in what I could get in an 18" size. The few choices that were out there, were more expensive. So I sold that setup and bought 17" Allied Raceline Monster beadlocks and the 37" MT/R Kevlars, since that was the tire I wanted. Now, looking back, I should've kept the spyderlocks and gotten a set of 37" mud grapplers for the 18s. The Kevlars are crap and weren't worth the hassle to sell the 18" wheels.

Starting out though, for sure go straight for the 17" wheels. You'll be better off in the long run.