18" vs 19" for All Terrain Tires

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dtopkin

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What are peoples thoughts on AT tires on 18" vs 19"? I've seen and hear a lot of talk about switching to 18" wheels as it opens up a much wider array of tire choices. I'm curious whether there's a big reason to change out the wheels other than options? I'm sure sidewall size etc. will be better on the 18's. Any advocates for 19" here?
 

ryanjl

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Choices and sidewall size.

I think, given the choice and all else being equal, most would want 18" wheels over 19" wheels.

But 18" wheels can cost a lot, and the LR4 never came with them. Add to it that going to the larger tires that the 18" wheel affords can open up some other issues, like needing to deflate the spare to get it to fit in the stock spare tire location, etc.
 

dtopkin

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Choices and sidewall size.

I think, given the choice and all else being equal, most would want 18" wheels over 19" wheels.

But 18" wheels can cost a lot, and the LR4 never came with them. Add to it that going to the larger tires that the 18" wheel affords can open up some other issues, like needing to deflate the spare to get it to fit in the stock spare tire location, etc.

You make a good point about the spare—I'm also wondering what the options are because ideally I don't want to run it with spacers either, and so far I've only seen the Tuffant 18"s as an option. And those do cost quite a bit.
 

Nechaken

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I think the major advantage of 19s is eliminating the need to buy a second set of wheels. Downside is that you risk tearing up the factory wheels, which isn't going to be cheap to replace.

The Tuffant steel wheels are pretty affordable, their alloys are quite a bit more. I believe there is at least one person here who put 18" steel wheels from the new Defender on their LR4.

I have Tuffants with 265/65/18 E range coopers, and needed to deflate the spare nearly all the way (like 5PSI left, maybe) to wedge it in place when it was new. (I rotate all 5 wheels). I am told 265/60/18 can fit without having to deflate...
 

dtopkin

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I think the major advantage of 19s is eliminating the need to buy a second set of wheels. Downside is that you risk tearing up the factory wheels, which isn't going to be cheap to replace.

The Tuffant steel wheels are pretty affordable, their alloys are quite a bit more. I believe there is at least one person here who put 18" steel wheels from the new Defender on their LR4.

I have Tuffants with 265/65/18 E range coopers, and needed to deflate the spare nearly all the way (like 5PSI left, maybe) to wedge it in place when it was new. (I rotate all 5 wheels). I am told 265/60/18 can fit without having to deflate...

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up going with the Tuffant steelies. I initially made the quantity 5 when choosing them, not realizing they're priced at ~$1000 for a set of 5, so initially when looking at my checkout I saw $5000, and thought "whaaaat?"

But yes, they do turn out to be quite affordable. Think I'll end up with those.
 

dtopkin

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I think the major advantage of 19s is eliminating the need to buy a second set of wheels. Downside is that you risk tearing up the factory wheels, which isn't going to be cheap to replace.

The Tuffant steel wheels are pretty affordable, their alloys are quite a bit more. I believe there is at least one person here who put 18" steel wheels from the new Defender on their LR4.

I have Tuffants with 265/65/18 E range coopers, and needed to deflate the spare nearly all the way (like 5PSI left, maybe) to wedge it in place when it was new. (I rotate all 5 wheels). I am told 265/60/18 can fit without having to deflate...

hickersb, Curious about the tpms, did you experience any issues with the tpms sensors in each wheel? Did you end up purchasing news one, and was it easy to sync to the car?
 

mm3846

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you can run a 265/60-18, which is factory LR3 size and you dont need to deflate the spare. I've aired my 255/60-19s down to 15psi a bunch of times no problem, and that size fits in the stock spare location, too. I am going to 18s for the next set so I can run something less aggressive and get more sidewall for the beach.
 

ryanjl

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You make a good point about the spare—I'm also wondering what the options are because ideally I don't want to run it with spacers either, and so far I've only seen the Tuffant 18"s as an option. And those do cost quite a bit.

There are several 18" wheels that work without a spacer. Tuffant alloy or steel, Compomotive, the 18-inch wheels that come on the new Defender, Evo Corse, AlphaEquipt, as well as some others. There is a thread on here that has several in it.
 

ftillier

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I went with Toyo open country at3 in 255/60 size on my factory 19. Happy with them so far, and a good option if the wallet can't support a new set of rims. Spare tire was a tight fit, but I plan to do a 5 wheel rotation which should sort it. There's more options now than the were a few years ago, but definitely less, and generally not as aggressive as what you can find in the 18" size.
 

mm3846

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I went with Toyo open country at3 in 255/60 size on my factory 19. Happy with them so far, and a good option if the wallet can't support a new set of rims. Spare tire was a tight fit, but I plan to do a 5 wheel rotation which should sort it. There's more options now than the were a few years ago, but definitely less, and generally not as aggressive as what you can find in the 18" size.

almost 15k miles on my AT3s (and just did my second rotation) and the spare fits totally normal now.
 

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