want to put smaller wheels on dakota r/t?

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rustycowll69

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Sorry, I know this not a dakota forum, but the dakota forum wanted $30 to join for one year. I have just one question. My son has an 00 Dakota R/T, with optional 17 inch wheels. Finding tires is very hard. Limited selection, huge back ordered wait times, etc. Does anybody here know if he can go down in wheel dia to 16inch, so he can have a better selection in tires. I guess what I need to know is, will his brakes fit inside the 16inch Durango rim?
 
From the tire aspect, the key to changing wheel diameter is to pick a tire that will give you the same overall height (primarily) and width (secondary). This can easily be done by playing section width and aspect ratio. HOWEVER, going to a smaller rim size can cause caliper interference. I had a 98 Dakota with 15s and when I had new tires balanced with stick on weights on the inside of the rim, they rubbed on the caliper. Since your radius will be decreasing by 1/2 inch, You will need a clearance greater than that with your current setup. Get under the car and measure. if you have 9/16 inch clearance now, that will become 1/16 when going to a smaller wheel. There are other things to watch out for too; primarily steering linkage clearance. Do you have access to a 16" Dakota rim? Try going to a salvage yard and seeing if they have a 16" rim with a tire on it. If you talk nice, they just might let you take it out into the parking lot and test fit it. We have a GREAT salvage yard here called AA that will gladly let you do that.
 
My Dakota's an '02 and came with 16" wheels. It's a Sport, not an R/T...not sure what the difference is between the 2. My winter tires are on 15" rims I got off a late 90s Durango and fit just fine, no brake clearance issues. Mine has rear drums, dunno if you have discs in the back or if it makes a difference.
 
Might try a different dealer. Those wheels are part of the R/T package. I can get tires with about 20 to chose from with a 1-2 day wait but about a $150 a piece minimum. I have to buy them 2 at a time cause it just eats those rear tires and rotate the fronts to the back and put the new ones on the front.
 
he tried ordering 4 Pirelli 255/55R17 from Goodyear store in Seattle, and they said they were on a 2 MO back order. The only others were Bridgestone's with roughly half the treadwear rating, for much more money. What brands can you get? treadwear rating?
 
255/60R17 are in inch taller but they make a cheap nexen. 255/50R17 would be an inch shorter and they make it in a hankook for cheap also
 
17 was std on the R/T, and could also be had in the "R/T appearance package" on sport models.

There are usually abut three manufacturers at any given time making 255/55/17 tires.

Note that these are "car" tires.

I'm currently running Federal, bought from ebay at about $130 each.

1 X New Federal SS-595 255/55R17 102V All Season Ultra High Performance Tires | eBay

Those were the only ones I could find this time around.

The Khumo Ecsta 711 were the bomb, but are no longer in production.

I believe Continental has a truck tire in that size, but it's A: a truck tire, and B: pricey.

I have run Hankook 245/50/17 on the front, but they look silly on the back.

The last pair of those had premature belt separation.
 
then you see what I see, that it's some red-headed step child of a size. Very few tire companies make that size tire. I just looked thru about 20 different tire manufacturer's stats and I found only two who even list that size, much less have them in stock. There may have been more manufacturers back when those trucks were new, but 17 years later, that size is not worth building anymore. That's why I wanted to drop to 16inch rims, way more tire options available.
 
thanks for the input. I checked on the Federals, but they were very poorly rated for wet traction, and if you haven't heard, yet, it rains in Seattle. A lot.
 
100_2263.jpg


275/55R17 less than an inch taller.

Toyo_ProxesSTII.jpg

toyo
HankookVentusAS_593.jpg

hankooks
 
rustycowll69 said:
Sorry, I know this not a dakota forum, but the dakota forum wanted $30 to join for one year. I have just one question. My son has an 00 Dakota R/T, with optional 17 inch wheels. Finding tires is very hard. Limited selection, huge back ordered wait times, etc. Does anybody here know if he can go down in wheel dia to 16inch, so he can have a better selection in tires. I guess what I need to know is, will his brakes fit inside the 16inch Durango rim?
Click to expand...

My spare got stolen from my R/T so I got a 15" from the salvage yard that looks EXACTLY like the 17" but has a different center cap. I put a 275/60/15 on it and it was the SAME height as the stock 255/55/17. So there ya go. It was off a 98 Durango.
 
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rustycowll69 said:
thanks for the input. I checked on the Federals, but they were very poorly rated for wet traction, and if you haven't heard, yet, it rains in Seattle. A lot.
Click to expand...

I run the Federals and is rains a little in Florida and they are EXCELLENT in the rain. The Hankooks/Goodyears/Michelins were not.
 
rustycowll69 said:
thanks for the clarification. that means they might still work. Six lug, right?
Click to expand...
All 6 lug. I may be mistaken but the 1st year dakotas MAY have been 5, or maybe it was the 4cyl earlies. but all later were 6 regardless
 
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