I have been searching for three days trying to figure all this out and have put up a post on a couple of other forums and cannot get the answer I am looking for. I am SURE everyone is sick of tire questions, but I am trying to learn this stuff and am confusing the hell out of myself trying to find answers!

I have an 05 1500 4x4 (no lift or leveling kit) that came with the stock 17 inch rims. Right now it has 265/70R17's on. I have found a guy selling a set of stock 20's off of an 02 ram that has Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ's that are 325/50/20.

Now from what I understand if I am reading everything right, there is no way these will fit without (at a minimum) a leveling kit at full lock since it is a stock rim with a 12.5" wide tire. Everyone keeps saying "they will rub". But nobody says what they will rub on! Will it rub on the wheel well, control arm, etc or what?!

I am wanting to upgrade to the stock 20's and this guy has the best deal I can find with tires. I just need to know what I will need to do. Some people say use wheel spacers, some say "stay the hell away from spacers because of premature bearing wear and safety hazards", while others say they have had wheel spacers on for a gabillion miles with no problems.

Also I won't be doing a TON of off roading, and if I do some, it will be easy off roading haha.

So my questions are these, what will these tires rub on (if anything), and are wheel spacers the devil and why?!

One last thing, I was talking to a Dodge mechanic the other night at the bar and was bugging him about this stuff and he mentioned that if I upgrade to 20" wheels, I should also upgrade the brakes (I guess trucks that came stock with 20's have larger brakes?) to do everything correctly? Any truth to this?

Thanks for ANY help guys!

 

You will have rubbing and I do believe it will be on the upper arm. You should have no problem running a spacer as long as you buy a quality set. My only thing is you're running a REALLY wide tire for a stock 20" rim. I would be more worried about busting the bead during a hard turn since you won't have too much sidewall flex with a 33" tire that's that wide. I wouldn't worry about the brakes too much. If you're that concerned about it, just get yourself a set of ceramic pads and you're done. You can run 'em, just get some good spacers.

 

Backspacing is key, like cowboy said either spacers or you could get another set of 20's with different backspacing. The 33"s won't rub the fender except maybe on the inside at full lock and maybe the control arm as well, I'm not 100% on that but I know it will rib inside/back in there.

 

i have 35's on 20's and all i did was raise the torshun bars

 

He's not going any bigger just wider is why he'll have rubbing issues.

 

Thanks for the tips guys!

I have been thinking about it more and more today, and now I am thinking about just going to my hometown tire shop and have them try a few different tires with the stock 17's, and go with the ones I like the most (the biggest that will fit without rubbing of course). I don't want to end up spending a ton more money on this then just rims and tires if I get different rims.

If I do it this way I will save a little money and can get some nerfs and maybe a tonneau cover to put on too. I just don't want a ton of hassle and a huge price tag with this. I guess I could also just wait and find a used set of stock 20's that does not have the XL tires on them and pick them up too. Ah hell, I don't know what I want to do! I guess I'll just take my time and research the crap out of some more options and let this set I have been looking at go.

Thanks again for the help guys!

 

Good luck!