I'm new here and have a question concerning wheels and tires. I have an 05 1500 4x4 with 20" wheels and I'm looking to change over to 17" wheels so I can get some off road tires at a decent price. I just called the dealership to find out the largest size tire I can put on and they told me since my truck came with 20" wheels I'm unable to switch to 17" wheels cause it will mess up the suspension.[:@] I've done a search here and it looks like other people have switched over to 17's, but has anyone heard this or had any problems switching over. Any knowledge on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

WTF? When I told the dealer I bought my truck from what my intentions for the wheels were (switch to 17's for the winter to get better tires), he said that alot of people do that up there (bought it in Wilkes-Barre, PA).

I'd have to go back and research it a bit, but I don't recall ever hearing that before!

 

The dealer told me they wouldn't switch the wheels (from 20's to 17's) on a truck I wanted to buy for the same reason. I am in the process of picking out new 17's and tires now.

There is no way that it would cause problems with the suspension. The only problem it could cause is with ABS and maybe some other computer functions if the overall diameter changes. I'm going to call the dealership and ask about getting my computer calibrated for a new tire size before I purchase anything new.

 

yeah all you need to do is get comp recalibrated for the abs and the speedo a friend of mine got a hemi sport with 20s and allready had the sport 17s so the dealer knocked the price down and keap the 20s and recalibrated his comp it runs fine and he said its quite a bit faster

 

In the recent issue of Petersens 4 Wheel and offroad it shows a 2004 1500 4X4 with stock suspension running 37"s grab a copy and check it out.

 

I've been running 20's for a year now with no problems after upgrading from my original 17's. My speedo may be slightly off but it doesn't effect the performance of the truck at all.

 

Thanks for the advice, I said screw the dealer and went out yesterday and bought some 17" Eagle alloys and 295/70/17 Nitto Grapplers. Thanks to all who responded

 

Going from 17" to 20", or 20" to 17" wheels shouldn't matter, cause if you put them next to each other they are almost identical in overall height. So that shouldn't trigger the ABS or speedo sensors. And from my time I worked at the dealer........ Most mechanics are NOT car guys. To them its a source of income, and they don't recommend anything didn't than the factory meant for it, cause they can't find it in their manuals..... Car guys are always wanting something different, so I never ask the dealer before I do anything, unless I really think it will void something, like cutting up a electrical harness (LOL). Just my 2 cents.