Lobitz68 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I am seriously considering increasing the size of my wheels this summer to 22" and looking for insight and personal experiences from those who have been there... My areas of interest include: Ride - how does the ride "suffer" from the decrease in sidewall? Other useful information may be the quality of your roads and what wheel size you had originally... Braking - Is the braking affected seriously by this upgrade? I have the large brakes on my '14 and they stop great the way it is... Acceleration - Not sure if this really matters to me as I am past my days of driving like an ass, but if it makes it feel like I'm driving a 2.4, that would be a problem. I also plan on doing some light towing once in a while. Mileage - How did your gas mileage change? Again, useful information here would be what wheel size you had originally as well as how your typical commute breaks down (% city vs % highway). Any words of advice from people who have done this are appreciated. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 My advice: Don't. But I'm biased against 22" wheels, none exist that look remotely pleasant. They always turn it into a hotwheels car. Regarding your other questions, I'll share my experience with my 2002 300M Special when I upgraded from the factory 18" alloy wheels to the 20"x8" SRT Design wheels. Ride: Ride quality went down, and I had issues keeping them in usable condition. I cracked two and bent a third. The bent one is in my basement and the two cracked wheels were welded 4-5 years ago and are still okay. One had to be heavily refinished and up close does not match the other wheels. May 2013 I had the first set of tires, 245/35/20 which matched the OEM diameter, replaced with 245/40/20. Ride quality improved drastically, however I must keep in mind that my speedometer is off (speedo says 75, actual speed 80, so I have to set my cruise to 70-75), and the longer I drive, the less accurate my odometer will be. That is less of a problem considering it's my fair weather car. Acceleration and braking: Not much difference in spite of the additional 5-10 lbs of unsprung weight at each corner. In fall 2009 I went up against another 2002 Special on its OEM wheels and we were neck-and-neck, both having SRI upgrades. That car received an identical set of wheels the following Spring, inspired by mine. As fate would have it, that same car is now also occupying my garage...but I digress. Mileage: No difference, but again only a 5-10 lb unsprung weight increase per corner. Jumping to 22" wheels, you're likely going to end up with a much heavier wheel. I know a guy with a 2003 Special who went from the 18" wheel and tire package to 22" wheels, and a few years later had to replace a few components when the hub broke off and wrecked the fender. Personally, I'm hoping to find a set of 2006-2010 GC SRT 20"x9" wheels to fit 255/45/20 tires to. They're forged wheels, so the unsprung weight increase should be either negligible or non-existant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I am considering 20" wheels as well, just looking for personal experiences. Our roads aren't perfect here in MN, but better than Detroit... My concern with the 20" wheel is that there is still a lot of side wall. From the pics I have seen of 20" and 22" wheels on the site, I think that the 22" wheels match the vehicle a little bit better. I haven't done enough research at this point to see how large the side wall on the tires would be if keeping the stock tire/wheel height, but I imagine there should still be plenty of rubber. I am going from 17" wheels, so either way I anticipate a visually noticeable difference, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money on wheels and tires only to be disappointed. Thanks for you feedback, it has given me things to consider and is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 As far as roads go our unpaved dirt road in Al is smoother than almost any paved road in Mi. P.S, I was born and raised in Clarkston Mi. and as far as Al there is hardly any unpaved roads down here. 22 inch wheels would not look good on your journey, but that is my 2cents worth. take care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhh3 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Your skinny sidewalls will give you a very rough ride. Looks vs functuality. 22s do look good on some cars. Can you get someone to photoshop a set of 22s on a side view of your DJ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) Your skinny sidewalls will give you a very rough ride. Looks vs functuality. 22s do look good on some cars. Can you get someone to photoshop a set of 22s on a side view of your DJ? There are numerous pics on the site of DJ's with 22's... There is plenty of side wall on them. None of them looks gaudy or ugly to me and I am not typically the guy that likes that type of thing either. At the moment I found a set of 20" wheels that I like a lot (Savini Black Di Forza BM8's). Still curious to hear people's real world experiences with a change that drastic (opinions are like buttholes, so I am ignoring those). EDIT: It would appear that for a 20" wheel I would have to use a 245/45/20 tire which has a side wall height of 110mm or about 4.3"... That is still a lot of side wall. For a 22" wheel it looks like a 255/35/20 which has a side wall height of about 89mm or 3.5". It's not like it would be riding on rubber bands or anything drastic like that... 3.5" is still a decent amount of side wall. Edited January 13, 2015 by Lobitz68 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) I did a quick tire size comparison for you. I used my OEM 225/55/19 tire size as reference, assuming our overall diameters are similar. To keep OEM tire width and diameter on a 22" wheel, you would need a 225/40/22 tire. That will give you a bad ride. On my Special with OEM diameter on a 20 inch wheel, the unloaded distance from rim to pavement was 85.75mm. You're looking at 90 mm, a difference of 4.25 mm. Which is negated when a load is put on the tire (vehicle weight on the ground). Your roads may be better than mine, however I cracked two wheels in the PA Philly suburbs, where roads are fresh as a newborns bottom compared to Detroit. The 245/40 I stepped up to gives me 98mm unloaded between rim and pavement and the difference is noteworthy. It doesn't feel like a Cadillac, but I will definitely never go back. That is a measurement I would keep in mind when choosing tires as a minimum. For a 22" wheel compared to OEM 19" wheels and tires, that means throwing your speedo off regardless of tire width. I'm not sure what width you're looking for but 245/40/22 (3.4% extra diameter, 67 mph at an indicated 65, I've had cops tell me they'll go after someone doing 2-3 MPH over the limit) will get that cushion, however a 245/35/22 is needed to match OEM tire diameter. I'll be shooting for 255/45/20, or 265/45/20, which gives an acceptable 2.2% extra diameter and puts my actual speed at 66 against an indicated 65. Correction: I halved those sidewall numbers and didn't need to. Point remains the same. Corrected the numbers. Edited January 13, 2015 by B4ZINGA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neto Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Our first issue 2009 has the 16" wheels, and personally I would never purposely choose to change to anything bigger. I know that some say that these older ones with the smaller brakes don't stop well, but our brakes are great - we have never had any problems with that. Also, I just really dislike the looks of a car with huge wheels. It's alright on a truck (& I'm not talking about pickups, either), but not on a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srk23 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I had 22s on my dj over the summer. Only issues were turning since the battery sits right infront of the driver side tire in a metal housing which makes contact while turning. Other than that no issues. People stare you down when your cars all shined up and cruising down the main strip. It does feel a little heavier and you do have to be more careful when driving in area's with bad roads and pot holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srk23 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I have some pics on my profile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 I like the two tone dip. Nice DJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick718 Posted October 11, 2016 Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 rides good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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