Do 22's suck?

22s are life. Granted my Expedition has 275/55/20s on 20x9 +10s (3rd gen 2016 limited btw) and my 2020 f150 is a 3” reverse level on 305/45/22s with 22x9.5 +30s. I like the way the f-150 looks over the Expedition personally. I also had a 2016 Expedition that I did a 3/2 and 35/11.50/20s on stock wheels and 1.25” BORAs which looked freaking dope. It’s really all personal preference and what will function best for how you use the truck.

Asking if you should use 22's for off-roading vs 18's is like asking should I wear a Tux to a mud fest

My new to me 19 max limited came with the maximum upgrade package which sadly includes the 22" wheels. I'll be taking it on a sort of rough forest road tomorrow and we'll find out what happens. I'm leaving the skirt on the front air dam as well so I'll be going slow.

As far as colorado roads goes, there is a mix of everything from mild to crazy rock-crawling. Plenty of dirt like I've been on northeast of Phoenix. But if you are seriously planning to take the expy on the more interesting roads, you'll want the 18's just so you can let air out with MT's and get over the more rugged stuff. There are plenty of mild roads with a short section or two of rugged or rutted bits that could end up being an obstacle than turns you around. If you can turn around ...

I traded a Jeep Wrangler JK 4 door rubicon on the expedition. There are quite a lot of challenging roads that I'm sure the expedition can do. For example mosquito pass east of Leadville. I was up there with the wrangler and met something bigger coming the other way on a narrow stretch, and it was tight. You never know when you are going to meet someone coming the other way and not many trails are one-way. The expedition is big. So I'm not likely to try the expy over mosquito pass. I don't expect to be able to go many places I've had the wrangler.

However, your driving skill can make quite a difference. I met a full size long bed toyota on this trail: https://trails.colorado.gov/routes/11 . I bet if I take the front skirt off the expy I can take it as is over that trail with only a little scraping (bypassing heart attack hill, which is really rocky). But I probably won't unless I can get some actual steel underneath. Between the entry obstacle and one short rock drop in the middle, scraping underneath would be bad. And the rock drop might be scratching the plastics at each end.

I'm also planning a trip over the white rim trail in canyonlands at moab, because it's mostly easy road with minor entry/exit obstacles, and a ranger told me they took a group over the trail in an expedition. It was probably a stock govt vehicle.

I was going to do a lift on my truck with wheels and tires, but I may end up doing this on the expy just because we like the expy and it is a foot shorter than the truck. Hard to say. The approach and departure and breakover angles are really not going to change even with a lift.

So for sure, if you want to go on the more interesting roads with the expy, I'm sure you'll want the smaller wheels with MT's. I do. It will make a real difference in the roads that are available to you. And letting the air out makes a HUGE difference in the ride over a rocky road. Can't do that with the low profile street tires.

But if all you want to do is get to forest campgrounds, you can probably get to nearly 100% of those in colorado with the expy as is. Just slower. Plenty of small street cars get to those places.

Wait until you get here and you'll figure it out pretty quick.

Aloha,

As promised, I went out with the big expy yesterday. My answer to the question is along the line of what @tommyddsr said above. It depends on your application.

Where I went off-roading was Bunce School Road: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/bunce-school-road and https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/trails/us/colorado/bunce-school-road-ironclads (there are others, just search for it).

On the way, since it was Wednesday just after labor day there was not a lot of traffic into the tourist areas and we drove to estes park for lunch. I got to put the big expy in sport mode and drive fast on the road between lyons and estes. I stayed above the speed limit and didn't slow down at all for the warning speeds on the curves. I finally had to slow down as my mother in law was getting car sick in the second row. My wife and I agreed we weren't even close to what that barge could do. We were very very impressed. I used to race motorcycles so I fancy myself having at least above average skill (and of course I have been humbled many many times by my betters.)

I am certain the 22's and the lower profile tires added considerably to cornering as I didn't feel any tire wiggle or roll while pushing hard.

On the other hand, on Bunce School Road I went super super slow, partly for my in laws and partly to be careful with the new vehicle. While everything rode fine, the full of air low profile tires make for a rough ride. A very rough ride. Bunce is close to estes and is a super popular road for people with side by side 4x4's and ATV's, and many of them are tourists who have no clue how to drive on such a road. So it gets pretty beat to hell in spots. It's not really a tough trail, but ... there are spots. There is a section at the south end where I don't think I'd want to try the expy. And there's a couple of side trails, one of them being T33 where even my stock rubicon was challenged - Not taking my shiny expy there!

Today while washing I noticed that one of my tires got a nice 1" slice in a sidewall - so I'm certain I got enough time on the rocks!

My thinking is that the 22's are awesome if I'm not going offroad. But if I'll be going offroad, it's probably a good idea to get a set of those used raptor wheels and some decent off road tires I can air down a bit. It's night and day the difference it makes in ride and grip when you let the tires down to 15 pounds or so. As long as you can afford losing nearly an inch of clearance ...

Swapping wheels and keeping a spare set in the garage seems like a pain, so what I do will depend on how I find myself using the vehicle. I will admit having small wheels never kept me from driving the rubicon (or the FX4) at the speeds I like on the highway, just have to get used to the roll and wiggle. But big wheels will definitely be a constraint on the trail. There's no way I can drive that thing nearly as fast on a trail as I think it could go with those 22's. FYI: My idea of slow on the trail is 5-10 mph. 20+ MPH is how I always drove the rubicon unless rock crawling, where no speed is quite slow enough!

My 2cents

Mahalo

Few months later.... and the 22's aren't so bad. For the road. I'm pretty sure I will get a set of 18" wheels / tires for the winter & snow months here at least though. Will wait and see how much I actually take this off-highway in the summers. May just relagate those trips to the '01 instead.

I was convinced I would end up going to 20’s. But currently still on 22’s and now with decent tires. I like them. The 22’s are definitely not rock crawling or sand dune wheels. But everything else they are decent.

Ended up with a set of 18" wheels / tires for winter:

18x9 Mayhem Warriors, +19 bs
Nokian Rotiiva AT Plus LT 275/70R18
Got new sensors with them so I can easily swap the 22's back on in the summer and may end up keeping them full time with a larger tire if/when I get a lift put on.

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@houlster I have those same rims got them a year ago. Tip, take off the center caps and put some more glue on the plastic chrome nuts or a few will fall off. Amazon sells just the center caps for $12.

DWs-TTEB said:

@houlster I have those same rims got them a year ago. Tip, take off the center caps and put some more glue on the plastic chrome nuts or a few will fall off. Amazon sells just the center caps for $12.

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Tire size = LT285/65R18