Best RIM Size Selection for Off Road

2015owner2015 said:

Reviving an older thread. To date the only mod I have made is a set of Bilstein 5100's. Unfortunately they were installed without stock adjustment, so no extra lift.

The tires are now shot and need to be replaced so I have to do something.

On my 2015, could I put 33's on my stock 18" wheel? Would they fit with no additional lift. What would be the correct tire specs.

I heard that adjusting the shocks is a lot of work, so if I do need a lift for the tires, I think I will just throw a Ready lift kit on it. But if I do need to lift, could I go with 35's? Would they fit? What would be the specs for the stock 18" wheel?

Appreciate any comments .

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If you have the ride height adjustable Bilsteins it is almost as much work to pull apart the shock as it is to install a readylift kit. You already have the hardware and won't cost anything but time, unless you are paying someone else to do it. I'd forgo the readylift and just adjust those sweet Bilsteins.

I'm running Nitto Terra Grappler G2 305/55r20 tires on my 2012 EL. Been running them for a year now and love them over the stock-size Michelin Defenders. They are just as quiet but perform much better when driving over gravel or unimproved roads. Now I'll never take this to do any serious off-roading lol since it is way too long. I mostly did it for the looks and also put a 3/2" ready lift kit on it and upgraded the gears from 3.73 to 4.56 so I wouldn't lose towing capacity. Not sure what you mean by "moderate" offroading but I'm guessing the 18" tires would do just fine. I don't imagine you will be rock crawling in an Expedition of any size unless you have a serious lift on it. If you just want to hit light trails your 18" tires will peform/feel better than my 33" tires. Best of luck!

I wound up going with the ReadyLift with a set of Cooper Discoverer Rugged Trek All-Season LT275/70R18 125Q's, 33" tires. I just stuck with the stock 18" rims. Turned out really nice!