Recommendations for 18" wheels on 23 Limited with 20's

[mbrown1]

My 23 is going to do some towing. Approx 5000 lbs travel trailer with brakes and WD hitch. I want to drop from the stock 20's to 18's and use a tire with a taller sidewall. Any recommendations on wheels that perform well, look OK and won't break the bank?

I visited a Costco yesterday and took a pass through their tire dept. They have a Velox that is cheap around $200 a unit. Rated for 3650 lbs per wheel. Not hideous but not particularly attractive either...
.
Velox Wheel

Not married to Costco. It was just convenient. I'll check America's Tire / Discount Tire as well. I've used them for tires for a long time.

 

[GixxerJasen]

F150 wheels work well, look good, and can sometimes be had for less money than aftermarket. You'll have to trim the rear axle a few threads in order to fit the center caps on.



Lots of pictures and info in here -> https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/lets-see-those-lifted-big-tire-gen-4s.47228/

 

[HILLY]

XLT's also came with 18" wheels, and you won't have to modify anything. Like GixxerJasen said, you can probably find this on Marketplace for cheap vs buying new wheels that are only for purpose, not looks.

 

[rovertrader]

I’m running 17” F-150 Raptor wheels, hence my 18” factory Expedition wheels are available- message me if interested….

 

[BigOleFordFan]

For me, it would depend on what color my Expy was, and how much or how little I wanted the rims to stand out from the rest of it...

I'm sure any of those rims from that link would work fine, but I would still encourage you to shop around, locally if possible, so you can see them up close & personal

Sometime next year (since I just got new 20" tires in Dec) and since mine is white, I will be getting rims that are either solid black or solid white, with some very minor chrome or brushed aluminum accents, and some corresponding lug nuts to compliment the look.

And NO, I will not be hacking off the axels (or anything else) just to accommodate the change, although some folks are fine with doing that

 

[mbrown1]

Not a facebook guy at the moment so I had my wife login so I could poke round on marketplace. When it comes to Ford, OEM 18" wheels is there a difference betweeen Explorer, F150 and Expedition wheels ?

2100 for new wheels and tires at Discount Tire. Michelin Defender LTX vs 800 for Expedition wheels and decent looking Goodyears a 3 hour drive away vs 600 for an explorer set not far off with ratty looking rubber... I'm kind of a Michelin guy in spite of the cost.

 

[HILLY]

Not a facebook guy at the moment so I had my wife login so I could poke round on marketplace. When it comes to Ford, OEM 18" wheels is there a difference betweeen Explorer, F150 and Expedition wheels ?

2100 for new wheels and tires at Discount Tire. Michelin Defender LTX vs 800 for Expedition wheels and decent looking Goodyears a 3 hour drive away vs 600 for an explorer set not far off with ratty looking rubber... I'm kind of a Michelin guy in spite of the cost.

Expedition and F150 wheels are the same in the sense that they have the same bolt pattern and center bore diameter. Offsets are also comparable. The issue with most F-150 wheels is that the hub of the wheel isn’t as deep as an expedition so either the caps won’t fit on or people trim the axle shafts.

The explorer wheels will not fit at all.

 

[mbrown1]

@HILLY Thank You!

 

[Left Coast Geek]

I'm using the wheels taken off a brand new 2023-ish F150 FX4. Yes, I had to trim the stubs off the axles to mount the rear dust caps.



they are the exact offset and width and tire size as the expedition 18" wheels.

 

[mbrown1]

I feel kinda averse to taking the sawzall to my rer axles but all I'm finding anywhere close by are f150 wheels. Those are plentiful and cheap... maybe I should run without rear caps a while and be patient for some stockers to show.

 

[DieselMonk]

While the Explorer rims look similar to the Expedition rims, the bolt pattern is different. 5 lugs for the Explorer vs 6 lugs for the Expedition. So no workie this way.

 

[GixxerJasen]

I feel kinda averse to taking the sawzall to my rer axles

I did too. But there's a LOT of extra threads and once in there you realize it's not really going to affect anything. Been plenty of successful amputations so far. Once done, you realize it wasn't as big of a deal as you made it out to be. In the end, I got the exact look I wanted with the size wheels I was after for a fair price, just cost a little bit of metal to make it work.

 

[mbrown1]

As it happens there was a weather window today so I drove about 3 hours each way and snagged the oem set. They came off a 24 Timberline. Goodyear 265/70R18. I believe the Timberline has a factory stock lift. So clearance and rubbing becomes a concern for me.

The stock 20's on my Limited are 255/70R20.

I'm Thinking Mich Defenders in LT275/65R18 E rated. For my towing application I think the E rated is probably safer than the XL... That gets me an additional inch of sidewall and is only a scootch over 1/2 an inch taller.

or The same tire in LT265/70R18 1.3" more sidewall, about .7" taller.

I'm digging the Tire Size comparitor. It is totally triggering my OCD though

One thought is to visit a shade tree mechanic nearby and have him swap on the new set and see of the non E rated Wranglers fit...

 

[KC7HP]

I don't understand aversion to trimming excess rear axle length. Anything beyond a couple threads past the nut is just going along for the ride. I suspect length and non-threaded end is for helping the assembly line.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

...
I'm Thinking Mich Defenders in LT275/65R18 E rated. For my towing application I think the E rated is probably safer than the XL... That gets me an additional inch of sidewall and is only a scootch over 1/2 an inch taller.
...

thats the stock size 18" on a Expedition, its probably the size of your spare, too! You can even get the awesome BF Goodrich All/Terrain KO3 tires in that size.

 

[mbrown1]

My old Transit community was high on the KO's. Particularly the RWD crowd. For towing though I want a less agressive tread.

 

[mbrown1]

Stockers from a 24 Timberline. 265/70R18 Nice! more sidewall for towing on rough roads.

Now to replace the Wranglers with a load range E. Tire guy has Nokian, Hankook, Cooper. I am normally a Michelin guy but this time I'm going to use one of his. If I get 40k, that'll work.

 

[mbrown1]

I downloaded a GPS speedometer app. Put about 40 highway and 5 town miles on. Weird. The digital speedo in the dash os just about dead on with the GPS. The 'analog' looking needle is always a but fast. So driving at digital readout of 65, the needle is just to the right of the mark.

I expected with the larger circumference tires that I would be make some adjustments with Forscan. It's all close enough not to bother.

 

[bb37]

So driving at digital readout of 65, the needle is just to the right of the mark.

I had this same problem with a 2023 Dodge Durango R/T. That dashboard had analog gauges with moving needles for tachometer, fuel level, and coolant temperature, but an all-electronic LCD for speedometer and other functions. In the display that showed an analog representation of a speedometer, the digital needle was always one tick off. Luckily, you could go into the menus and select a display that just showed speed in numerical digits, no analog representation. The digits were always right on the money.

 

[BP73]

New to the forum…

We have a 24 expedition XLT 4wd and my wife hates the 20” wheels and tires. Plan to do the downsizing to the 18’s as well.

I’m looking at the f150 tremor wheels or the Raptor wheels. Will I run I run into any issues with those wheels other than the axle clearance? Maybe someone on here can/will 3D print a new hub cap that will clear the axle??

Lastly, whats the biggest size tire we can we go with on these expeditions and avoid rubbing?

Thanks in advance