My 96 came with 15'' wheels and its becoming impossible to find A/T used tires for these wheels, I believe the tires are 31.5.

Can I use newer 16" or 17" wheels? If so, what size tire would I need, so to compensate for the larger wheel?

Sorry for, what I'm sure is a simple question, but I've always gotten confused with tire sizing.

Thank you

* And just to note... because of my work, buying new tires would be a waste of money

 

Being a 15” wheel I’m going to assume you have a 2wd which is a 5x5 5 lug truck so no a newer 6 lug factory wheel for obvious reasons won’t bolt up, as for the tire size just use a tire size calculator that you can find on google very easily and just compare the sizes you find. Little effort goes a long way.

 

yeah it's 2wd.

So there are no 16'' or 17'' 5x5 5 lug wheels, from another GM truck, that I can swap to?

All these tire places are saying that 15'' wheels are outdated and apparently new tires in my size, or there abouts, command a premium, in an A/T tire, and nothing in a used.

This is ridiculous!

 

About the only factory option would be the 16" wheels that came on the Tahoe Limited. Good luck finding a set; pretty low production.

There are plenty of cheap-ish aftermarket steel wheels you can get in 16", 17", 18".. the 16's will run you about $75-$80 each for the simpler designs that are just painted steel, not chrome.

Head over to Summit's site and start plugging in criteria. Wheels, 16", 5x5, sort by price low to high. 16x7 with a 4" backspace will be close to your original wheels other than the larger diameter.

Richard

 

GM prety much went 6 lug on everything after 1999. Even trail blazers/envoys/saabs/colorado's all went to 6 lug wheels.

You'll be looking at aftermarket rims if you truely want some decent 16's or 17's.

And the tire shops are right, nobody really sells a vehicle with 15in rims that run AT style tires. So the cost of tires rises because the volume being sold is much lower.

 

Oh well, I guess I'll take a look a summit and try and find some cheap-o wheels.

Thanks Guys!

 

Sorry, have another question... What is the common size now, for trucks? That way I have no problem finding used tires lol

 

285/45/22 (seriously)

But also seriously, use Discount Tire's site, and just plug in a commonly available truck and see what tire size they show it coming with. Then you can also see how many choices are available for brand/model and what they cost.

Catch is gonna be, a lot of trucks from even 10+ years ago came with at least 17's minimum.

Richard