16.5 inch rims

[Glaze]

Howdy, First time on for me. I have a 97 Dodge 2500 4x4 that I use to haul horses for search and rescue. Heard a rumor at Big-O Tires that the 16. 5 inch rims are being phased out. Has anyone heard this besides me?

 

[Extreme1]

No, but it kind of makes sense.

How many vehicles come with 16. 5" tires now? The 3/4 ton pick ups used to (I am dating myself here). All the current offerings from the big 3 come with 16" unless you get up to light medium range and the they jump up to 19. 5 or 22(. 5?).

 

[Cooker]

This has been a rumor for quite a few years now. There are still quite a few aftermarket companies offering 16. 5" wheels and tires, although the norm is going to 16". I think they will be around for quite a few more years, and I wouldn't hesitate buying a set if the preice was right.



-Ryan

 

[Spooled-up]

I heard the same thing

I was shopping around about a year ago and heard that they were phasing out the 16. 5's also. I heard from other tire dealers that they weren't. I liked the look of the 9. 75" wide wheels, but settled for 16x8" wheels. They look better than I thought they would. Now you can get 16x10's without any problem. They didn't have them readily available when I was on the market for some.

 

[JBoesl]

The tire industrey would like to see the 16. 5" wheel and tire size phased out because the tappered design of the rim mounting surface where the tire beads. This make the tire veary hard to balance witch cost the retail tire stores more time and money. As well as unhappy customers. I wish I would have know this when I purchased mine. I had 16. 5" x 9. 75" nice customs with 33x12. 5. The looked, but hopped down the road try several tire brands and wheels with no luck. Now I run 16 x 8 with 285 75 and they run smooth.



Jason

 

[dewdo]

I hope they don't phase them out. I am running 16. 5's on my fiver and they are already hard to come by. I have never found a tire shop with more than 2 of them in stock at any given time. I am currently running Gooryear Work Horse Radials in a 9. 50X16. 5.



Dewdo in the other Washington

 

[Deezul1]

16. 5 s are becoming harder to get all the time. Try finding a good used one after a blow out when traveling off the main hiways, very hard to find and the last time I went through that was 5 years ago and I looked in 7 towns before finding one. I wanted used because didnt want to spend new tire money on a mismatched tire, also 16. 5 wheels have no safety bead and when the air gets low the tire will dump the remaining air and flop loose on the wheel. 16" are way better unless you spend a lot of time in soft sand where big footprint is real important

 

[WOWZY]

I started hearing about the phasing out of them back in the early 90's. As far as I can tell no-one has dropped a 16. 5 tire size yet. They keep making new ones for the 16. 5's.



Mickey Thompson said that they wouldn't be making the Baja Claw in 16. 5, but there are some new 16. 5 BC sizes available.



Even Parnelli Jones has a new dirt grip size for the 16. 5



The only way that I see the 16. 5's being phased out is that if there were a significant number of deaths caused by tires being on the 16. 5 wheels.



Can anyone give any insight on how hard it would be for the wheel manufacturers to add a bead shoulder to the 16. 5 wheel during the manufacturing process?

 

[John]

JBoesl and Deezul 1 are correct. In addition, the 5 degree bead seat angle on the 16. 5" wheel precludes the airing down of tires used on these wheels (in 4x4 low traction situations), that is unless having the tire dismount while running doesn't bother you. [these wheels were designed at a time when bias tires were used exclusively on the aforementioned wheels... the stiff sidewalls made the airing down of the tires a non issue anyway]



Also, the offset (i. e. , backspacing) of the 16. 5" wheels is incorrect for our Rams... they stick out too far to be properly (and legally in most locales) covered. In addition, they place more stress on wheel bearings.



However, if the above sounds good to you, by all means, let 'er rip!

 

[Cooker]

I don't think it is so much the backspacing is incorrect for our trucks, but usually an individual will put a wider than factory (which for the stock chrome wheels is 6. 5") wheel on the truck. Eagle makes a 16. 5x8. 25 that has the same backspacing as the factory wheels, but of course the wheels will stick out farther than the factory wheels becasue they are wider.



Unless they are able to keep all the extra width on the inside of the wheel and add it to the backspaing, it is obvious that the extra width has to go somewhere. This applies to 16" and 16. 5" wheels.



As far as the angle of the bead on 16. 5" wheels. If you don't use your truck in offroad situations where you might air down the tires, the angle of the bead is a non issue, IMO.



-Ryan

 

[Blakers]

Also, the offset (i. e. , backspacing) of the 16. 5" wheels is incorrect for our Rams... they stick out too far to be properly (and legally in most locales) covered. In addition, they place more stress on wheel bearings.

Does anyone know if the backspacing on 16" rims is different than 16. 5" for the same (or almost the same) rim width?



I know I have the 16. 5" x 8. 75" rims and they do stick out more than I'd like. Can I get 8 or 10" 16" rims that don't stick out?



Thanks,



Blake

 

[Cooker]

The backspacing is different for every size/brand of wheel. Some manufactures will offer the same size wheel with 2 different backspacings. The best thing to do is to check the manufactires information.

 

[sewman]

I got a good deal on some 35x12. 5x16. 5 on aluminum rims ran them for a couple of years until one cracked between the spokes

So I special ordered some steel rims w/5" backspace,others had

4. 75 they work great. TWhen I ordered them they asked if I was sure I wanted 5" I said yes & they said 41/2" is standard.

But they sent what I wanted & they work OK. The width is 9 3/4"

I do have Lund Fenders Flares that keeps most of the mud off the side.

Bob

 

[Blakers]

So I special ordered some steel rims w/5" backspace,others had

So where do you special order rims from?



I checked my Eagles tonight and they are 4 1/2" offset. 5" or 5 1/2" would be better I think. That would move them in more, right?



Blake

 

[sewman]

I got my rims from:National Tier & Wheel 800-847-3287

when you get them check the rims to make sure you get what you ordered.

Another place to call Stockton Wheel: 800-395-9433

Yes more backspacing keeps them from hitting I think the limit

on our trucks is 51/4" as near as I can tell

Bob