3rd Gen 19.5" wheel owners QUESTIONS

[smokejunkie]

For those who have 19. 5 wheels I have a few questions. I'm really interested in getting these wheels and I have read different posts about fuel mileage, tire wear, and overall happiness or lack thereof. So lets get em together on 1 post.

1. Did you gain fuel mileage by running 19. 5's and how much? Empty and Towing.

2. How many miles can you expect out of a set of tires?

3. How is the ride now vs. stock?

4. Would you do it again?

5. What size tire is best for overall use (highway w/ some off road)

6. What is the biggest size tire you can clear with a leveling kit?

Sorry for so many questions but, its a pretty big investment and I want to make sure this is what I want.

 

[jelag]

I'm looking at doing the same thing..... but I also own a Ford F550 and I can share my results about that... .



Don't expect any mileage difference... your still pushing the same weight and frontal area down the road...



We run caps on the back of the F550 $130 each, the same tire used by UPS and we get over 100K miles per set... we run Michelin on the front and get 90K on them... .



Ride is the same... . as far as I'm concerned as we run the stock 17" tires at 80 psi.



They would mount to our 3500 4x4's dually with no problems.....



Your limited to 225/80/19. 5 to 235/80/19. 5 otherwise the dual tires will hit or rub together and overheat...



Why I'm thinking about changing is the safety factor in that the 19. 5 carries a bigger load safely... ... . it get more cost effective tire life and you can drive into any town and find one of these tires... . we had a tire failure on the 17" tires and we had to run without a spare while a tire was sent to us... ...

 

[TurboTony]

I have 400 miles on my new vision 81, toyo 608's 245/70/19. 5's. I can say that the ride is noticeably rougher but does not bother me. I just took a 300 mile day trip and the fuel milege calculated to 20. 1mpg, which is close to stock tire mileage. The main reason I switched to 19. 5's, other than I think it looks good, was more miles out of a set of tires. My stockers lasted 45k, and I have heard that these will double that. Will wait and see.





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03 3500 srw 4x4 6 speed short bed, banks sixgun, speedloader, 19. 5's

 

[Wolffman]

I have bridgestone M729 265/70/19. 5's and I don't have a leveling kit and nothing rubs at all anywhere. After they were balanced right and I have put about 5,000 miles on them they are awesome. Would do it again in a heart beat. I expect to get over 100,000 easy. I would probably go with 245's if I had to do it over again but really like bridgestones and I didn't like the tread style in that size. These perform fairly decent in mud but wouldn't go in any serious stuff. Hope this helps.