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Wheels & Tires

The old 16.5" tires on the truck had seen better days. The tires were almost worn away and were falling apart. Additionally the poor suspension had caused some strange wear patterns in the tires that were kind of scary looking.  We started looking at tires and realized it would cost at least $300 for a set of cheap retread tires for the old 16.5" wheels. We wanted to do some wheeling in this truck and I kept seeing references to the 16.5" wheels not holding the tire as firmly as a 16" or 15" wheels would. Comments like "Bill couldn't air down his 16.5" tires like the rest of us so he got stuck" or something similar. The point I got was that 16.5" wheels and serious off-roading just don't mix very well. 

Stock  

I managed to find a set of almost brand new Dodge 2001 16x8" aluminum wheels with Michelin tires on ebay and got the wheels and tires for $255. When they showed up I was amazed at the condition they were in. I'm talking brand spanking new. The bad news was that the fronts did not fit on the truck.  All was not lost however. I got a set of 1.5" spacers from National Tire & Wheel and with the spacers they fit just fine. The fronts ended up exactly where the stock Chevy wheels were. The rears ended up tucked in about an inch on each side. Not perfect, but for $255 we can live with it for a while. 

Dodge Wheels  

Yet another ebay find was the current set of 2003 Hummer H2 17x8.5 wheels and 315/70/17 BFG All-Terrain tires. These wheels and tires were brand new. Got all five for less than the retail cost of two tires.

Hummer Wheels