22.5" wheel - What tires are you running?

Sillygirl · Feb 10, 2014

Fellow dually'ers,

I'm in the midst of ordering some AF Classic's (22.5"x8.25"), but this is my first time dealing with a 22.5" rim, and it's making my tire selection awfully difficult. I'd like to get an idea of tires/cost prior to dropping $3000+ solely on wheels. What are you guys running with your 22.5s? Do you have a lift? I'm hoping I can get away with a good 2.5" level. Lifting is not a road I want to travel again. Thanks!

B.Warning · Feb 10, 2014

I'm running Double Coin RLB490 drive tires. Wear excellent, low noise, and get around really well considering what it is. Balance them with powder and run 50psi air pressure and you'll be set. I'm currently on stock height suspension and with a little trimming they clear fine. But I recommend a leveling kit purely for looks so it doesn't look so stuffed.

Sillygirl · Feb 10, 2014

B.Warning said:
I'm running Double Coin RLB490 drive tires. Wear excellent, low noise, and get around really well considering what it is. Balance them with powder and run 50psi air pressure and you'll be set. I'm currently on stock height suspension and with a little trimming they clear fine. But I recommend a leveling kit purely for looks so it doesn't look so stuffed.

What size are you currently running that you had to trim a little? Largest I can find online size wise for those is a 275/70R22.5 - good looking tires, and not too pricey.

ChattyCathy · Feb 10, 2014

I recommend going with a 22.... But when it comes to those tires you pay for what you get more than usual.

B.Warning · Feb 10, 2014

You'll want to run a 255/70/22.5 which measures out at 36.5” tall. The only reason to go by the statement of "you pay for what you get" is that some tires can be a bastard to balance on a light truck compared to the intended purpose of them. That's really it, I put over 100k miles on my last set with a mixture of heavy towing, lots of gravel, and burnouts and they still were 40% tread and wore perfect when I sold them.

Sillygirl · Feb 10, 2014

JD Dearden said:
I recommend going with a 22.... But when it comes to those tires you pay for what you get more than usual.

Honestly, it's an extra grand to downsize to a 22", hence why I'm looking at the 22.5". It's not that I can't spend the extra, it's that I see it being pointless and dumb to pay $1000 for downsizing a half inch. The tires will solely be used for summer anyhow, my winter set-up goes back on as soon as the ground freezes.

Sillygirl · Feb 10, 2014

B.Warning said:
You'll want to run a 255/70/22.5 which measures out at 36.5” tall. The only reason to go by the statement of "you pay for what you get" is that some tires can be a bastard to balance on a light truck compared to the intended purpose of them. That's really it, I put over 100k miles on my last set with a mixture of heavy towing, lots of gravel, and burnouts and they still were 40% tread and wore perfect when I sold them.

Perfect. The dimensions with these totally throw me off, I'm not used to the overall diameter of 22.5's at all. Even happier to hear they're not a pain to balance and you received even tread wear. Stock gears?

ChattyCathy · Feb 10, 2014

Sillygirl said:
Honestly, it's an extra grand to downsize to a 22", hence why I'm looking at the 22.5". It's not that I can't spend the extra, it's that I see it being pointless and dumb to pay $1000 for downsizing a half inch. The tires will solely be used for summer anyhow, my winter set-up goes back on as soon as the ground freezes.

It's worth every penny.

B.Warning · Feb 10, 2014

Sillygirl said:
Perfect. The dimensions with these totally throw me off, I'm not used to the overall diameter of 22.5's at all. Even happier to hear they're not a pain to balance and you received even tread wear. Stock gears?

Unfortunately yes, I have 3:73 gears. It's not bad by any means but heavy towing can be annoying unless I lock out 6th gear. I plan on swapping them out for 4:30 in the near future.

Sillygirl · Feb 11, 2014

JD Dearden said:
It's worth every penny.

Explanation?

ChattyCathy · Feb 11, 2014

Sillygirl said:
Explanation?

ok...

22.5 ride like ****, they are very heavy, very few places will work on them and the ones that do are usually trucks stops that treat them like ****, they can be a nightmare to balance...etc.

22 ride better, balance better, resale is much easier, no adapters (unless you go direct bolt)

SWIFT · Feb 11, 2014

IMO these trucks arent heavy enough to run 22.5's. They ride like **** and if they get off balanced or alignment off at all they are going to bounce and shake like crazy. I have 14 straight trucks running 22.5's and I have never understood why anyone would put them on a pickup truck. Mileage maybe..... but not worth it IMO.

B.Warning · Feb 11, 2014

I beg to differ on the ride issues. Like I said, I run 50psi air pressure and its not much more noticeable in ride quality than stock. Of course you can't balance them with stick on weights but I've had awesome success with balance beads or powder. Some places will spin balance them but I prefer the beads. If you have to take them to a heavy truck shop tell them to take extra precaution not to scratch them. They have to be done on the ground with breaker bars no matter what.

5fifty · Feb 13, 2014

Sillygirl said:
Fellow dually'ers,

I'm in the midst of ordering some AF Classic's (22.5"x8.25"), but this is my first time dealing with a 22.5" rim, and it's making my tire selection awfully difficult. I'd like to get an idea of tires/cost prior to dropping $3000+ solely on wheels. What are you guys running with your 22.5s? Do you have a lift? I'm hoping I can get away with a good 2.5" level. Lifting is not a road I want to travel again. Thanks!

From the looks of the pic it looks like you are running a F450 or 550.
I just did this conversion on mine a few months ago on my 05 550 4x4.
I had to add a 2.5 inch leveling kit to the front. I also have to trim a small amount of the fender flare plastic for tire clearance. It was on the inside so not noticeable at all.
I am running Alcoa Dura Brite 22.5's with 10 lug wheel adapters from Tennessee Tire and Wheel.
For tires I went with Sumitumo ST 727 steer tires in the front and ST908 drive tires in the rear. I am running 75psi in the fronts and 60psi in the rear. 255/70/22.5 AT 95psi all around in the tires it would rattle your teeth on potholes.
I upgraded to Bilstein shocks in the front.
The truck rides better than it did stock with the 19.5's
SPeedometer will be way off. I went with a Hypertech inline speedometer correction device to get my speedo back in range and it gets the shift points back in range after the tire upgrade.

LMK if you need any help along the way.

TrailerHauler · Feb 13, 2014

B.Warning said:
I'm running Double Coin RLB490 drive tires. Wear excellent, low noise, and get around really well considering what it is. Balance them with powder and run 50psi air pressure and you'll be set. I'm currently on stock height suspension and with a little trimming they clear fine. But I recommend a leveling kit purely for looks so it doesn't look so stuffed.

I've been looking at this same tire in a 265/70/19.5, the price of them is hard to beat and they appear to be an aggressive drive tire.
How do yours do off of the pavement, and did they balance well?

SWIFT · Feb 14, 2014

B.Warning said:
I beg to differ on the ride issues. Like I said, I run 50psi air pressure and its not much more noticeable in ride quality than stock. Of course you can't balance them with stick on weights but I've had awesome success with balance beads or powder. Some places will spin balance them but I prefer the beads. If you have to take them to a heavy truck shop tell them to take extra precaution not to scratch them. They have to be done on the ground with breaker bars no matter what.

Well I'm sure they ride better at 50psi considering 22'5's normally use between 80 -100psi. Tread life would really increase for you running them as recommended. I would go 22's with a lower profile tire atleast. The looks alone make up for cost difference.

ChattyCathy · Feb 14, 2014

SWIFT said:
Well I'm sure they ride better at 50psi considering 22'5's normally use between 80 -100psi. Tread life would really increase for you running them as recommended. I would go 22's with a lower profile tire atleast. The looks alone make up for cost difference.

I ran my set at 50 and I tore cords at 45k miles. Had to replace...

Sillygirl · Feb 14, 2014

5fifty said:
From the looks of the pic it looks like you are running a F450 or 550.
I just did this conversion on mine a few months ago on my 05 550 4x4.
I had to add a 2.5 inch leveling kit to the front. I also have to trim a small amount of the fender flare plastic for tire clearance. It was on the inside so not noticeable at all.
I am running Alcoa Dura Brite 22.5's with 10 lug wheel adapters from Tennessee Tire and Wheel.
For tires I went with Sumitumo ST 727 steer tires in the front and ST908 drive tires in the rear. I am running 75psi in the fronts and 60psi in the rear. 255/70/22.5 AT 95psi all around in the tires it would rattle your teeth on potholes.
I upgraded to Bilstein shocks in the front.
The truck rides better than it did stock with the 19.5's
SPeedometer will be way off. I went with a Hypertech inline speedometer correction device to get my speedo back in range and it gets the shift points back in range after the tire upgrade.

LMK if you need any help along the way.

Great input - thank you so much. I've been reading up on the Sumitumos and they seem like a great choice. I will definitely be in touch if I need some more friendly knowledge.

5fifty · Feb 15, 2014

Sillygirl said:
Great input - thank you so much. I've been reading up on the Sumitumos and they seem like a great choice. I will definitely be in touch if I need some more friendly knowledge.

Anytime. . I have about 2500 towing miles on this setup so far. Towing around 15k lbs daily.