Showing posts with label wheels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wheels. Show all posts

Painting the Rear Wheel Wells

I've never liked the shiny frame that was exposed in the (dark) rear wheel wells, and was glad to see an easy fix, compliments of a Revel 4x4 Facebook member.  I got some of this wheel well paint, masked off the tires, and used a single can for both sides. (I'd recommend using some sort of respirator with this stuff - - it got me high as a kite for a little while.)



I cleaned the wheel wells pretty well with some water and a brush, let it dry, and taped some packing paper over the areas where I didn't want overspray or drips. Goodbye silver frame...


Hello darkness, my old friend...






28-August-2020

Wheel & Tire Selection

Jim in San Diego writes the following:

Wheel selection is personal.  I went with the stock steel wheels because I like the tough, simple look and the 16” diameter.  The smaller wheel diameter allows for a taller tire that’s somewhat better off-road.  The problem is the stock wheels come with pedestrian tires.



Tire selection is personal.  I went with BFG K02’s for a couple reasons.  First, it seems like every time a spotted a tire I really respected it turned out to be a K02 attached to a seriously capable rig.  Second, after reading way too many reviews, I concluded it was a well-mannered tire on the road where it would do most of its work.  Then I decided to go bigger. 

Tire size is easy: go as big as you can.  This is a huge van that deserves the largest tires you can give it.  I was only able to give mine 1.2” in extra diameter and .7” in extra width because that’s all that will fit without lifting the van and/or modifying wheel wells.  On the stock wheel (16 x 6.5) this was 265/16R16’s.  On the upgraded wheels you can get the same diameter and width with 265/70R17’s.  These were installed on the way home from picking up the Revel.  The new tires are 2000% grippier on rock, mud, sand or anything else.  (I couldn’t find any scientific studies to back up that 2000% gain so I went with my personal conservative estimate…)  And they look good!

Also, these tires fit in the spare tire rack without modifying the rack.  Tight?  Yes. 

A plug for Discount Tires: "The book” at Discount Tire shows the minimum wheel diameter for these tires to be 6.5”.  Some places (all others?) have a 7” minimum.  Discount Tires also gave me $50 each trade in on the old pedestrian tires.