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.