Hey guys,
I'm looking to upgrade to the 6112/5160 suspension package in the upcoming month, going for a level 2" lift.
Since I'm doing that, I'd like to upgrade the tire and wheel if necessary.
Stock is a 245/60r20. I'm not a fan of aesthetics only upgrades. How much better off-road would it be if I dropped down to 17" wheels instead of just upgrading the tire keeping the 20" rims? I am not doing rock crawls, I do plan on getting to mid level wheeling.
I understand the airing down for a greater contact footprint, at 6" more rubber that is quite a bit.

Yes.

Thanks for participating.

When you searched what did you find?

The answer is in here: changing-tire-size-wheels-read-first.

This is why these ancient forums kind if suck. It's like time warner tech support, you ask a question and you you get an answer that doesn't answer your question. In the past few days I've read dozens of posts here and elsewhere, but not one has answered how well a 20" wheel would perform off-road.

Seriously this is the only thing that is says on there. So once again. Thanks for participating.

19s and 20s just start becoming much more of a road oriented choice and would perform and look kind of silly in a large diameter... If you want to keep 20" rims, best to stick with near stock size tires and stay below 33".

The regulars get tired of answering the same questions over and over. Don't take it personally. I'm sure there are several threads that deal with the subject, but I'm too distracted to look for them at the moment.

17" wheels are better. That's what I did with mine. Your tire choices are much better. Your sidewalls are taller and beefier. You can get a less blingy rim (my opinion). So get rid of the 20s.

Let us know how you like the new 6112s. For a guy like me they're a bit over the top, but they're been getting great reviews.

I went through the same thought process as you. I have the 6112/5160 combo and love it. I paired the rear with a set of SAW 1.5".

Choosing the wheel/tires was the hardest decision. I really liked the wheel design of the 20" rims and I also didn't want to buy a new spare rim to match. At first I bought a set of BFG KO2 in 275/55/20. I then returned them and went with a TE 17" wheel with KO2s in 275/70/17. Following were my reasons:

- There are limited options for a good offroad tire in a 20" rim.
- The 275/55/20 while technically fits and many people have mounted them w/o issues, are not recommended for a 7" rim. Many tire installers will not mount that size tire on the 20x7" rim.
- I wanted the extra sidewall. While I too am not a rock crawler, I figured there would be one day I would misjudge planting my tire on a rock.

If you want to see before and after pictures see my post HERE.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. I understand that ya'll are regulars. Same song and dance as every other forum.
Yeah I don't want a blingy rim. I still don't understand why its better or why the sidewall would be tougher. I don't ever see 20s so probably will get rid of them.
As far as the 6112/5160, I can get the 5100 with the fj springs. But they aren't adjustible...

Thanks @cutty01 this is the exact setup that I'm going for. Will probably pony up for the trd rims, haven't checked specs, as long as they work.
Edit: @cutty01 , do you have a part number for the swayaway coils?

Sounds like you have your mind made up. Go with a 20" offroad tire. You'll be fine for what you intend on doing. People go down to 17's because they want more sidewall. It's better for airing down when offroad. Do you see any serious offroaders running 20" rims, NOPE. But from what it sounds like, you're not serious about offroading so go with the dubs.

Thanks @RiDE, although I haven't yet, I might get a bit more serious about it. I'd rather bite the bullet now rather than feel foolish when I replace the wheels and tires again later.

They are part # SAW 102-1575-195

PS - You made a statement about the sidewalls being tougher...I don't necessarily think that the sidewall would be tougher per say on a 17" rim as opposed to a 20". That is dependent on the rating of the tire C, D, E, etc. The higher letter usually indicating more or thicker ply. All I know is that the 275 (or 265)/70 will have more distance between the rim and the ground, thus giving you better protection against scraping your rim and probably a little more cushion when deflating the tires. Sorry If you already know this, I just wanted to be clear since you mentioned one being tougher than the other.

I was the first "beefier" I meant to indicate you'd have a greater choice of load range/ply options. I only looked for stock size replacements when I was looking at 20" tires. It was a wasteland....

I'm not sure what this meant, beefier because more wheel options or what? This thread confirmed what I thought before, 17s are the way to go. Thanks for the help, wife is going out of town soon. That cat will come back to a relatively different truck.

Edit @msp cleared it up, its due to greater options in the tire department when not going with dubs.

You get short and sarcastic posts because this topic does come up from time to time. Swapping out LE wheels was one of the best things I've done, for several reasons.

Maybe these will help as well, you mentioned searching, use the google bar and put "5th gen" in front of your search term, both of these were at the top when I looked.

Ride quality of 20 vs 17 inch wheels?

17 inch wheels on 2012 4Runner Limited

Oh and the SAW coils mentioned above I believe were discontinued, Wheelers carries a replacement which is likely the same spring made by eibach