Need new wheels...help?

[croatiangirl74]

Hello to everybody,
I am the proud owner of a 2004 4runner and stationed overseas in Germany. I love my truck and so far I had no problems with it. I took it already on 2 vacations to Croatia and my truck has seen more places than some humans. Now I need new tires and rims and I am having a problem finding them. Right now I have the steel wheels which I do not like I am the trucks 2nd owner so I am not to blame for that! Since the previous owner managed to damage 2 rims really badly I am just going to replace it all. Call me crazy but I just want the regular oem alloy rims that toyota offers. I looked online but somehow do not find these rims to be nice looking and I really do not want any chrome. I have been looking on the internet but I cannot find them anywhere. Does anybody know where I can get the oem alloys plus tires? And to make matters worse they would have to offer shipping to an APO. The tires on it now are the duelers 265/70/16's. I cannot say I do not like the tire but any other suggestions which tires are good? Any help will be greatly appreciated since I need to order them asap winter is coming in Germany and mine do not have that much thread left.
Take care
Marija

 

[croatiangirl74]

Thank you for that idea. I will check on ebay again but my problem was with them before that they will not ship overseas. I am not so worried anymore about getting a combo I will just order the tires and then have my dealer put them on. The rims seem to be a harder issue just because of size/weight. I have been reading so much about the different tires and now I am confused as to which ones to pick. I now have the dueler's but I guess quite a few people like the Michelins and the Revo's. I guess I better read some more.
Again, Thanks for answering.
Marija

 

[Bobby]

Cost might be an issue especially with shipping. Nitto Tera Grapplers is cheaper than Revos and much cheaper than Michelins. They've been getting good reviews here and <gasp, choke> Consumer Reports. I'm sure some sellers on eBay would be willing to work with someone stationed overseas.

The Sequoia wheels are really nice looking and they fit but they're 17" wheels. The only problem is the selection of tires available compared to 16" tires. If you can overlook that, I would try to get a set. Most truck tires will get you over 50k miles so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Good luck!

 

[croatiangirl74]

Thanks Bobby for your answer. I am looking on ebay and I found some nice 17's have to check though which tires I can get with them. I guess the rims I need now are 16x7. This whole size thing is confusing! Trying to see if anybody is willing to ship to me over here. Sometimes being here sucks. Will my gas mileage go up a lot or is it just minor? What kind of tires do you have on yours?

 

[Bobby]

The difference between 16 and 17 isn't so bad anymore and prices are fairly close. You should be +-1mpg with a bigger wheel depending on weight. Tire size and pressure will affect mpg much more.

I have 17" stock sport rims with 265/70-17 Revos. They're great tires but I did look into Terra Grapplers and BGF AT/KOs. Mpg dropped about 1mpg with the bigger than stock tires (1" diameter bigger). If you do a lot of highway miles, you might want to stick to stock sizes (265/65-17 or 265/70-16)

Have you looked at TireRack's site? They have a program that lets you choose your vehicle and see what the rims look like on it before you buy. They have pretty good prices and should ship to APO addresses.

BTW - WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!

Are you overseas with the military or ex-pat?

 

[croatiangirl74]

Well I am overseas with the military. Which is the reason I am in such trouble. I have now looked on ebay and of course I have found 5 offers I like BUT here is the standard answer: Sorry Marija but we ship UPS and not to APO's. Or sorry cannot help you. Gotta love it, it is not like I am asking them to ship it for free I will pay. I looked at tirerack but I could not really find anything that I thought looked good. I looked at a few on the 4runner and I just found them horrible looking. And honestly I do not feel like spending 1600$ because I have a long shopping list: roof rack, and 2 new bumperparts since people at the BX really love letting their shopping carts go and they just always seem to hit my car/truck no matter where I park!!! Thank God my baby has the cladding otherwise I would be looking at bodywork. This tirething is turning out to be a little pain in the a..! What I won't do for my truck. I just bought a gate for the back for my dog if you could only see a little beagle with a huge area with blankets and pillows, that dog rides better than other people live! Anyway I am happy to see so many people use this forum I have been reading so much that my eyes hurt. One thing that I wish they would come out with is a repair manual for the darn thing. It always seems to take forever before they put one out and I have one for my 2 other cars. Back to the tire thing. There is not that many places where you can legally off road around here and I guess I am still a little skiddish about taking it off road because it is still so pretty Took it off road in Croatia on vacation on a mountain that was fun. So it is mostly highway driving. Maybe I will get lucky and some people on ebay take pitty on me!