gotime34

I just bought an 1999 F-350 to pull the boat. The truck only has 16" Rims and I wanted to move up to 18 or 19" Rims. I was reading on another thread that you have to upgrade the brakes if you change the wheel size. Is that only for 21 and 22" Rims or would I have to upgrade with 18 or 19"??? Will I really see a power loss from this??

Tim G.

Don't worry about actual wheel size.. Figure on the difference between actual tire height...
Going from a 30" to 33" tire is a pretty good size jump..
You'll really know you made the change..no matter which pedal you hit..
A axle gear change isn't too bad, if you are a 2wd truck... 10% bigger tire..give it 10-12% more gear... Then you can still pull the load.. Just be sure you have room to stop.

I have put bigger tires on all my trucks, yet I have still not learned...
I went from 245/16s to 285 16" on my current truck.. I can certainly notice the difference. Looking back, I wish I went with the 265s... but boys will be boys..

BADA BING

I work for a company that imports wheels and other aftermarket products from Europe, so my experience should assist you in your question

Being you have a F-350, that truck is a 8 lug wheel application, one of my Colleagues has a 05 F-250 that takes the same application and he upgraded to 10x20 wheels, using 325/60-20 BFG tires, the truck required a 6" lift by Fabtech, the overall tire diameter is a 35.5".

If you plan to upgrade your wheels and tires, you should be able to find a 18 or 20" wheel application, both Toyo, Nitto, and BFG are making all terrain tires for these applications.

Regarding brake upgrades with the bigger wheels, anything over a 20", say a 22 or 24 should get bigger brakes, I have a 01 Yukon XL with 22 wheels and have the complete Brembo package- 8 piston front w/15" rotors, and 4 piston rear with 14" rotors...when pulling a boat this is definately the way to do out fit with big wheels, but most people don't do this, had I not been in the industry to get this stuff for free, I would have not put anything bigger than a 20

I hope this answers your question

www.cecwheels.com

BADA BING

Here's a pic of the 22's and brakes, I will try to get a photo of my colleagues F-250 with the 20's, give me a day or so

JPD Motorsports

since your running a ford if it either a dually or single rear wheel, we have custom aluminum wheels that will bolt right on hub and lug centric in a 19.5". you can run one of the three more popular tire sizes as in 225/70/19.5=31.90"diam 245/70/19.5=33.00"diam 265/70/19.5=34.10diam
with these tires you wouldnt have to worry about a load rate4d tire for your rig and what you tow, also with the 19.5 the tires will last thru what a normal 16" tire will 2 times even three times over so around a 100-150k before replace. These are stronger than the factory wheels as well. now if you do the bolt on adapters and a cut down 22.5 to 22 or a 24.5 to a 24 the tire ratings are really low for that aplication. as Badabing stated getting into the sizes over a 20" you would be wise to upgrade the brake system along with some braided brake lines less expansion when brakes applied than stock rubbers. check the web in my sig for some style ideas.

Brock

You don't need to do anything with the brakes. You have 4 wheel disc and they will work fine. I had a 99 F350 with 38" tires and never had a brake problem. Depending on the tire size you will loose some power if you go bigger diameter, but you can always make it faster. If you have a powerstroke you'll hardly notice. Let me know if you have any questions.. I'm an ASE certified technician, just sold my repair shop, been doing truck stuff for years.