Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives I'm Pizzed

Decided it's time for new tires on my 2010 Z71, before winter gets here. 40K on the OEM Dueler ATs, still passable but getting worse by the week on wet roads (never that great when new, in that department).

Hate the 18" alloy wheels that came on the critter, got an idea to spring for a set of 17" steel wheels for the new gums and man did that go south in a hurry. Figured to get 17" tires in a more agressive tread and keep them for winter work. Will stow the OEM 18" crap to put back on the truck if I swap it next fall on a 2014.

Not one boneyard within 50 miles of here has any 17" GMC/Chevy OEM steel wheels, or the work truck slotted steel wheels in stock. Found a site that sells reconditioned OEM GM steel wheels for $65 a pop. The same wheels new at the dealer: $140 each and not one of 'em in stock. The work truck variety are closer to $200 each.

Miss the good old days when I had multiple sets of 15" six lug Chevy wheels in the garage. Stock wheels, chrome reverse wheels, wagon wheels and rally wheels. All of which would fit any old 6 lug Chevy 4x4 truck I happened to have on hand. Even had multiples of 5 bolters for later model 2WD Chebbies.

Why not just buy aftermarket steel wheels? I think I paid like $45/ea for my 17" steel wheels a couple years ago.

Craigslist is your friend. I've bought several set of spare wheels off of that website, might be worth a shot.

craigslist or Ebay is good for used wheels. You may luck out and even find tire & wheel combos, for less than the tires would cost you new.

Put the word out to tire shops, craigslist etc as suggested.
I was doing the same thing for my Dodge and ended up buying 4 aluminum wheels with hwy. tires that I have run all summer and will be able to run a couple more summmers. $200 for it all.
No balancing or mounting costs.
Ended up being a local guy who told the tire shop "if anyone comes in wanting some 17's."

I bought a set of 4 fancy aftermarket rims with BF Goodrich T/A KO's on them for $400. The tires looked almost brand new and I would have gladly paid the $400 just for the tires and I found them on Craigslist.

Bought a set of ford takeoff steel 8 lugs on craigslist for $200 for the wifes grandpa to swap out on a truck he was flipping. Still had 30% tread or better on them. Lots of them out there.

Drive to Arkansas

http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3991130072.html

$100 for the set of chromed steel 17" Chevy rims.

Been checking Craigslist for many weeks, nada in this area.

Did find one set of used 5 spoke 17" GMC alloys that I liked, but they're well over an hour's drive from here, south of Baltimore. No Toyota 6 lug 17 inchers either.

No shortage of 20 and 22 inch chrome ghetto rollers, tho.

Do the 6 holers from the Dakota's and Durango's fit? 16's for the Dakota's seem to be pretty available here; 17's would be harder to find.

Most anything can work ...

Drill and hammer to fit. Paint to match.

Mopars have a different spacing, from what I can tell? And anything smaller than 17" might cause fitment problems with later disc brakes.

17 and 18 inch wheels are both common on late model GM trucks. For some reason, the GMC Z71s I've seen all have 17" alloys, while my Chevy Z71 has 18s.

Did find a deal on Pacer 17" black finished alloys, but the schmucks insisted they wouldn't work on my truck, because they would put the tires outside of the bodywork due to the backspacing difference.

According to my calculations, those wheels would've put the tires just barely inside of the bodywork. If they stuck out a tad, could've alway installed fender flares, but then that's more work/expense.



Did heaps of that when I drove beaters. Once sawed an access hole in the bed of one old clunker to get at the tank-mounted fuel pump. Ain't choppin' any holes in a 3 year old pick up.

Do you know for sure that the brakes won't fit inside of 16's? You might get a little more sidewall flex if you running tall tires, but I wouldn't think it would be too bad if you're at stock height.

Sooo, I understand gas is no longer cheap by any means, but what's the big deal about driving an hour or over to get some wheels you like and will keep for years? Its not like your having to drive across the country to get them.

Often I put over 100 miles a day on my truck checking cattle I have on different places etc. I don't get the "oh its over an hour away" thing. Its nearly 30 minutes from here just to reach a decent sized grocery store.

Not trying to be a smart azz or be sarcastic at all, just don't understand. Probably just a difference in geographics.

Bill

Tx270-

I thought the same thing. It is 20 miles for me to get to any store other than a lone gase station. An hours drive is often just to go get supper on a Friday night. We don't live back east though.

I'm spoilt, since most everything can be found within a half hour of the home place. At the cabin in rural north central PA, different story.

An hour+ in any direction up there (PA or NY) to encounter civilization in the form of malls, chain stores and the like. Don't miss 'em. Closest little burg to the cabin, has a small NAPA store and anything I might need in the way of truck/tractor parts is only a day away via UPS or FEDEX. I've already ordered a tractor part early in the morning and the sucker was there that afternoon.

As for the alloy wheels I wanted, that involved driving way south of Baltimore, which is not my favorite slice of the USA under any circumstances? I ain't been in Maryland in years, wasn't fixing to go there anytime soon - for any reason. No offense to them what lives there. Better you, than me?

Tires are in, UPS should oughta be dropping off the plain jane steel wheels any day now?

AT3 Coopers are on and much quieter than the OEM Duelers so far. If anything, I'd say the truck rides just a bit better?

Also don't screech like banshees in a parking lot on low speed maneuvers, another thing that was annoying with the Duelers. Could be pulling around the gas pumps and people would look at me like I was layin' rubber.

265/70/17s OWL. $171 each at Sears, plus the usual fees, taxes, etc. And they came with an $80 rebate Visa card. No longer pizzed.

Check LKQ, they have yards here in Pa.

Toyota wheels should bolt up on a Chevy, if the backspacing will work for you. The reverse will NOT work on a 4WD as the hub hole on a Chevy wheel is too small for the Toyota.