17" or 18" for my application?

[Down]

My Lariat build finally has a delivery date so I need to get into gear on making some wheel decisions, as I really want to go with an all black wheel. In a perfect world, I'd snag some FX4 takeoffs for a good price but that might stretch my patience to wait for a deal on those to pop up. I also really wanna stay as thrifty on this project as possible, so I've whittled it down to two options:
1. Find FX4 take offs.
2. Buy some aftermarket 18s and swap the existing tires over.

In the looks department, I don't have a strong preference between 17s and 18s on the Mav. I also do not plan to take this off the road at all, so the extra "flex protection" of the taller sidewall on the 17 doesn't really matter to me. I'd guess the real world difference between these two will likely just be that the 17s are a SLIGHTLY softer ride and the 18s are SLIGHTLY more responsive during turning, but it seems like pretty much of a wash to me between these two options.
Am I not considering any compelling reason to choose one path over the other?

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[Jlaw86]

If you like simple black wheels the KMC alpines look nice. Alot of the bronco sport guys love them.

 

[Jlaw86]

If you like simple black wheels the KMC alpines look nice. Alot of the bronco sport guys love them.

These are 17" by the way

 

[Down]

Those Alpines are actually on my short list of wheels I'm considering if I go 18s, assuming I can still find them. Discount tire shows they're discontinued.

 

[SgtLip]

My Lariat build finally has a delivery date so I need to get into gear on making some wheel decisions, as I really want to go with an all black wheel. In a perfect world, I'd snag some FX4 takeoffs for a good price but that might stretch my patience to wait for a deal on those to pop up. I also really wanna stay as thrifty on this project as possible, so I've whittled it down to two options:
1. Find FX4 take offs.
2. Buy some aftermarket 18s and swap the existing tires over.

In the looks department, I don't have a strong preference between 17s and 18s on the Mav. I also do not plan to take this off the road at all, so the extra "flex protection" of the taller sidewall on the 17 doesn't really matter to me. I'd guess the real world difference between these two will likely just be that the 17s are a SLIGHTLY softer ride and the 18s are SLIGHTLY more responsive during turning, but it seems like pretty much of a wash to me between these two options.
Am I not considering any compelling reason to choose one path over the other?

Same dilemma. My Lariat Lux will have 18's and I hate the look. Want all Black like yourself. A friend will be getting his XLT FX4 with Black 17's and may be changing them out. He offered them to me if he does. In the mean time I too am looking for 18's for the same reason, save money on new tires. In the mean time, I am finding it difficult to find wheels that fit the Maverick in 18's. Can find plenty of 17's but not in the market if I go 17's as I have a set possibly.

Where are you finding 18's? I've seen a few on Tire Rack and Discount Tire. But all black is hard to find with the 5x108. Most have double holes for 5x108.5x114 (??? not sure of exact number). To me, that weakens the 5x108 holes by being so close to the other size. So a pure 5x108 is hard to find.

 

[SgtLip]

If you like simple black wheels the KMC alpines look nice. Alot of the bronco sport guys love them.

Just researched the KMC website and they said there is no 5x108's. Is that not the right size for the Maverick?

 

[Down]

Same dilemma. My Lariat Lux will have 18's and I hate the look. Want all Black like yourself. A friend will be getting his XLT FX4 with Black 17's and may be changing them out. He offered them to me if he does. In the mean time I too am looking for 18's for the same reason, save money on new tires. In the mean time, I am finding it difficult to find wheels that fit the Maverick in 18's. Can find plenty of 17's but not in the market if I go 17's as I have a set possibly.

Where are you finding 18's? I've seen a few on Tire Rack and Discount Tire. But all black is hard to find with the 5x108. Most have double holes for 5x108.5x114 (??? not sure of exact number). To me, that weakens the 5x108 holes by being so close to the other size. So a pure 5x108 is hard to find.

First off, take anything I say with a HUGE grain of salt, I'm just starting to look into this stuff. I'll definitely be verifying whether what I'm looking at will fit.

With that said, I'm looking at Discount Tire, searching for 18"x8 wheels with a 5x108 bolt pattern and an offset up to 45. There's a ton of options, many not so great. But I have seen some intriguing options from Konig and Voxx that only have 5 lug holes (I agree, I hate the 10 hole, universal wheels).

 

[Down]

Just researched the KMC website and they said there is no 5x108's. Is that not the right size for the Maverick?

That may be because it's listed as discontinued some places:
https://www.discounttire.com/buy-wheels/kmc-km721-alpine/p/73356

 

[Brsbill]

I grabbed a new takeoff set of 17in bronco sport rims for my xl.

 

[James St. Patrick]

Have you consider powder coating the wheels all black? You know the wheels will fit 100% with what you have and the cost is $150 per tire.

 

[Brsbill]

I grabbed a new takeoff set of 17in bronco sport rims for my xl.

 

[SgtLip]

My Lariat build finally has a delivery date so I need to get into gear on making some wheel decisions, as I really want to go with an all black wheel. In a perfect world, I'd snag some FX4 takeoffs for a good price but that might stretch my patience to wait for a deal on those to pop up. I also really wanna stay as thrifty on this project as possible, so I've whittled it down to two options:
1. Find FX4 take offs.
2. Buy some aftermarket 18s and swap the existing tires over.

In the looks department, I don't have a strong preference between 17s and 18s on the Mav. I also do not plan to take this off the road at all, so the extra "flex protection" of the taller sidewall on the 17 doesn't really matter to me. I'd guess the real world difference between these two will likely just be that the 17s are a SLIGHTLY softer ride and the 18s are SLIGHTLY more responsive during turning, but it seems like pretty much of a wash to me between these two options.
Am I not considering any compelling reason to choose one path over the other?

First off, take anything I say with a HUGE grain of salt, I'm just starting to look into this stuff. I'll definitely be verifying whether what I'm looking at will fit.

With that said, I'm looking at Discount Tire, searching for 18"x8 wheels with a 5x108 bolt pattern and an offset up to 45. There's a ton of options, many not so great. But I have seen some intriguing options from Konig and Voxx that only have 5 lug holes (I agree, I hate the 10 hole, universal wheels).

I like Discount Tire because they offer 10% Military discounts. But they don't provide the extra stuff (lug nuts and rings) like Tire Rack does. Tire Rack has the Maverick listed but there must be issues because a lot don't offer the 5x108 bolt pattern. But they send the lug nuts and stuff. Not sure if they offer a Military Discount though.

Finding it hard to find NOT Made in China wheels. Seems like all of them or the bulk are Chinese made.

The search continues.

 

[Supnotz 97]

My Lariat build finally has a delivery date so I need to get into gear on making some wheel decisions, as I really want to go with an all black wheel. In a perfect world, I'd snag some FX4 takeoffs for a good price but that might stretch my patience to wait for a deal on those to pop up. I also really wanna stay as thrifty on this project as possible, so I've whittled it down to two options:
1. Find FX4 take offs.
2. Buy some aftermarket 18s and swap the existing tires over.

In the looks department, I don't have a strong preference between 17s and 18s on the Mav. I also do not plan to take this off the road at all, so the extra "flex protection" of the taller sidewall on the 17 doesn't really matter to me. I'd guess the real world difference between these two will likely just be that the 17s are a SLIGHTLY softer ride and the 18s are SLIGHTLY more responsive during turning, but it seems like pretty much of a wash to me between these two options.
Am I not considering any compelling reason to choose one path over the other?

Doesn't the Lariat come with 18"s ? I see mine is coming with 225/60/18.

 

[JASmith]

In the looks department, I don't have a strong preference between 17s and 18s on the Mav. I also do not plan to take this off the road at all, so the extra "flex protection" of the taller sidewall on the 17 doesn't really matter to me. I'd guess the real world difference between these two will likely just be that the 17s are a SLIGHTLY softer ride and the 18s are SLIGHTLY more responsive during turning, but it seems like pretty much of a wash to me between these two options.

Am I not considering any compelling reason to choose one path over the other?

Yes:
1) Curb protection, usually smaller wheels are more easily protected with a slightly protruding sidewall, will allow you to approach parking spots with less stress.

2) Pothole protection, can be more severe than what people see offroad.

3) Improved acceleration and braking, in part because its often easy to shed a couple pound with a -1 setup, but also even at the same weight the wheel hub is closer to the axis of rotation which reduces resistance of the wheel to change in speed (like spinning someone in a chair when they stick their legs out versus when they tuck them in).

4) Improved suspension responsiveness if the wheel/tire package is lighter.

That said, 17 vs 18 is a pretty tiny change, so differences won't be huge as say comparing 16s to 20s, so simple things like what you think looks cooler might matter more especially if you're not concerned about a tenth of a second here or there.

 

[Darnon]

Doesn't the Lariat come with 18"s ? I see mine is coming with 225/60/18.

Depends on the powertrain. FWD and Hybrid get 18"s only. AWD can still option the 17"s from the XLT.

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