changing wheels need suggestion

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
Sunny

Sunny

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2016
Posts
38
Reaction score
1
Thankyou so much everybody for ur help will go with 20s and post the result hope this time truck wont have any issue with same treads .
 

Speck

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Posts
324
Reaction score
82
Location
Olympia, WA
To answer your question regarding the tread of the tire... when running awd or 4wd all four tires must have the same rolling diameter as that is where you will start to having issues with fronts rolling at different speeds than the rears and cause differential problems. Even as little as different brand of tire or tread style can be enough to alter the diameter by as little as a 1/4" and yes, while seeming minor, can be enough to alter the drive dynamics and cause problems. That is why whenever you purchase tires for an awd or 4wd vehicle, they will always advise to change all 4 at the same time. Most companies will state that as little as an 1/8" difference will cause problems. I know that on my previous awd vehicle, that was the case and I had to replace all 4 tires each time I had a problem with even just one. Like mentioned before by several others, it isn't the change between the 17's or 20's that is the problem, it is the overall diameter betwen all 4 tires within the same size. To make sure that it is not a tire problem, you might want to just replace all 4 with new of the same brand and model which would guarantee the same rolling diameter. Just my .02.

I hope that helps!

Joe
 

Big Mama

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Posts
3,089
Reaction score
1,802
Location
Virginia
Right, it's the total size of the tire. The rim has no bearing on the issue. In the old days they called it plus sizing. Getting a bigger wheel and a tire with shorter sidewall but the overall size is the same. Tiresize.com can tell you the overall height of any tire versus stock. Was there a reason you put a smaller sidewall tire on the front? Denali is full time all wheel drive so i cant comment on noise from using 4wd but it wouldn't hurt to change the fluid and see if there's any metal on the drain plug. I've never heard of calibrating the ecm for different tire sizes front and rear. Just stay as close as you can to original tire height.
 
OP
OP
Sunny

Sunny

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2016
Posts
38
Reaction score
1
To answer your question regarding the tread of the tire... when running awd or 4wd all four tires must have the same rolling diameter as that is where you will start to having issues with fronts rolling at different speeds than the rears and cause differential problems. Even as little as different brand of tire or tread style can be enough to alter the diameter by as little as a 1/4" and yes, while seeming minor, can be enough to alter the drive dynamics and cause problems. That is why whenever you purchase tires for an awd or 4wd vehicle, they will always advise to change all 4 at the same time. Most companies will state that as little as an 1/8" difference will cause problems. I know that on my previous awd vehicle, that was the case and I had to replace all 4 tires each time I had a problem with even just one. Like mentioned before by several others, it isn't the change between the 17's or 20's that is the problem, it is the overall diameter betwen all 4 tires within the same size. To make sure that it is not a tire problem, you might want to just replace all 4 with new of the same brand and model which would guarantee the same rolling diameter. Just my .02.

I hope that helps!

Joe

yes i changed all 4 tires and switched to 4wd and so far no issue , no griding noise from transfer case . thanku all for ur help sorting this out .
 

AppocAlexx

Darth Appocalexx
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
Posts
719
Reaction score
253
Location
Abilene TX
Just throwing my experience with what I feel is the same issue. My 07' Tahoe came with the factory 20s and 275 55 20 tires. When I bought the truck the tires seamed to be taken off a trade in or something bc the wheels had no sensors and tires were maybe at 50% tread wear all around. Anyways, few months down the road I buy new wheels and hold off as long as I can with the tires on them, install new sensors yada yada. After about a year driving the truck on the tires it came with I started noticing a whining/grinding noise in the front end. Given this was also right after I replaced ball joints UCA and CV shafts. Knowing I had a small leak on the output shaft of the front diff my first thought was dang front diff bearing may be going out, so I change the fluid and seams to be norm at least from what I can see in the fluid, no big metal shavings and at free spinning I could not hear any grinding that would cause the noise I was hearing. Anyways threw wheels back on and still same noise. Also this noise was in 2WD and 4WD. Noise also started around 25mph and lasted up to 40mph. Second thing I thought was tires need to be rotated, but I did that when I replaced all the front end parts. So still I was thinking tire issue. So I was off to looking for new tires. My tires looked no where near as bad as the ones in the pic above with the balding they had but in the dept gage they were basically right above the red so it was time to change. After new tires noise is gone. I did got with slightly bigger tires but that shouldnt matter. Crazy I know but could it be the whole wear and tear on the tires and with them being maybe a few millimeters out of round or different size make a different to cause that kind of noise up front? I guess. I was just relieved when I didn't hear that rough sound anymore and will have to pay more attention to my tires for now on. Im glad I didn't have to tear into that front diff right now bc I really didn't want to. I will in the near future be pulling it out and changing the bearings and seals with that one side leaking but not for now.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
129,185
Posts
1,811,825
Members
92,286
Latest member
NHNorthWoods
Top