Decided to downsize the wheels on my 2025 Yukon Denali from 22” to 18”. I wanted more air and rubber to cushion the road surface and disliked the appearance of the now popular low-profile wheel/tire combinations. Enough online opinions suggested that this would be possible.
My original wheel was the GM 85675606 22” X 9” wide Ultra Bright Machined and Painted Midnight Silver Wheel with Laser Etched Logo. These are sometimes referred to as the “Snowflake” wheel. For replacements I found GM 84943289 18” X 8.5” wide Machined Charcoal wheels on eBay which were reported to be take-offs from a 2021 Sierra. They came with black GMC center caps. I also bought GM 13542523 TPMS sensors which were also take-offs.
As for new tires, I decided on 285/65 R18 Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 116T.
Tire ODmm:
275/50 R22 = 833 Original
285/65 R18 = 828 New
My local Big-O tire shop was willing to work with this unproven combination and we (They) systematically fit things in this order:
1. Lift truck, remove original front passenger wheel.
2. Install 18" raw wheel on above hub to check clearance for brake caliper and upper ball joint assy. ¾” - 1” clearance all around.
3. Mount new tire on new wheel and do the same including tire to wheel well clearance lock-to-lock. Did this with truck in the air and on the ground. Observed several finger widths of clearance all around.
4. Checked function of all 4 TPMS sensors and paired them to truck.
5. Installed TPMS sensors in all 4 wheels and mounted remaining new tires, installed on truck.
6. Observed in dash info screen to report correct tire pressure.
Short drive home subjectively revealed improvement over original with less in cabin perception of minor bumps, seams, utility covers, reflective markers, etc.
View attachment 471039
I’ll report on the highway behavior of this tire/wheel combo later. I’m expecting there to be a smoother, quieter ride. Hopefully this will not be at a great expense of high-speed steering response and hairpin mountain road cornering.
