looking for pictures of 20"+ on 1st gen x

[1991x]

does anyone have any pics of 1st gen explorers on 20" or bigger rims? also does anyone know where i can find some for a 4wd?

 

[boggs1227]

:scratch: i don't know if you want to do that and for a 4x4 at that .

are you prepaired to .....

1) upgrade the brake system
2) if you get a flat are you going to have another 20 incher
laying in the cargo area
3) forget about abs


upgradeing to cooler wheels is a great idea but you don't swap in a big block engine into a pinto and expect it to handle and stop without other upgrades do you ??

i'm not trying to be harsh but would you do if you only had a small amount of money to buy on 20 wheels ( and god help you on the cost of the tires ) and you stuck them on then you find out about after 50 miles of brakeing you now find out that you just took off 3/4 of the life of your pads and rotors and now at 100 miles the whole brakeing system up front is slowlly falling apart ( warpped rotors ).

my father had a 2006 tahoe and put 20 davinchies ( great looking rims) but had problems stopping and the abs system activateing on and off while under normal brakeing conditions ....took them off and stuck the stock stuff back on and no more problems....but it was so bad that he was really scared that he was not going to be able to stop while going highway speeds .


for the explorer ...i would not put anything over an 18 wheel on it and thats with out any other brake modifications


just remember the bigger you go " it's the rolling mass increase" that will hurt your overall performance

 

[deamon3]

 

[KPSquared]

My friends body shop has never been happier with the move toward larger rims. 20" + rims on SUV's without upgraded brakes = a lot more accidents. He said he gets all sorts of rear end stuff because the big SUV couldn't stop the 20's.

Looks stupid to... just my $0.02

 

[BrianDye]

Im not gonna say they ALL look stupid, it depends on the wheel style. The huge gaudy lookin DUB styles and stuff thats like way too much for the wheel looks ridiculous, now ones with just like 5 or 6 spokes looks good, well most do.

Plus like they said, you SHOULD upgrade your brakes, you dont HAVE to, but be prepared to be taking her to alot of body shops, or stay WAY the hell behind people haha.

Ive seen ONE 1st gen in my time with big rims on it, and they were the stupid overdone ones like I was talking about, and it was on low-pro's LIFTED which looked like HELL.

If you could fit them in the wheelwell, maybe lower it an inch or two, they could look good.

Theres my $.02 lol.

 

[Dannyboy]

I'm always confused why you need upgraded brakes for 20" wheels with stock height tires but notbody mentions upgrading brakes when going to a 35" tire.

Anybody have any proof on this? I can see running through pads twice as fast but none of 100 mile nonsense.

I picked these up as I got them for a steal and had the tires laying around. Fit my 4x4 no problem.

And for what it's worth of my F250 I run a 22" wheel, 37" tires and have 70K on my original brake pads. This includes about 5000 miles towing my Explorer. Just thought I'd share some real word first hand experience

 

[deamon3]

I think it has to do with the fact that even though the tire is the same size , the rim is bigger and therefor heavier. Thus the brakes have to work harder to stop it. On stock wheels theres more rubber tire which weighs less then a thin tire with more metal rim.

I'm just guessing so don't kill me.

 

[BrianDye]

Ill have to agree with Deamon. I think its more of a weight issue rather than size.

Im sure going from the stock size tire, to the big 33's affect it somewhat, probably not too too noticeable though.

I dont think it would affect the wear at all either, its just more of the fact like this:
350 lb. guy running 15mph, and a 150 lb. guy running same speed; Who can stop faster?

 

[rhauf]

upgrading brakes... if you have problems with brake fade, then they need to be upgraded. if not, they dont require upgrading, what's the big deal?

and i dont see the weight of the rim being a contributing factor to the size of the brakes, when the rim's weight pales in comparison to the moving mass of the car (all of which has to be stopped by the brakes just the same as the rotating masses) i can understand that more leverage on the brakes (bigger radius of tire) could lend to braking problems, but i've never experienced any braking problems on any truck i've ever owned, except when towing but that's another story.

its not like we race out explorers, so why huge brakes?

 

[deamon3]

its not like we race out explorers, so why huge brakes?

Because they don't come with airbags.

 

[deamon3]

I also just realized

Larger wheels have more leverage to fight the brakes then smaller ones. A good analogy would be a socket wrench vs a breaker bar. The breaker bar has more power because it's larger. So if it's not the weight , then it's just the size.

 

[boggs1227]

I think it has to do with the fact that even though the tire is the same size , the rim is bigger and therefor heavier. Thus the brakes have to work harder to stop it. On stock wheels theres more rubber tire which weighs less then a thin tire with more metal rim.

I'm just guessing so don't kill me.

...thats the point i was trying to make everyone ... i was only going on experiance that i had when my father had them on his tahoe ( btw ,much better brake system on that truck as to compared to first gen explorer ) so,
even he had a hard time stopping .i was always taught the tire is lighter than the rim and that the more diameter you go outward then you are increaseing the rolling mass of the truck more while travleing down the road ( rim wise ).


and dannyboy : i just used those mileage numbers as a example and not actual mile per mile record event on what will happen to your brakes .
sorry if caused a argument here was just trying to help out before a lot of money was wasted and maybe a seriuos accident averted .

 

[rhauf]

I also just realized

Larger wheels have more leverage to fight the brakes then smaller ones. A good analogy would be a socket wrench vs a breaker bar. The breaker bar has more power because it's larger. So if it's not the weight , then it's just the size.

That's what i just said about the radius of the tire. however, it's the total tire size (hub to road) that determines the leverage on the brakes, not the size of the rim.

 

[Dannyboy]

No offense taken to anything, just sharing my real world experience.

I also owned a Tahoe on 23s, drove that for a year. Towed plenty of boats and my Explorer.

I would say the Tahoe/Burbans were known to be a little undersized on their brakes as that vehicle is heavier than the Silverado they were modeled after.

If you want to roll 20s, go for it. Get the lifetime replacement pads from an autoparts store and change them out once a year at no charge.

 

[1991x]

changing brakes is no problem i already have lifetime pads so i can change them once a year or more if needed wont bother me. or i can always upgrade. i just hate the style of my rims and find it pointless to upgrade to a half as$ 18" rim so i figured 20s would be fine. i just cant find any that fit in the style i want. i like 5/6 spoke black rims

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

biggest reason to upgrade brakes is because nothing looks stupider then a little tiny drum in a huge wheel IMO

rotational mass is going to be higher, but not to the level of not being able to stop the truck, but look to expect longer stoping distances. the same thing is true with oversize tires, its more mass to turn and slow down.

difference is your more likely to be speeding, or atleast perceived to be more likely to be speeding on dubs then you would be on 35"s i think

 

[huntman58]

I found my stopping distance to increases when I ran larger tiers on both my old dodge truck and my now 93 XLT exploder.

Both trucks stopped fine for me as long as it was not a panic stop! When that was the case let me tell you it was an eye opener for me on both trucks. On the 1/2 ton dodge I went from 235- 75 x 15 to a 32-11.50 x 15 and on the exploder I went from 235-75 x15 to 31-10.5 x 15.

Now not only did the stopping time and distance increases on both each also threw off the speedometer readings. I also did notice the brake pads did not last as long. Now did that stop me from running the bigger tires? Nope not at all but I did up grade my Brake pads and rotors! I also found on the Dodge I lost a lot of my pulling power because of it being geared for the HWY. Pulling my 24 foot travel trailer with that truck was not fun even an over pass forced me to down shift. On the explorer with its 373 gear set it still pulls well but again I did loose some and it was enough I could feel it going down the road pulling. I also check wheel bearings more often also now if I have changed from stock rims. If the offset is more or less then stock it adds extra stress to the wheel bearings.

Yes the looks are cooler with the low profile tiers on a street pounder but on a 4x4 I would wonder why? most do not know this, lows pro's will help the handling but at a cost! The tiers are more easily damaged by potholes and road debris then a normal or higher side wall tire. then you have the spare problem as any one should know on a 4x4 you have to have a spare the same out side diameter or you lose your 4x4 abilities. as the spare must go on the front if it is smaller or larger and the truck must be set to two wheel drive tell all tires are of the same size again!

also if you do any off reading even forest service roads a low profile tire will be one of the worst things you could run as again it is the rod side damage thing and how easily the rim it's self can and most likely will be damaged from a flat of blow out . take a good sized rock on a road way a normal tire rim combo can run over it with no problems but a large low pro file tire rim combo could be stopped in its tracks by this rock simply running over it and the tier not having the give to absorb the rocks impact. if that happens you now have a flat and lets hope your not were you need 4 low or hi as you now will not be able to use it unless you do not care about blowing up your transfer box or gear sets or worst yet all of the running gear from rape up because of one odd sized tire!

Just my 2 cents worth and did I say they look weird on a real off road truck! That’s why you never see them on tuff trucks or rock crawlers, mud boggers ECT!

Also just because some people run them and get away with it dose not mean it is the right or even safe thing to do after all how many race trains across the tracks and get away with it yet are you willing to chance being the one who dose not make it except into the new that day for not making it across?

 

[KPSquared]

The biggest problem lies in the panic stop. Your braking distances increase dramatically with big rims. More rolling mass, more leverage. You can still stop, in normal driving you wouldn't even notice it. Stamp hard on the pedal and you'll find that you'll cover a lot more ground than your used to. Besides, I still think they look stupid, specially on a 4x4 (unless they are wrapped with 54" rubber, then they look pretty normal...)