Why? A big blocky tire is just so friggin loud on the highway.

 

You're obviously too old to understand.

 

Until this afternoon my car has seen nothing but paved roads (in 3-1/2 yrs and 38.5k miles). I really like your wheel/tire setup but would feel guilty in shelling out the cash to upgrade mine when all I do are tame paved byways. This afternoon's excursion involved taking a 2-rut path for maybe a mile (round trip) from a parking lot on a university campus located 2 miles from where I live. I park in that lot for my daily 1-mile walk circling the campus. That path has always sparked my curiosity as to where it led. So this afternoon I took it and enjoyed the small amount of jostling and bouncing as I drove.. As lame as that sounds, it was fun. But I wouldn't trust my OEM Yokohama Geolanders on anything serious. Again, awesome wheels!

 

Bahaha...that was fairly derogatory...I understand completely...from your post I can see that those tires would suit you for all your off road adventure..it’s just not something that I’d do. I’ve had blocky tires in the past and the steady thrum of the road noise drives me bonkers. Studs are legal here and I won’t put those in my tires for that exact same reason. I have used this web site in the past when switching tire sizes on cars...which I have done in our ‘11 outback.

Tire size calculator

 

Nice review and update - thanks for posting this information. It's always good to hear real-world feedback. They look great, by the way! 👍

 

Tire choice is up to the driver. Yours look cool as hell just driving down the road. I'll save my arguments for another thread.
But you've probably seen the pic I posted of what the 15 inch wheel looks like after a romp in rocky mud. After running the 15 inch set up for 3 years, I chose to stay with 17s to hopefully keep the damage to the wheels from rocks getting caught to a minimum.

 

What was your approx. clearance between caliper and wheel? I have at least 2". I've seen you pics and the damage to the wheel which is quite impressive. Thanks.

 

@killrb Completely agree with everything you said. The road noise is minimal and after driving with them on for an hour on the first day, I don't even hear it anymore.

I'll be doing some mild off-roading to get to mountain biking and hiking trail heads and primitive camping spots, so they were a necessity (at least in my eyes). Just bought the Staun deflators and a Smittybilt 2781 air compressor that I'll be modding (see here to make your Smittybilt "right"). Planning on a 2" lift in the very near future.

A happy side effect...all of the guys at Discount Tire that swore the wheel tire combination wouldn't work were all drooling over it and taking pictures. Yesterday while at the landfill some guy unloading his truck said it looked great.

 

Sold the car. Doesn't matter. Same car, same wheels, same brakes. All four wheels had 4 or 5 gouges each when I sold them. Some worse than others. You can see the general area where they would tend to collect in the pic below

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I did my research to find what I thought was the best wheel/tire combo for my new trek maintaining stock height. I wanted to keep it as close to stock as possible while enjoying more off road performance and gritty look. I live in the Pacific Northwest and drive mountain and logging roads in rain, snow and mud. I will also run some desert roads crossing over to the east side of Washington in the summer, so there is a lot of terrain I had to consider. I do not plan on doing a lift but may upgrade the suspension in the near future. I decided to go with Method Rally VT-spec 502's 15" and BFG KO2 215/75/15. The weight of the stock rims and Falken tires are approximately 51-53 lbs. The Methods and KO2s are approximately 51.9 lbs. Even though the weights are similar the increase in unsprung weight is noticeable. The car now feels like a small truck (s10 or ranger) with the heavier KO2s. If I never drove the car with the original stock set up, I may have not noticed it feeling heavier in corners (roundabouts).

The increase in noise is noticeable but not annoying. It has a higher pitch than the stock. I do come from a long line of trucks and jeeps so it's much quieter. It is even quieter than the Prius I had. Acceleration to highway speeds seem unchanged with the 2.5L. I did notice when I had to swerve away from a car cutting me off at 70mph, there was some extra play. It felt like I overcompensated the swerve even though it was slight. The gas mileage has decreased from 29.8 to 28.1 city and 31.6 to 29.9 highway on average. I upgraded the wheels and tires at 770 miles on the car, well into the break in period. It does seem that with 1800 mi currently, the gas mileage is improving. Putting a ski rack on top completely demolished mpg to 26. There is also a 2mph discrepancy. At 72mph on the speedo, I am going 70mph per multiple GPS readings. This is probably just a production safeguard and not the wheels/tires.

What I have noticed is how well these handle in rain, snow and curvy mountain roads. They are better than reported and much better than expected, in my experience. I also have gone up several jeep trails in the surrounding mountains without a single issue. Running at 25psi makes for a comfortable backcountry trip. I installed rally armors and there is no rubbing at full lock in either direction. I considered the mud flaps necessary after I went up a local gravel road and heard the small rocks scattering along the side of the car. The wheels do stick out a tiny bit with the 15mm offset. I am overall I am extremely happy with my decision. Hope this helps anyone thinking going to a different wheel/tire set up.
If you see anything calculations that are wrong please let me know. View attachment 303636

I have this same setup and it performs well on the beach.