madconcept

I understand that older rims don’t fit. just wondering if reducing overall diameter will cause issues? Going with a 20” wheel/tire winter setup is expensive!

That time of year again when I’m contemplating getting a separate winter wheel/tire combo. My truck was in for service so I popped over to the parts dept. The lady there eventually called me and said she’d spent a good while sourcing out some wheels and tires. She said “since it’s an Elevation with 20” wheels the only thing I could find with the same diameter would be if you stuck with a 20” wheel and tire. These newer trucks are very (sensitive) to diameter changes and all sorts of issues can occur. Needless to say 20” isn’t going to be cheap!” I’m running slightly larger than factory 275/65 BFG’s daily and haven’t had any “issues”. Anyone had issues going with a smaller diameter wheel/tire combo? I don’t care about the speedo being out a bit! End of the day my KO2’s performed extremely well last winter, they do have the 3 peak mountain symbol after all. Think I’m more concerned about keeping the 20” Black Wheels in good shape more than anything else. Winter tires are also far superior on ice as well!

I recently had my 2019 Sierra Elevation in for service and I asked about a winter tire/wheel setup. Has 20” wheels on it and stock size is 275/60R20. Although I bought it as a demo model with BFG 275/65R20 which are 1” bigger in diameter. Told them I’d want to downsize to an 18” wheel to save some dough! I eventually got a call and was told that these trucks are really “sensitive” to wheel diameter changes and my only option was to stick to a 20” wheel and tire setup. What are the issues with changing overall diameter besides having the speedo out? I don’t really care about that too much. My speedo may be out as it is with the 1” larger than stock tires I have now. Having said all this my BFG’s are winter rated and performed exceptionally well last winter!

2019 Sierra Elevation 4x4. Have a levelling kit and LT275/65R20 BF Goodrich KO2 tires set at 42 PSI. My truck also has the Max Trailering/NHT option with stock shocks. I definitely get a lot of bounce or “bunny hoping when going over bumps like the back end bounces sideways. My last truck 07 Silverado Z71 didn’t do this. I find it annoying for sure at times and my wife really notices it while in the truck. We did a camping trip a pulled our 24’ trailer and it towed beautifully. No bouncing once loaded but when driving the truck down a dirt road without the trailer there was quite a bit of bouncing around! I guess having high payload and towing capacity comes at a cost!

In my opinion you had good success with your current GM. Why change to another brand? I had a 2007 Silverado and overall it was great so I went with another GM. I’ve always felt Dodge products were crap so it was never an option I consider’d, although when I saw the Ram at the Vancouver auto show it did feel and look nice. I did consider a Ford years ago as the tune-ability of the ecoboost and what is available is insane. We bought my wife a 2016 Explorer Sport Ecoboost new and I have to say the fit and finish is fantastic, tons of power for a mommy-mobile, the ride and handling is great, styling is great, one of the best looking SUV’s out there and it came loaded with options. However it has it’s stupid issues and has been in the shop more than we want to accept! Ford couldn’t fix the issues either so we’re basically forced to live with them. No lemon law in Canada unfortunately! The best you can do is force a buy-back minus the mileage(which is huge) going through a process. We are just going to drive it for a couple more years and dump it for something else. Probably a boring Toyota or something lol!

I ended up tilting the wdh head down a bit more yesterday. Didn’t have time to hook up the truck to the trailer yet though. Hopefully it works. I’m taking the trailer in for service this week and I’m hoping they have a tongue weight scale. Might be too front heavy the way I loaded the trailer with stuff? Storing a bunch of heavier items in the front storage compartments of the trailer as those storage areas were convenient.

Thanks. I just adjusted the tilt by adding another washer. Don’t think there’s enough room left on the shank to add anymore so I think that’s all I can do. Hopefully my truck doesn’t drive all squirrelly! Big/only reason I was able to get this truck because I promised my wife it would handle our TT better than my old truck lol! I’m hoping I don’t have to go out and get airbags now! Love how the truck looks unloaded with the level kit though!

No my torsion bar height seems maxed out. Tried going up another chain link but it’s too tight to lift it into place. And yes the jack is up a couple inches above the wood blocks in the pic, looks like it may be touching lol! The rear sag isn’t too bad. From fender to tire is 5 1/2” up front and 4” at the back. Unloaded I’m about 6” front and back, with levelling kit. At the end of the day if you want to tow with a levelling kit, plan to install air bags I suppose. Trucks come out of the factory with a natural rake to compensate for loading.

Brought our 24’ Travel Trailer home from my dad’s farm. New truck tows like a champ. Has the max trailering option. Levelling kit on truck causes a bit of squat though even with a WD hitch. May need air bags to compensate for level kit.

I have a levelled 2019 Sierra, Max trailering option. This truck sits higher than my last truck overall so I actually lowered the height position on my WD hitch to prevent our TT from going down the road with the front end pointed up. Hooked the trailer up today and overall the trailer sits level now but my truck squats. I’m sure the levelling kit doesn’t help. I measured about 5 1/2” inches between fender and top of the tire up front and about 4” from tire to fender in the back. I’m sure airbags would really help, especially for trucks with levelling kits. I also have quite a bit of weight in that toolbox I have on my truck. When on holidays I’ll empty that out, although probably have a load of firewood in the truck anyways. Just make sure the firewood is pushed as far forward as possible. Myself at 170 lbs, wife that is 105lbs then 3 kids in the back seat come in around 160lbs total will mean a fairly loaded truck but well below the limit I’m sure!

I confess that on my old 2007 and many vehicles before my current 2019, I got into the bad habit of going from reverse to drive while still moving backwards a bit. Faulting my impatience perhMy past vehicles including 2007 Silverado and 2000 Sierra never slammed from reverse to drive. I guess GM just designed these new trucks differently. If my current truck is moving at all and I shift from reverse to drive it will slam.

I’ve always felt that sticking with the regular oil(whatever the manufacturer recommends) is more than adequate. Like for real everything around the engine while fail a lot sooner than the engine internals. When an engine finally packs it in around 300,000-400,000 km I would rather be in something newer anyways. Overspending on expensive oil and changing it when it’s only at 50% of its life is a waste of money in my opinion.

Clearance yo the factory front mud flap with the wheel straight. I could take a pic with the wheel turned if you want.

Good to know. I’ll probably consider 285/65 BFG KO2’s after I burn through my current set to get the wider/even more aggressive look.

Started a topic about P rated vs LT too. Love the way the 275/65R20 fill the wheel well but the E rated BFG sure makes for a rough ride. Probably consider going down to a 275/60R20 next time just to make the ride a bit more comfortable as you’re able to get a P rated tire at that size. Who knows maybe there will be more options in a couple years in the 275/65 size?

What I’m reading is with a 2” level the widest you can go without rubbing would be a 285 but with a 60 aspect ratio. This is for 20” wheels of course. If you want to go to a 65 ratio you need to go slightly narrower with a 275 tire. Jay Teez has 285/60’s I have 275/65’s. We both don’t have rubbing issues. Bluerado has 285/65’s and has a slight rub in reverse at full lock. We all have levels on our trucks. Hope that helps. Definently helps me because once the tires I have now will need to be replaced I was considering going slightly wider to give myself a bit more rim protection but then I would have to go with a shorter tire. I’ve kissed a few curbs and thankfully haven’t done any damage to my rims even with the 275’s! The BFG’s do a good job deflecting the curb attacks!

2019 Sierra Elevation, front level and 275/65R20 BFG KO2. No rubbing.

Has anyone recalibrated their speedometers after changing wheel/tire diameter? I have a 2019 Sierra Elevation. It was a manager’s demo. Came with levelling kit and 275/65R20 BFG KO2’s on factory Elevation black 20” Snowflake style wheels. Tires now have a 65 aspect ratio now vs factory 60. Obviously with the level and slight diameter change there’s no rubbing or anything. Also thinking about getting a set of dedicated winter wheels and tires. Probably go 17” or 18” to save some cash but wondering if that’d screw up my speedo and other components on my truck?

I have a 2019 Sierra Elevation. Originally came with 275/60R20 tires. Truck was a manager’s demo and they replaced the tires with 275/65R20’s. Going from 60-65 aspect ratio is apparently a 1” difference, using a tire size calculator. Besides the slight speedometer change would anything be affected or damaged over time running a slightly larger tire? I can live with the speedo being slightly out but worry about it affecting other things such as ABS, axles and transfer case. Also looking at getting a second set of winter wheels and tires, perhaps going with a 17 or 18 wheel. Again this would probably end up being a reduced diameter overall. These trucks come with an assortment of wheel and tire sizes. I’m guessing they calibrate the speedo at the factory based on what the truck is ordered with?

Experiencing a bit of vancouver snow now and have to say my BFG KO2’s are performing extremely well! A trip up the local ski hill yesterday went well too with plenty of snow on the roads. I dare say they’re performing almost as good as the dedicated winters I had on my last truck! They have about 14,000 km on them so I’m sure as they get some wear on them maybe the performance will deteriorate?

Elevation is definitely above a custom. Custom is 1 trim up from a work truck. Nothing wrong with the customs at all and I think they look great! You just can’t option out a Custom much. Unless you go Custom Trailboss maybe? Customs were more a basic trim level, again they look great with the painted bumpers, CHEVROLET written on the grill and 20” wheels. But no bucket seats, Max tow,DFM engine option, etc though. As others have said RST and Elevation are on pair except (at least for 2019) you couldn’t get leather package in the Elevation, which was dumb. A few Elevation I saw advertised the dealers elected to install aftermarket leather.

Getting a 2 speed transfer case was only available on z71 package I believe...at least in the trims I was looking at RST and Elevation. I wanted the Max Trailering option which only came with the single speed transfer case.

Made a few comments in another thread about tires and figured I’d post them here too. Had the truck since mid October and so far my KO2’s have performed flawlessly! Vancouver(BC) experienced a monsoon Thursday, literally pond size puddles on the freeway. My truck plowed through them with hardly any hydroplaning at all. About 13,000 km on them and I run them at 42 PSI. Carry a cross box with a couple 100 pounds of tools on a daily bases and frequently haul lumber so figured I’d get the pressure up a bit(maybe I’m at the right mark?) Haven’t had any snow or ice yet so we’ll see how they perform if we get any. The heavy winter rains we get in Vancouver haven’t been a problem at all! Anyone have experience using the DT labeled KO2’s? I’ve read a few times that the mountain peak labeled KO2’s don’t last long. Makes sense, as to get the snow rating I’m sure the rubber compound is softer. I’d prefer to get a set of dedicated winters in a year or so just for better snow and ice performance on a cheap set of 17 or 18” rims and keep my 20” wheels in good shape. Also see how much life I get out of these winter rated KO2’s. So far if I had to buy new tires tomorrow I’d repeat with the KO2’s but maybe try the DT rated ones instead?

Can’t notice it on my 2019 Sierra 5.3/8 speed. My last 07 Silverado with the brand new of the day AFM was definitely noticeable, plus I drove with the instant fuel economy display on that showed when it went from 4 to 8. Would actually be nice to have a display showing how many cyl are running at any given time. Just because I’m curious to see when these trucks are actually only running on 1 cyl!

I also have the Max Tow/NHT 2019 Sierra Elevation. The ride is definitely more firm in this truck compared to my last truck, 2007 Silverado Z71. Last truck had original shocks in it that were probably quite worn out and helped with the “soft ride”. I equate the ride in my current truck to perhaps how a 3/4 ton would’ve felt 10-15 years ago. The rear end does feel “bouncy” hitting bumps at speed. I’m also running BFG KO2’s that are an LT tire on 20” rims and a leveling kit up front. I’m sure that doesn’t help with the ride either! I’m curious as to how this truck will handle my 24’ TT next spring. My last truck felt very “floaty” while towing, where this one I’m thinking will be more “solid”. What is everyone’s opinion on the Max Tow/NHT suspension and ride quality? Would Bilstien 5100 improve the day to day ride quality?