Soooo, I had the chance to upgrade my 16" aluminum wheels to the 17" wheels off a 2LT. I had Eagle GTs on mine, the 17s have Toyo Eclipse tires on them. I took it for a spin and immediatly noticed a handling difference for the worse. steering response is slow and squishy, especially if you jink the wheel side to side. My Eagle GTs went where you pointed them instantly. I aired up the 17s to 35PSI all around with no change.

Anyone know much about the toyo eclipse? I believe its a 70k miles all season tire, but I would have thought that a 50 series tire would be a little firmer....? My Eagle GTs were admittedly a little loud but man did they handle. The Toyos I have now are like brand new, so I don't know if I want to go out and drop 5-600 bucks on new rubber right away. Thinking of trading back for my old 16s.

Now just to be sure, the 17s and 16s are interchangeable right? No issue with them rubbing or throwing off the speedo, same lug nuts etc...? They sure look fantastic

 

I would say yes. I had Bright Chrome Edition factory 17"s on my Shadow Edition, but got downgraded, to a 16" with tires that compensate for the difference in rim size.. No speedo inaccuracies. Hope my helps.

 

Well you hit the nail on the head in your post, the Toyo tires are high mileage warranty all season tires, the Eagle's are high performance tires. Even with the 17" rims and lower sidewalls, you did the equivalent of trading Air Jordans for rubber galoshes.

To get back to the sharp handling you were used to, a change of tires to something more performance oriented will be required.

 

X 2 with 843

"Now just to be sure, the 17s and 16s are interchangeable right? No issue with them rubbing or throwing off the speedo, same lug nuts etc...? They sure look fantastic"

They are interchangable.. As to the speed-O, that depends on the toyo tire size...

 

Thanks for the quick replies, pretty much confirmed what I feared. I need to get new tires come spring probably. I only paid 75 bucks for them (and traded my wheels/tires in the process) so overall not too bad, they look amazing. I'm looking at the Continental ContiTrac DWS tires, as maybe a quieter tire than the Eagle GTs, but still performance all season rated? Any experience with them?

 

I'm running Continental Extreme Contact DW's on my '07 and '11, and the Extreme Contact DWS's on my '06, just love 'em.

 

I can only say I read the Conti DWS do make a little road noise. Not sure if it's more than the Eagle GTs tho.. Maybe this will get some more replies..

But Excellent reviews on the DWS..

I chose Sumitomos' & they are amazingly quiet, & handle great.. They are also new.. So I don't have much more than 500 miles on them.. But loving every aspect of em..

 

Tires, I have only tried a few, DWS, Eagle F-1, potenza 760's, Gmax-03. Any thing rated to roll 70k, wont ever handle like the eagle that routinely disapears before 30k. All these tires were great at different things, none are great at all things, shucks. If you like hard ride and break your neck cornering, and really all season traction, Eagle F-1 hands down. My favorite is the Gmax, they ride so smooth that I can't even get a dash rattle going over railroad tracks !! The rest of those tires, I had dash rattles just driving down the road. The DWS has awesome traction medium ride, corner good, but they hydroplaned a bit, in deep water, that was a deal breaker for me here. The F-1 or Gmax will not lift no matter how deep, and both worked great on ice and snow, hope these observations help you pick the right tire for your wishes.