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Reader help: What smaller wheels work with my Ford Everest Titanium?

Ford’s Everest has fast become a popular choice for offroad tourers, so here’s another question about setup.

QUESTION: I’m looking to replace the stock wheels on my Titanium everest with 265 65R17 for a 1 year trip around Australia.

The stock rims are 8.5-inch and have an offset of 44mm, which is pretty high. Most aftermarket rims are 9-inch but with 35mm offset (is the highest I found so far). Net effect is new wheels would be about 25mm further out… so will be pretty close to exceeding the guards.

Now that my Everest is classified as MC and I can fit new wheels… do any of your readers have any experience with what will work and not hang out too far?

ANSWER: As the Everest comes with stock 20-inch rims you are well advised to replace with 17s for offroad touring. You’ll be able to air down further, protect the rim better and get the benefit of cheaper tyres too. The 265/65/17 size is common, as is 265/70/17 which is slightly taller and a good choice for a fraction more ground clearance.

As you want to keep the same tyre width (a good idea), I’d advise just picking up a set of secondhand Ranger wheels of which there are plenty as people go for the aftermarket look with wider tyres. Join one of the many Ranger/Everest Facebook groups or web forums and keep an eye open, or post a WTB (want to buy) request.

If you’d like a different look, get the wheels powdercoated a different colour to make them stand out. However, if you really want different wheels there are plenty of aftermarket companies that do Ranger/Everest wheels. The only reason to buy them is for looks, they’re certainly no tougher nor have any features worthy of note.

Make sure you get all five wheels and tyres. Touring offroaders cannot do without a full-sized spare.

Note that Ford have, inconveniently, not placarded the Everest Titanium for anything other than 20″ tyres, because the suspension and electronic tune is slightly different – this is a growing trend we’d like to see stamped out. However, you are unlikely to notice any difference as many others have used 17″ tyres and not reported any issues.

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mph
mph
4 years ago

I’d been considering putting some second hand 17-18inch ranger wheels on my Everest Titanium for off-road touring.

But the 20 inch Everest rims are 265/50R20 on rims 8.5×20 ET44.

Most of the Ranger rims are 8 inch wide and ET55. So the wheels are going to sit almost 25mm inside the stock 20 inch rims each side.

Isn’t that a problem? 50mm narrower stance is not going to look too flash either? Let me know if I’ve got that wrong.

Cheers.

patrick
patrick
2 years ago

I have an Everest Sport. Looking at wheel/tyre alternatives. Reducing from a 20″ to 17″ wheel – how does that affect the factory disc brake set up?

Robert Pepper

Robert Pepper