Symmetric vs asymmetric tread

[Blmpkn]

It's not worth it from a performance only standpoint, no. It pretty much just opens up a lot of options for tires... and that alone could make it worth it for the right person. Variety is the spice of life right? Plus.. depending on how long a set of tires lasts you.. there might not be ANY 15" tires that you find appealing by the next time you need to buy some.

Wheels also don't need to cost 1000$. A set of steelies shouldn't be much more than 500$ brand new. Another option would be to browse your local marketplaces for a set of used wheels. 5x4.5 is a pretty common bolt pattern, it won't be hard to find wheels that would work. I recently bought a set of 4 brand new/take-off 17" aluminum wheels for 100$.. the deals are out there.

An exact matching spare wheel/tire also isn't completely necessary. To me.. a spare is meant to be on the vehicle for as short of a time as possible.. so it's a waste of money in my eyes to spend whatever amount of extra money it costs for a 5th wheel and fancier than necessary tire just to have it in use for a couple days at best.

 

[Ranger850]

Bigger rims also allow for faster cooling of the brakes.
Yes, 18" are an option and even standard on "some" Rangers, Mavericks & F-150's, but when you opt for the FX4 package, you automatically get the 17", unless you FURTHER option the truck for the bigger 18". I know there are already a lot of modded Mavericks with big aftermarket rims, so You could start looking for a set of Maverick take-offs on CL, FBMarket, LetGo, and any other place/app that resale car stuff. I think the maverick has the same 5 lug pattern as the old Rangers.

 

[James Morse]

2022 FORD MAVERICK LARIAT 18” WHEELS RIMS GLOSS BLACK OEM FACTORY 95266 SET OF 4 | eBay

I have those huge hub caps and front hubs sticking out does that all fit ok? Trying to picture it.
I don't particularly like that pattern but there are surely others and probably cheaper.

Thanks. I think it'd look great with larger wheels.
I don't know what is the width of them have to check.

I think bolt pattern might be different I am 5x4.5 I think and some are 5x108 which would be 4.25 ?

 

[James Morse]

Hub bore is what I was talking about.
New Rangers have different bolt pattern so do Mavericks unless I'm mistaken. Rangers, 6 bolts, Mavericks, 4.25 vs 4.5 bolt pattern
Too bad

 

[Blmpkn]

"New" wheels like what's on the 2019+ rangers and the Maverick generally have a lot more backspacing than the wheels that are on a 90s ranger, meaning you'd have to run wheel spacers to get them out to where they need to be. This isn't a huge issue.

Much like regular spacers though (and they double as spacers)... are hub adapters.. they'll allow you to run whatever bolt pattern you desire.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I wouldn't bother with spacers.

Nothing wrong with 15's or 16's. I think they look the best on small Rangers... or really on anything.

17" is as big as is really practical if you intend to air down. They come bigger and whatever. Most "offroad" (FX4 etc) packages are mainly stickers and crap.

The biggest baddest Raptors and Broncos still ride on 17's.

 

[ericbphoto]

Nothing wrong with 15's or 16's. I think they look the best on small Rangers... or really on anything.

You could have just said this without all the extraneous verbosity. Really. 15's are where it's at. With lots of big cushiony air filled rubber wrapped around them. Big tires. Small wheels.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You could have just said this without all the extraneous verbosity. Really. 15's are where it's at. With lots of big cushiony air filled rubber wrapped around them. Big tires. Small wheels.

In the land of ginormous disk brakes they don't always work anymore.

We just put brakes on a Tahoe the other day that had 16.25" diameter ROTORS.

 

[James Morse]

I guess you could put hub adapters and go to a 6-lug pattern and put the larger wheels. But now I'm thinking, it's not worth it.
How much do you air down? Seems like maybe something you'd do and also disconnect front stabilizer?

 

[James Morse]

I found another symmetric tire, the RPB Repulsor - more a mud tire than a/t though I think.

I neglected to mention in the types of tread patterns, I'd mentioned it before in another thread, but there's one other tread pattern that is not strictly speaking symmetric; the two sides of the tire are mirrors, but the halves are rotated a bit respective to each other. That's a tire that will appear the same on both sides of the truck.

Custom Offsets seems to have great lists of tires, seems like their filters are a bit weird, but there's tons to look at.

I believe the reason almost all tires have a mirrored but flipped pattern is then you only have to make the mold for one half (make two of them) then flip it over for the other half of the tire. I'd say 95% or more of tread patterns are such at least in a/t and mudders. When you make a symmetric tire you have to make two mold halves different so it doubles the work of mold-making so that's probably why you see them like that.

As a general rule, tires will never appear the same side-to-side on the truck, meaning, they'll never be mirror images of each other in other words symmetric with respect to the centerline of the truck. There are very few exceptions. It's just something I never noticed before so was/am on a mission to find them, if they exist.

Here's Repulsor and also Crosswind MT you see they are not strictly speaking symmetric, but, it's just offset mirror sides, so they would qualify as symmetric.
They probably aren't good choices for me although the Replusor is supposed to be pretty quiet on the road.
RBP Repulsor MT 31x10.50R15LT | RBPMT15105010 | Custom Offsets (customwheeloffset.com)
couldn't get pic of the above
and the Crosswind:

 

[ericbphoto]

When you make a symmetric tire you have to make two mold halves different so it doubles the work of mold-making

In today’s age of CNC machining, I doubt that that’s an issue. They draw it on the computer and the machine carves the shape. Takes just as long to carve each section of the mold whether it’s mirrored, symmetrical, asymmetrical, etc. the molds are generally made of a whole bunch of segments with 2 side pieces for the side walls. Not normally a 2-half kind of assembly.

The mold segments close and are clamped around the raw tire carcass. Then a bladder inflates with steam/hot water on the inside to push and expand the carcass into the mold pieces. It stays that way for a predetermined period of time. Then the bladder empties, the mold segments open and the hot tire is removed and sent to a cooling room.

(I worked in a Michelin plant for 7 years)

 

[James Morse]

Awesome to see the mold and the explanation.
Blows my theory right out of the water. But is it possible it's a holdover from earlier days when they had to carve them by hand and now it's just tradition? I just can't for the life of me figure why it would be the norm that the pattern is mirrored, but flipped, for the two sides of tires? It's almost always done that way, so it's either tradition or there has to be a reason for it.....

 

[James Morse]

About the hubs, you could do this then use newer wheels? They are 2" thick.
Hub Centric 5x4.5 to 6x5.5 Wheel Adapter 2inch, (Pair of 2) (performancewheeladapters.com)

Not saying I'd do it, just, it's possible, right? If the backspacing works out.

 

[Chapap]

Awesome to see the mold and the explanation.
Blows my theory right out of the water. But is it possible it's a holdover from earlier days when they had to carve them by hand and now it's just tradition? I just can't for the life of me figure why it would be the norm that the pattern is mirrored, but flipped, for the two sides of tires? It's almost always done that way, so it's either tradition or there has to be a reason for it.....

Maybe same reason... easier to make the mold/template things? Only need to design half of a tire mold mold, make two mold molds to make the mold.

 

[ericbphoto]

Awesome to see the mold and the explanation.
Blows my theory right out of the water. But is it possible it's a holdover from earlier days when they had to carve them by hand and now it's just tradition? I just can't for the life of me figure why it would be the norm that the pattern is mirrored, but flipped, for the two sides of tires? It's almost always done that way, so it's either tradition or there has to be a reason for it.....

You’d really have to ask a tire design engineer for that. There’s a lot more to tire design than most of us know about. All the different rubber compounds for different layers in the tire or different regions of the tire, thicknesses of different portions of the tire, type of material, thickness, etc. for soft cords, design of the metal reinforcing for the bead, type of steel, wire diameter, width, bias angles, etc. for steel belts, extra cordage to counteract g-forces in high speed rated tires, tread design, chemicals added to increase or decrease electrical conductivity to prevent the vehicle from building excessive static charge, etc. Many tires are initially designed for a specific vehicle, based on the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications. They may fit and work well on other vehicles. But began their life for a specific vehicle or class of vehicles.