New tires/rims are on - much better ride.
 

My '08 has the J-Package, so it has the 20" rims. I think they look great, but I hate the rougher ride you get with short sidewalls. Plus the selection of tires available for people like me that live in snow/ice country is not that great, nor are the prices. So awhile back, I picked up a set of the chrome clad 18's that also came on Aspens of the same year.

My old tires where the stock 265/50/20 Goodyear RS-A's. They are horrible in slush and wet because they have closed shoulders that don't allow water and slush to escape. We hydro-planed more then once with those tires, even before they started getting to their end-of-life. They got worse as they wore down.

Now I have 265/60R18 Michelin LTX M/S2. They have good shoulder channels, and huge center grooves to move water, snow, and slush out of the way. Good deal of siping too, so ice and wet traction should be good. They are the top rated tire on Tirerack for Highway All Season category. Time will tell, but I think they will be a good all season tire for me.

The ride and control with these tires and 18" rims is noticably improved over the 20's in my opinion, though admittedly the tires where pretty much shot (had 50k on them).

If anyone is interested in buying a nice set of the OEM 20" rims, i'll be selling them soon. They are in great shape.

I just replaced the stock tires on mine with Cooper Discoverer A/T3 265/60/18. For an A/T tire they ride and handle awesome. I'm very impressed. We're in Alaska so I'll be putting them to the snow and ice test soon.

Tires with more sidewall will have a softer ride, but there's no way there's better control. I think you're experiencing the difference between worn out tires and new tires.

More sidewall = more sidewall flex. There's no way around it.

I agree. I just replaced my tires with Bridgestone Dueller H/L Alenza and what a big difference. I had the original tires with 30,000 miles when I replaced them.

Totally agree too. Replaced my 20" SR-A's on my 08 J-pkg with Yokohama Parada Spec-X about 10K ago. Terrific tire. Rides like on rails in heavy rain, very smooth and quiet too. Not expecting to get terrific wear (hoping 30K) but by then I'll probably have a new ride.
Good luck with your new shoes.

True, in general, handling can be better with lower profile tires due to the sidewall flex issue. However, we are talking about a 5000+ lb SUV. Handling isn't really in its vocabulary if you really want to get down to it, not compared to a vehicle that really handles. So with a vehicle that already handles like an SUV on a good day (not a compliment), i'll trade a smoother ride for slightly less handling any day of the week.

True, but a set of Bilstein shocks and a decent tires on the 20" wheels makes a world of difference. The stock ride is horrible, IMO.

I love Michelin LTX. On my second set in 7 years on my Dakota. Rides like a Caddy!

Ya, might make a difference, but doesn't make it a Lotus.

I should add that I also tow a camper and we often find ourselves off the beaten path when we are camping. So low profile tires are not my choice when I am offroad (nothing extreme, I have a Ram to rock crawl). So that was the additional reasoning behind going to a taller sidewall.

In what way does it feel like riding in a Cadillac? Just curious :cool:

There's a "happy medium" to this, if you will. Shorter sidewalls indeed mean less sidewall flex, but that doesn't necessarily make it the last word regarding "better control." Bigger wheels also mean more unsprung weight as a rule (i.e., the wheel + tire of equivalent diameter is lighter with a smaller wheel/higher profile tire than it is with a larger wheel/lower profile tire), which tends to detract from performance and handling.

Take a vehicle that comes with 18" stock rims and swap them out for some of those ridiculous ghetto 22s, and tell me you have "better control." I think not lol. Acceleration declines and braking distances get longer, there's no getting around it, because your wheel/tire combination is a good deal heavier.

Another issue is that not all tires of all types and brands have the same degree of sidewall flex. It could be that the stock 20" tires had fairly soft sidewalls for ride quality, and that the replacement tires had stiffer sidewalls (so that there wasn't a big increase in sidewall flex even with the higher profile tire). Every tire is a compromise, and there isn't a consistent degree of flex for a given sidewall height.

As for me, I'm looking at buying an Aspen to replace my pickup, and if I do the first thing I'll do is ditch those stupid 20" wheels for the smallest I can put on it (17") with All Terrain tires on them. After all, I don't think there's much point to a 4X4 with street tires on it, and there's basically NO AT tires in the stock 20" size. If absolute performance/handling is what you're after, an Aspen isn't what you want to be driving. ;)

Of course it's a compromise, but aftermarket wheels are often much lighter than OEM wheels, even in larger sizes. I replaced the wheels on my Infiniti with a larger, but much lighter, wheel and experienced handling gains and no loss in acceleration.

I keep seeing people brushing off suspension and wheel/tire upgrades as "stupid" because the Aspen is an SUV. Newsflash: Most Aspen owners aren't mudding with our $40k trucks. I'd rather the vehicle handle well on the street, where the truck spends 99.99% of its time. I know my Aspen isn't bringing "absolute performance", but that doesn't mean I should want it to handle like crap. There's no reason it has to be all or nothing.

don't know if you still have the rims I just joined the forum but I have 18's with 20,000 miles and was thinking of going to 20's I like the look better let me know how much you want for them

Hey I'm now to the form but see you listed your set of 20" for sale, wondering are you still Selling them are if they already sold?

Sorry, they were sold awhile back.

My 2 cents on tires- my hemi sport was brand new in 05, stock good years were flat scary in the rain. I researched a great deal and decided to try the General Grabber UHP. Great tire, on my 5 th set, 295 50 20's. The were $150 a tire then and still today. Awesome in all conditions, keep a balance, quiet, last a long time and look terrific. Mt Aspen came with 20" wheels , I will be installing Grabber UHP's on it when it is time
He'd