Dakota wheel sizes. Keep the 15" or go bigger?

The time has come where I HAVE to buy tires for my Dakota.

The previous owner put bigger tires on it, 235/75/15. My original plan was to keep the bigger tire size and go with a soft 8 rim (cheap) as I really don't like the stock rims.

But, as 15" tires get more and more difficult to find, I'm wondering if I should I go to a bigger size (16 or 17) for morre readily available tires.

Thoughts?

15" tires are not hard to find. Discount tire has a bunch of them for one place to look. Tire Rack is another. Also don't forget to change your speedo drive if you change sizes.

I ran 31x10.5x16 on my 93 ext cab long bed 2wd. Front would barely scrub on frame when turning full lock. Really liked the way it looked on the truck as they really filled the wheel well. Don't go buy what I say though, as I do stuff the hard way sometimes. I even switched the rotors and rear axles out to 90 model dakota 5 lug stuff to make the wheels and tires I found for a deal fit.

The 235-75-15 is about as cheap and easy to find as they come, don't know why you would have a hard time gettin em.

It does depend on what you wish to accomplish also... 15s ar cheapest, 16" are easiest to find heavy doody tires fer, 17 gets the best performance stuff.

The factory made 15 16 17 inch wheels that bolt on. They made 2 different widths of 15s. The narrow one you have (and several other narrow versions)is best for 235-75 and smaller, the wider ones are ugly and work good with 31-10.5 and bigger.

Hard to beat the looks of the R/T 17" satin wheels, I have them on both my dakotas and I have a set of the chrome ones for my winter tires. I wish they were skinnyer for my purposes but I live with it.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Imagine this truck blue and this is how I'd love mine to look......



I've been watching for rims like these since I bought this truck and prices seem all over the place, once in awhile I'll see them on CL for 125-300+ EACH. No caps, no lug nuts, no tires. Is that average or am I being too cheap?

Wish you were closer I would sell you a set of those with some decent tires for $300

I bought a set of those with great tires a year ago on Ebay for $500 shipped.