20 inch wheels suck!

[manyplews]

I'm an old geezer who has had a lot of health problems in the last 2 years - broken back,broken leg,2 torn rotator cuffs among other things.
before I had these problems,my personal vehicle was a Ford F350 diesel 4X4
truck,with a 6 speed manual ******.
I decided I needed something easier to get in and out of,with an automatic
transmission so I bought a new Jeep Liberty last fall - it's a Jet Limited
and has the 20" wheels.
This Liberty is the roughest riding vehicle that I've ever owned - way rougher
than the Ford 1 -ton diesel (and it has 10 ply tires onit.).
I think that a learge part of the problem is the 20" wheels - these tires have very little sidewall height - I guess that is called "aspect".
What is the lowest air pressure that I should run in these tires?
If I decide to swap these for 16's,what should I be concerned about?

 

[QuickSilver]

The wheelbase is likely too short to provide a comfortable ride with 20" wheels. Given your situation, I think the switch to 16" wheels is a good idea. The swap will probably require a speedometer re-calibration, which should be easy enough for most competent tire and wheel shops... although a Jeep dealer would be your safest bet. I think it might serve you well to also check out 17" wheels. 16's sound a bit on the small side.

I don't know how the switch will affect TPMS if you have it, and I'm not completely sure, but you might have to downsize your rotors as well.

 

[tjkj2002]

I'm an old geezer who has had a lot of health problems in the last 2 years - broken back,broken leg,2 torn rotator cuffs among other things.
before I had these problems,my personal vehicle was a Ford F350 diesel 4X4
truck,with a 6 speed manual ******.
I decided I needed something easier to get in and out of,with an automatic
transmission so I bought a new Jeep Liberty last fall - it's a Jet Limited
and has the 20" wheels.
This Liberty is the roughest riding vehicle that I've ever owned - way rougher
than the Ford 1 -ton diesel (and it has 10 ply tires onit.).
I think that a learge part of the problem is the 20" wheels - these tires have very little sidewall height - I guess that is called "aspect".
What is the lowest air pressure that I should run in these tires?
If I decide to swap these for 16's,what should I be concerned about?

Scan your local craigslist and junkyards for stock 16" KK wheels/tires and bolt them on.There will be zero issues with bolting on stock 16" KK wheels on your KK that came with 20" rims.Never go below the tire pressure listed in your door jam for daily driving on road.

 

[Katmandu]

If I decide to swap these for 16's,what should I be concerned about?

What size/make/model tires do you have ? Tires make a HUGE difference.

Personally, I wouldn't go to 16s.

Our 2012 Liberty Latittude has 18's on it and it handles like a big, fat, squishy marshmallow! It does ride very, very smooth on flat, straight roads, but in turns it's God awful! It only has 6,800 miles on it. Maybe the suspension is different from the Limited to the Latittude. ?? I doubt it is though.

I would swap wheels/tires with you if you weren't so far away.

Anyways, check out this site for used wheels/tires... Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

 

[tjkj2002]

What size/make/model tires do you have ? Tires make a HUGE difference.

Personally, I wouldn't go to 16s.

Our 2012 Liberty Latittude has 18's on it and it handles like a big, fat, squishy marshmallow! It does ride very, very smooth on flat, straight roads, but in turns it's God awful! It only has 6,800 miles on it. Maybe the suspension is different from the Limited to the Latittude. ?? I doubt it is though.

I would swap wheels/tires with you if you weren't so far away.

Anyways, check out this site for used wheels/tires... Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

I run 35" tires on either a 16" rims(daily driver tires,35psi) or 15" rims(offroad tires10-27psi) so that is 9"-10" of sidewall and they feel better then the stock sized wheels/tires with 5" of sidewall.

Get away from the P-metric tires and you will have a much better felling ride even on a 15" rim and higher sidewall.