Towing and Tire/Wheel sizes, 20" or 22"

[jollyroger]

I'm trying to get some advice from the collective here. I'm sure I don't want to get the 21 inch wheels due to the weird size and that they will probably be really expensive to replace. Although we may go to some campgrounds, mostly I'm planning on pulling our boat to the local ramps. They are not too far away but it got me thinking about which wheel is better for towing?

It looks like the 22" still have enough meat on them to handle all but the most gnarly potholes, and the range hit is only 5%-10% instead of the 20" 10%-15%. But if you replace the 20" with a more street type tire, that had some level of low rolling resistance, I would think that you might get some of that efficiency back. We can't afford the Max pack so maximizing what I've got is where I'm going with this.

I normally don't really think about tires for towing, other than making sure I have good traction, so thinking about range and efficiency is new to me.

I did ask a couple of people at Rivian if one model of the 20" was more efficient than the other, and they pretty much said no.

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[Zoidz]

I think part of the consideration is the tongue weight/loaded weight. If it's a light utility trailerwith 150 lb tongue weight, 20 vs 22 is probably not much of a concern. Conversely, if I were towing at close to maximum tongue weight, I would go with 20". In fact, that's one of the reasons I ordered 20". I tow several equipment trailers that are 300-500 lb tongue weight and 5,000+ lbs total loaded weight.

Heavier tongue weight is going to cause more static compression and dynamic flex on the side wall of the tire. For good handling, you want to minimize sidewall flex so low profile is desirable. However, with a low profile tire, hitting a pothole with a fully loaded trailer increases the risk of blowout since the tire is already compressed and has even less flex room compared to normal. You'll probably have a rougher ride with low profile tires towing as well, although I have no experience towing with low profile tires.