You'll be glad to know that putting 22" inch wheels on a Range Rover is certainly possible and it'll look fantastic - though if you own one it'll be the worst decision you ever make as I happened to find out the hard way. Admittedly 22" wheels look great, at least I think so anyway. It can be really tempting to put a set on in an effort to improve the looks of your Range Rover. I've owned various cars throughout my life, I think about 5 in total including this one (the Rangey). My previous car, a Civic Sport, had fairly low profile tyres and I never had any issues with that. I always assumed that low profile tyres were designed to make them as comfortable as a normal sized tyre and that's why they were so much more expensive, but unfortunately they are not. The full diameter of your wheel is measured by the size of the wheel + the size of the tyre. Car's are restricted to what size they can cater for because if the wheel is too large it will rub on the arches, something you really don't want.
Range Rovers can most certainly cater for a 22" wheel, however in order for them to do so the tyres must have a really low profile, I know mine are a 30" profile which is very low. The problem with this is that they then had a very small sidewall so not as much shock is absorbed in the tyre as it would be on a bigger size, and instead it's transferred through the wheel. So what's the problem with 22" wheels?As we've just mentioned because the profile of the tyre is so much less it means that the wheel is absorbing more of the impact from the road. Range Rover's are very heavy cars which already means that the impact is much greater when a bump is hit. This causes all sorts of problems, from more minor things such as more easily affecting your tracking to bigger problems like cracking your alloys. Unfortunately for Range Rover's on 22" wheels, cracking is very common indeed. In under one year my car gained 11 cracks over the 4 wheels. Cracks can go unnoticed for a period of time, however eventually the tyre will start going down as the air manages to escape.
Then you run into even more problems. Since the tyre pressure has dropped, further cracks become easier to obtain & the sidewalls of the tyres will begin to crack too due to the stress applied to them from the weight of the car combined with them being under pressured. Can you fix a cracked wheel?You can fix a cracked a wheel, but I wouldn't recommend it and certainly not on a car of this size/weight. Wheels can be welded by a specialist, many who claim that the wheel will actually be stronger than ever before due to the weld being applied but I can confirm it won't be because of two things:I've had a wheel welded only to find a couple of months down the line the crack is opening up again. This wheel wasn't welded badly, it was taken to one of the best in the country who I won't mention because he did a fantastic job, but unfortunately Range Rover wheels are not designed to be welded.When alloy wheels are made they are heated up and they cooled down in a special way to give them their strength.
When you weld a wheel you are re-applying heat back into the wheel which breaks down the overall structural integrity. Therefore a welded wheel will never be as strong as a new wheel. To have this done properly by a specialist it will probably cost around £60 to £80, but it can be a right faff on because not many wheel welding shops will take the tyres off for you. You'll probably have to jack the car up, take the wheel off, take it to a tyre shop to remove the shop, take it to be welded then finally take it back to the tyre shop to get the tyre put back on and put it back on your car. It's a right mess on, believe me. Not only is it a mess on but it'll bump the cost up too by about £20. So what should you do?If you own a Range Rover with 22" then you should expect to buy new wheels each time you go to get your tyres changed. No matter how careful you are it's inevitable that you're going to hit something in the road that will cause them to crack. Hitting a pothole will be guaranteed to crack them, climbing up a curb too quickly could do the job or hitting a speed bump too fast could be the cause.
Regardless, do you really want to be the owner of a Range Rover that has to crawl over speed bumps? Not only that, as I'm quite sure you are aware 22" alloys are ruddy expensive and you're talking at least £800 for a decent set. Put that together with tyres, albeit budget ones at £400 that's £1200 a year you're going to have to spend just to have 22" wheels on your car and make it totally impractical. The moral of the story.22" alloys may look fantastic but they are just totally impractical and will burn a hole in your wallet. Most Range Rover's come standard with 18" or 19" alloys which are big enough anyway and will retain your comfort. If you don't like to look of them why not just opt for a different style in this size? If you really must go bigger, then I'd highly recommend sticking to a maximum of 20". You could probably just about get away with it with a little bit of care. At the end of the day buying a car like this you really shouldn't be compromising the ride quality as that's what it's all about.
In the words of Tyga in his song Rack City: "Too much rim make the ride too hard"Are your tires starting to show hairline cracks on the sidewall? You’re probably wondering if those cracks are normal, and what you should do when you see them. Your tires have a tough job. In addition to bearing the weight of your vehicle and rolling hundreds of times a day to get you places, tires are exposed to some pretty harsh conditions and elements—sunlight, heat, cold, chemicals and corrosive brake dust to name a few. Given all that, it’s not surprising that over time your rubber’s elasticity weakens, making way for the appearance of surface cracks. Surface cracks, which can look like dried mud close up, are sometimes called ‘weather checking’ or ‘weather cracking’ because exposure to the elements is the most common cause of these tiny cracks. Direct sunlight is the biggest offender. Exposure to sunlight as well as chemicals such as gas can really accelerate tire cracking, often found on the sidewalls or on the part of your tread groove that touches the road.
Today’s rubber compounds actually contain anti-aging properties that help stand up to the elements and extend the life of your tire. But over time, surface cracks are just the result of a tire doing its job: constantly rolling and stopping the face of summer’s heat and/or winter’s cold. It’s tough to say exactly when it’s normal for surface cracks to appear since the tire model, storage, use and the elements where you live will all make a difference. If you or a neighbour has a show car or a motorhome, you know it’s important to shield your trailer tires from the elements. Covering your tires, or, better yet, keeping the vehicle in the garage is the best way to protect those tires from the sun. At the same, time, though, you’ll need to try and get these vehicles out on the road as often as you can in season because rolling those tires gets those anti-aging properties in the rubber working. For everyday passenger vehicles, try to park your vehicle in a garage or somewhere they’ll be out of direct sunlight if you can and practice good tire maintenance.