Ford Ranger Tyres in Blacktown: 13 Sizes, and Why 18s Cost Double

The Ranger is the most complicated vehicle on this list for tyres, and it is not close. We have fitted thirteen different tyre sizes to Rangers in the last few years.

No other vehicle we service comes near that. So the single most useful thing this page can tell you is: do not assume another Ranger's tyres will fit yours.

1. Your Ranger and your mate's Ranger probably take different tyres

Thirteen sizes across one model happens because the Ranger is sold across a huge range: cab chassis workhorses, XLT dual cabs, Wildtraks, Raptors, plus a large aftermarket of lifts and bigger wheels.

2. What Ford put on it

We pulled the factory specification for a current Ranger against the vehicle register. A 2023 PY MY24 Wildtrak comes back as 255/65 R18 on an 18x7.5 rim.

3. The 17-inch versus 18-inch question, and what it costs you

This is the section worth reading before you buy your next Ranger, not just your next tyres.

A Ranger on 17-inch wheels and a Ranger on 18-inch wheels have very different tyre bills, and the gap is permanent.

Nobody mentions this when you tick the box for the bigger wheels. If you are choosing between grades on a new Ranger, it belongs in the sum.

One genuine upside of the 18-inch size: because Goodyear is one of only two brands making it, Goodyear is the cheapest option rather than the step-up. That is unusual and it is worth knowing.

4. The load rating question, because this is a ute

LT means Light Truck. It is a stronger casing, usually with a ply rating like 10PR, built to carry weight and take pressure. C means Commercial, reinforced but not as heavy-duty as LT.

If your placard specifies LT or C, a standard passenger tyre in the same size is not a substitute. It fits, it looks right, it is cheaper, and it is not rated for what you will ask of it. On a ute that tows or carries, that is a real problem rather than a technical one.

The reverse matters too. If your Ranger never carries anything and never leaves the bitumen, an LT all-terrain is heavier, harder, noisier and thirstier than you need. Tell us how you use it and we will fit for that, not for the toughest option on the shelf.

Two pressures, not one. The placard gives a laden and an unladen figure and they are often 10 to 15 psi apart. Running laden pressures on an empty ute wears the centre of the tyre out and gives you a hard ride and less grip. Set them for how it is loaded that week.

5. What we actually see on Rangers

We asked our own fitters, and the Ranger came back with the two patterns you would expect on a working ute, plus one that tells you something is wrong underneath.

Centre strip worn. The middle of the tread gone while the shoulders still have rubber. That is over-inflation, and on a ute it almost always means the tyres are set for a load the vehicle is not carrying. Our fitters also confirmed they see rear tyres scrubbed out from running unladen at load pressures, which is the same fault showing up a different way.

Feathering. Run your hand across the tread one way and it feels smooth, run it back the other way and it catches on every block. That is a saw-tooth edge on the tread blocks and it is a steering geometry fault, usually toe. You will often hear it before you see it, as a hum or a growl that changes with speed and that people mistake for a wheel bearing.

Feathering does not fix itself and it will not wear out evenly. It wants an alignment.

Asked what Ranger owners get wrong, the answer was different brands or tread patterns fitted across the vehicle, four tyres that do not match, usually bought two at a time over a few years from wherever was cheapest.

And on punctures

A nail in the middle of the tread can usually be repaired. A sidewall or shoulder puncture cannot.

This is worth more on a Ranger than on almost anything else, and for a blunt reason: at 18-inch prices, a repairable tyre you wrote off is a four-hundred-dollar mistake. Have someone look before you assume. The flip side is that a repair on a ute that tows gets judged more strictly than one on a car, because the casing is working harder, so do not assume the other way either.

6. How often, and how far

Count kilometres first, not years

Tyres wear by distance, not time, and on a ute by load too. Two Rangers that both replaced a set four years apart could be 25,000km and 90,000km apart, and one could have spent that time carrying a tonne.

So how long is that for you?

Across the Fords we service a full set covers around 41,000km, and our fitters independently put a Ranger at about 40,000km. Those two figures landing within a thousand kilometres of each other is the best corroboration we have on this page.

The workshop average is about 13,000km a year, and a working ute will be well above it.

If it is a work ute, budget on the bottom two rows. At 18-inch prices, that is a significant recurring cost and worth planning rather than discovering.

An all-terrain tyre will generally not last as long as a highway tyre on the same vehicle. That is the trade for the grip and the tougher casing, and it is worth being clear-eyed about.

7. What Ranger tyres cost

Prices move, so treat these as a guide. All are fitted prices per tyre, including balancing and disposal.

Read that bottom row properly. On 255/65R18 there is no cheap option, and Goodyear is the least expensive of the six tyres made in the size. If that is your Ranger, a set is a $1,600-plus job and there is no version of it that is not.

We would rather tell you that here than have you find out at the counter.

FAQs

Same workshop. Same Blacktown corner. Since 1959.