Will 15" wheels fit on 2000 Dodge Ram 4x4? Can it be done without any grinding of the brake calipers? What wheel offset should be used? What is a good wheel to use? I have seen other Rams of same year with them on.  

I have no clue but I'd like to know too. I also love 15" wheels and HATE that every fullsize American truck built since about 2000 comes standard with 17" wheels now. I live in a "rust belt" area so almost all trucks used as daily drivers and over 10 years old are getting ready to die.

(I enjoy having tires that look like fat donuts!)

You would have to run a seriously sick offset to replace the stockers with a little 15".

I imagine it would have to be even less than 2" backspacing. This will be no fun on front end parts, steering parts, and your turning radius will suffer.

Stick with the proper sized rim and save some big headaches.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the input. It all helps me out. Thats what I was figuring when the local offroad shop wouldn't sale me 15'' wheels to replace the stock 16" wheels.  

why would you want to swap out the 17 inchers for little puny 15"s  

I can't answer for him but I can answer for myself. The main reason it disappoints me that new trucks come with 17" wheels and usually larger brakes that won't allow a 15" inch wheel is that the prices for an particular tire size seem to be much higher the larger the rim dia. the tire's meant to mount on. (ie. $110 for a 31x10.5-15 and $145-165 for a 265/75R-16 and they're almost the same overall size) I hear for the 17" tire sizes the prices are much higher.

Pretty much tires meant for a 15" wheel perform well enough already and do everything I want them to, plus have advantages over tires meant for say 17" rims. (ie. having a smaller wheel dia. usually reduces total wheel and tire combo weight, plus the extra sidewall can absorb shock and dissipate heat a little better) Lighter wheel and tire combo's are well known for improving some types of handling, make it easier to accelerate, plus overall lighter vehicle weight helps flotation.

Since the tires meant for 15's can do everything I want, is it understandable why I don't want to pay more to get the same overall tire size? (and I maybe odd, but I like the look of wide sidewalls, sort of a functional sense of style)

I woudl do it just basse don the fact that I think rims bigger than 16.5" look disgusting on any 4x4 truck. I hate the look of teh new Ram's with the 20's. Slam it and bling it if thats your thing, but for god's sakes, keep some sidewall on any rig that is going to see dirt! 

So why do some people here like 17" plus rims? I'm totally interested in hearing objective opinions on why other offroad enthusiasts don't like 16" or smaller wheels.

 I'm hoping the answer is not purely for style, but I can accept that if it is. I'd like to hear from real people instead of a magazine or tv show that's telling me the larger wheels are better and that I should blindly accept and embrace that notion.

I just don't like the "bling-bling" of big rims. If I am going to pay for big rubber, I want it to look like big rubber.  

I'm not asking why people like fatter sidewalls / no bling (I'm in that camp too) I was asking people's opinions on why they like 17" plus dia. wheels on an offroad truck.

Perhaps someone know's of an advantage for them offroading that I don't...

My dodge came factory with the 16 inchers. Its not the new body style, last year before they updated it. The price is the main reason for 15's. I think they look better too!  

The disadvantages to bling rims on dirt;

1 - Rims are closer to the rocks (less sidewall), so you might bust a spinner....lol

2- less tire carcass flex when aired down, (less sidewall again)

3- *** Bigger the rim, bigger the price tag for same diameter tire. (even tough you are buying less rubber......)

4- Tire selection, try to get some 18" boggers...even if you want 17's, they only come in 37x13x17 (that I have seen).

Re;Rims closer to the rocks (less sidewall); you might bust a spinner... lol

ROTFLMAO!

I'm annoyed that if I had even $50,000 to spend on a new fullsize truck they wouldn't either be interested or be able to sell me one that would let me install any of my favorite wheel and tire combos like 31x10.5-15, 33x10.5-15 or 33x12.5-15 since their front brake rotors are made a fraction of an inch to large in diameter for a 15" wheel. (And since I live in the rust belt, trucks that can fit 15" wheels are becoming scarce)

I know less flex sucks for most kinds of 4 wheeling. But I seriously would like to hear from 4x4 enthusiasts why they like the 17" and 20" rims on their trucks. Why else would all fullsize American truck manufacturers switch to 17" rims as their standard size (and smallest size) rim if at least some 4x4 enthusiasts liked them.

Plus I heard on the show Extreme 4x4 they were building up a Ranger for rockcrawling and for no seemingly particular reason (they didn't go into details) they chose to put 37" mud or crawling tires onto 20" rims. Those sizes wouldn't exist if there wasn't a market for them so that's why I'm asking...

The show had to use what the sponsor supplied them with, same as the mag does.

Rule number one, NEVER EVER rag on sponsors product, no matter how much you hate it. 

Most folks buying big 20's likely never see dirt, but will talk a good game about how there Neato Nittos got them through door handle deep mud.

So it's all about bling? (no fans of plus size rims for mud tires seem to be stepping up to the question)

The funniest thing about the 37's on 20" rims to me was that they were building their Ranger for dirt (like Baja style racing) and maybe crawling. All the tires I've seen for desert racing on the pro's trucks have some of the fattest looking tires around. I suppose the 20" rims wouldn't be a bad idea in soft mud, but that's not what they were building it for.