Why the 20″ All-Terrain Is the Best Wheel Pick for Your Rivian R2
If you’re spec’ing out a Launch Edition Performance R2, the 20″ All-Terrain upgrade is worth the extra cost for one boring but very real reason. Tire availability.
The 21″ All-Season that comes standard on LE Performance wears a 255/55R21. That’s a size that, right now, basically means one tire. The Pirelli Scorpion MS. Most tire retailers don’t even have it listed on their sites yet, which means when it’s time to replace them, your options are wait, pay whatever Rivian is charging, or hope the market catches up.
R1 owners have already lived through a version of this. The 21″ Aero wheel on the R1T and R1S launched in a similar spot, and it took a few years before real aftermarket options started showing up in that size. People who bought into that wheel early were basically locked in to Rivian’s supply until the tire world caught up. No reason to assume the R2’s 255/55R21 situation will move any faster.
The 20″ All-Terrain runs 255/60R20, and that’s a completely different story. It’s a common size with a real aftermarket behind it, so you’re not stuck waiting for the industry to come around.
The Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 is probably the easiest one to point at. Plenty of R1 owners have been running them with solid efficiency and reasonable replacement cost, and they’re already sitting in 255/60R20. If you’d rather trade a little range for actual capability, the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3 is also available in that size and comes with a 3PMS rating for winter traction.
Now the honest part. There is a range tradeoff. Per Rivian, the 21″ All-Season is rated at 330 miles of EPA estimated range, and the 20″ All-Terrain drops that to 307. So you’re giving up 23 miles to go with the shorter, stickier setup. That’s not nothing, but it’s also not the kind of gap that changes how you use the vehicle day to day, especially if most of your driving is the usual commute and errand mix where you’re nowhere near the edge of the battery anyway.
That’s the part people underestimate when they’re configuring. The sticker price of the wheel upgrade is one cost. The cost of living with a tire size nobody stocks is a different one, and it shows up later when you need a set and suddenly you’re making a lot more phone calls than you planned on.
There’s also the sidewall thing. The 20″ AT has more of it, and on a vehicle the R2’s size that generally translates to a calmer ride over rough pavement and more confidence on the occasional dirt road. Not the main reason to choose it, but not nothing either.
I’ll be keeping the RivianTrackr Tire Guide updated as more tires become available in both sizes, so if you’re trying to figure out what’ll actually fit your R2 down the road, that’s the place to check. The 255/55R21 column will fill in eventually. The 255/60R20 column is already a lot more interesting.
If you’re the kind of person who’s going to swap wheels after delivery anyway, none of this really matters and the 21s are fine. For everyone else ordering a Launch Edition and keeping what they got, the 20″ All-Terrain is the pick that ages better. Rivian will probably get the 255/55R21 situation sorted out eventually, but the R1 Aero is proof that eventually can mean a while.
Perelli wear characteristics and EVs don’t mix , change my mind. Falken Wild peak AT4s on my gen1 quad have been a phenomenal update from the OE scorpion AT. I’m guessing they are keeping Perelli to keep out the door pricing down as much as possible.
Pirelli is a hard no for me. Five sets of tires resulting in six belt separations on four different vehicles over 30 years.. I’m out permanently.
I’m looking forward to real life stats on the efficiency / range hit from KO3s on the R2. Thanks
I have over 32K on my pirelli 21’s and they have been great. Just inspected and they have another 5k on them.
Jose any idea the size of the tire for the 19” rim? That design looks like a fraternal twin to the OG R1 20” rim
They are all 32″ diameter tires so the 19″ wheel size is 255/65R19
Do you have any info on the R2 spare tire, if any? That would also be a decision point to make, as the R1 21″ spares were delayed quite a long time as well (rim and tire).
It’ll be available via the Gear Shop for $755
It’s really sad to see a company claim they’re for the environment but now go the extra mile, or at least offer it to consumers. Why no 20” wheel option on AS tires? Most certainly would get more range than the 21” wheels on AS tires. We know 20” wheels fit since they’re already offered. What a shame.
Is there any way to get the 20’s and an All Season tire to recoup some of the range loss?
You would have to grab a set of all-season tires but you totally can.
What’s recommended to get the range back close to 330?
Stupid question: won’t the 20″ AT have more road noise than the 21″ AS?
It most definitely will
Horrible advice. 275/50/r21 is already very commonly available, is a .6% difference in circumference and offers a wider tread patch, helping wear on a very heavy vehicle without compromising ride quality, and due to choice options very likely increasing overall comfort and performance.
Why do people refuse to do math before offering advice up disguised as “news”
Well Scott, if you actually read my article you know that’s not correct. The 21” R2 tire size is 255/55R21
I agree with Jose’s advice.
As an R1T owner who wanted the longest range option four years ago, I went with 21″ wheels. I didn’t realize that four new OEM tires would cost me $2,200 due to the lack of options two years later.
Because Rivian chose once again to make the longest range spec using custom sized All Seasons instead of giving them the choice of 20″ All Terrain or All Seasons – they are putting money in Pirelli’s pockets by taking it from their own customers.
So for the eco-minded EV buyer, bizarrely, the right move is to buy the car with 20″ wheels, sell the tires, and then replace them with All Seasons. Just what ever new owner wants – a Facebook Marketplace ad and a trip to the tire shop.
Jose, I can see why you’d be defensive, but it also seems like you didn’t read their comment. They are suggesting using a slightly different tire size than OEM to get more options.
A better critique would be that the extra 2cm of width could cause fender rubbing in the front when turning even if the tire is 0.2” shorter than the OEM tire size.
Also, do we know the 21” wheel width? A 275 can fit on a 7.5” wheel but it’s designed more for an 8.5”
I’m not sure you read my article. I’m not defensive, the person above just posted the incorrect tire size for R2. I can’t assume anything bigger will fit without rubbing or suspension modifications.
Okay I appreciate your content and know you’re not trolling, but seriously what in Scott’s comment or mine makes you think we didn’t read the article?
I can say that you doubling down on “the person above just posted the incorrect tire size for R2” makes me think you aren’t reading the comments because then you wood see that offering up a slightly different tire size from the R2 spec was the entire point. They know it’s not the spec tire size for the R2.
By changing to a size .2” smaller and 2cm wider there are a lot more tire options available. It’s a valid point and saying that might cause rubbing out suspension issues is a valid criticism. In contrast, declaring that they didn’t read the article is defensive and misses the topic.
Anyways, thanks for the article and all your content. You’ve helped me nail down my R2 config to CC, CC, 20”AT.
Thanks for this information, I now have decisions to make. In all Honesty I really like the Standard LE 21″ performance rims the most. Initially it wasn’t even a decision for me but it never occurred to me that 255/55R/21 is an uncommon tire size. I just went to TireRack and as the article stated it was only one selection… The OE Pirelli Scorpion MS for a whopping $1769…
If we go with the 20” AT then eventually switch to AS tires, is there an option in the settings to account for the (hopefully) increased range?
Will the 20″ AT tire and rim option be part of an off-road package or available as a stand alone option?
It’ll be a stand-alone upgrade.
I know I’m an edge case, but we have a cabin we drive to regularly that is 335 miles door to door from our house, so those few miles do end up mattering to us, even if in reality we’d have to stop regardless since I’ve yet to see the publisher range of the R1 be true for that drive, but it’s the difference between a single short stop for a quick top up vs a longer stop. Granted, part of our pain is also charging infrastructure, as the closest fast charger to our cabin is 90 miles away, so for a weekend trip we’re having to factor in range to arrive, how much range we can recover plugged in to a slow charger at our cabin over the weekend, and is that enough to make it the 90 miles back to the fast charger on the way home…