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If it were mine, I would not go with a 16" WHEEL (a rim is what's coupled with backboard to make a basketball goal).
16" truck wheels are going the same route as the 16.5" wheels you have now. There are more tire sizes available for a 17" truck wheel these days and prices can be less expensive as it become the base model wheel size for almost all manufacturers. By the looks of your tires, you don't purchase them often so you may be money ahead getting a set of 17" wheels and tires now so next time you only have to get tires and not another set of wheels.
I'm unsure of the exact year but Dodge replaced their 16" OEM wheels with identical 17" wheels probably around the '98.5 24V change. If you're looking to go OEM, that's an option and those wheels should be readily available at used wheels vendors all over.
A 35" tire is a 35" tire no matter what diameter wheel it's made for. You start to get limited on tire width vs wheel width when the sidewall gets smaller as the wheel gets bigger. Essentially, when the wheel is narrower than the tire (i.e. 6.5" wheel, 12.5" tire), the sidewall makes up the difference. The more sidewall the easier it is with less sidewall stress as the angle from the tread to the bead is less. When the wheel is a bigger diameter, the sidewall becomes shorter to maintain the overall diameter of the tire making the angle of the sidewall from the tread to the wheel bead steeper. More stress is placed on the sidewalls when cornering and increases the chance of early fatigue or blow out. It's why tires will have a wider wheel requirement the larger the wheel diameter gets. (i.e. 35/12.50R16 may be ok for a 6.5" wheel but a 35/12.50R20 may have an 8" wheel width requirement)
Metric tire sizes go like this (I'll use your OEM size as reference):
Tire size: 245/75R16 E
245 = tread width in millimeters
75 = tire sidewall height as a percentage of the width (i.e. 75% of 245mm or 183.75mm) This is known as aspect ratio.
R16 = Radial tire made for a 16" wheel
E = load range
To change the diameter of a metric tire while maintaining the width, you get a different aspect ratio tire (i.e. 65 would be a shorter tire, 85 would be a taller tire)
Here's an awesome tire sizing tool that's really simple to use to calculate, compare and visualize tire sizes:
Tire Size Calculator
The website also has a bunch of other great tools for figuring out all kinds of wheel and tire things.
16" truck wheels are going the same route as the 16.5" wheels you have now. There are more tire sizes available for a 17" truck wheel these days and prices can be less expensive as it become the base model wheel size for almost all manufacturers. By the looks of your tires, you don't purchase them often so you may be money ahead getting a set of 17" wheels and tires now so next time you only have to get tires and not another set of wheels.
I'm unsure of the exact year but Dodge replaced their 16" OEM wheels with identical 17" wheels probably around the '98.5 24V change. If you're looking to go OEM, that's an option and those wheels should be readily available at used wheels vendors all over.
A 35" tire is a 35" tire no matter what diameter wheel it's made for. You start to get limited on tire width vs wheel width when the sidewall gets smaller as the wheel gets bigger. Essentially, when the wheel is narrower than the tire (i.e. 6.5" wheel, 12.5" tire), the sidewall makes up the difference. The more sidewall the easier it is with less sidewall stress as the angle from the tread to the bead is less. When the wheel is a bigger diameter, the sidewall becomes shorter to maintain the overall diameter of the tire making the angle of the sidewall from the tread to the wheel bead steeper. More stress is placed on the sidewalls when cornering and increases the chance of early fatigue or blow out. It's why tires will have a wider wheel requirement the larger the wheel diameter gets. (i.e. 35/12.50R16 may be ok for a 6.5" wheel but a 35/12.50R20 may have an 8" wheel width requirement)
Metric tire sizes go like this (I'll use your OEM size as reference):
Tire size: 245/75R16 E
245 = tread width in millimeters
75 = tire sidewall height as a percentage of the width (i.e. 75% of 245mm or 183.75mm) This is known as aspect ratio.
R16 = Radial tire made for a 16" wheel
E = load range
To change the diameter of a metric tire while maintaining the width, you get a different aspect ratio tire (i.e. 65 would be a shorter tire, 85 would be a taller tire)
Here's an awesome tire sizing tool that's really simple to use to calculate, compare and visualize tire sizes:
Tire Size Calculator
The website also has a bunch of other great tools for figuring out all kinds of wheel and tire things.
