[loufish]

For spending time in the desert, more sidewall is better so for me a 17" wheel is needed. There is no negitive having a 17" wheel for the street, so why not?

Doesn't mean that an 18" set-up won't work, just less sizes available...but there are more 18" sizes on the way...

Only one good reason to run an 18" set up off road...You have the wheels already and don't want to buy another set in 17" (just about eveybody has to watch their budget, right?)
I've seen several real nice looking desert set ups running the factory 18" SE/LE wheel with 305 BFG's A/T's...