max tire 98 xj

Can anyone tell me the largest tire I can put on my stock 98 xj? I just bought it last week and I intend on putting a lift on it also, any suggestions. It is a daily driver so I don't want a huge lift. Prefer one that would work with the tires that I get.

Ive seen a guy that runs 31's on his stock rig not sure or not if he did any fender trimming but i dont think so...but then again you think he would of had to. But any ways id just get the lift first then Put some shoes on your xj if its a money thing just get a 2" BB.

Welcome to the forums.

on your stock 98 235/75/15s will be the "best" fit... and will give no problems with rubbing the flares and lower control arms.... 30x9.50x15 will fit "ok".. depending on how tired your stock springs are..expect a lil soft rubbing in the rear when you compress the springs and a lil LCA rubbing in the front.. still an acceptable fit but not without compormises.... give it time and someone will tell you you can run 31s with "no problems" but the 97 and newer XJs have less cleaance for bigger tires in stock form than the earlier ones... a 3.5" lift with 30s is a good combination so if you need new tires now you could probably get by with the 30s and not feel like you made a poor decision..


heres my 99 with an RE 3.5" add-a-leaf kit on 30s....

30's fit my 99 just fine with NO rubbing anywhere.

southerncjxj said:

Can anyone tell me the largest tire I can put on my stock 98 xj? I just bought it last week and I intend on putting a lift on it also, any suggestions. It is a daily driver so I don't want a huge lift. Prefer one that would work with the tires that I get.

Click to expand...

I'm running 255/70/16's (30x10.00) on my stock '01 rims with no lift. They "fit" but I've had to trim the rear fenders twice, and they still hit directly above the tire with Large bumps. I do hit the LCA's, less so after switching to tubular LCA's. The front hasn't hit anything else, but it also hasn't seen any trail time yet! The rear end is hangin way low with BP bumper out back. We're planning a 3 inch lift in the near future, and I expect the rubbing problems to go away. If I wasn't planning a lift, I would have gone with a smaller tire. Problem was, the tires wore out before I could get to the lift!
HTH

I have a 98 XJ and the largest tires I could run, with Up-country springs, was 30x9.50x15. I had zero problems running this while on or off-road.

I did try putting 31x10.50x15 on my rig a week before I got my lift parts (I was overeager) and ended up trimming the plastic finder flares just to drive it. I had to take off the lower valance(sp?) in the front and trim the front/rear fenders(plastic) to make it work on road. I hit a couple of pot holes and knocked my rear flairs off 2 times before I did the plastic trimming. That being said, I didn't even try taking it off-roading until after the lift

If you look at this link you can see some pics of the 31's on with just the Up-country springs. They are labeled, "Before Lift". The "After Lift" is when I put on my RE 4.5" Superflex kit.



Later,
Rough

I put 30x9.50x15 bfg at's on my 89' XJ years ago and then jumped up to 3" lift and 31" tires and it cleared quite a bit better. If you can afford a 3" lift, then I would suggest 31x10.50x15 tires if you were willing to get 30's at least with 31's you would have a tire that you could still run with up to a 4-1/2" lift or so. The difference in price between a 30 & 31" tire is very small so but if you don't want to lift your jeep and cut it up to fit bigger tires than a 30" tire should be your limit.

Thanks for all of our inputs. I just got my 30" bfg's today.

Chip

30 BFG ATA rubbed on my 98 XJ. Front only. Rear was fine. It bothered the crud out of me. I put in a 2" Budget Boost (BB), and am very happy with it.

A good trick was posted in JP magazine. You can take the stock coils off of a Grand Cherokee, and get an extra 1/2 inch. This could help with the rubbing, the spacers are cheaper,

my 97 up country runs 31s with minor rubbing, just trim the front bumper end on the inside, and roll the quarter seam at the rear. otherwise no problems, i dont think you could run them without the uc springs

Thanks guys I bought my 30" bfg's last week and they work great, no rubbing. Now for my 4.5 lift any sugg?

33" BFG T/A KO's. If you're running the 30's, you'll understand.