backspacing ? for new wheels/tires

Howdy folks, I bought 15X8 American Racing wheels 5 spoke, called Stick, silver painted spokes, polished lip. Tires are Pro Comp 30X9.5. This is my wifes new (to her) 97XJ, we had a two inch budget lift installed last week.
I'm suppose to have them installed today, but according to the American Racing website the backspacing is 3.75. Shouldn't it be closer to 4.5? I don't want the tires and wheels to sit out further than the stock fender flares.
We went to the tire store just to look, hadn't really planned on buying so quick, now I'm having second thoughts and wonder if I should cancel the order. Thanks for any feedback.
Dan, Lansing, MI

That was a waste of time. The 15X8 American Racing front wheel stuck out at least an inch if not further past the stock fender flare, they suggested the 15X7, but the backspacing was the same 3.75, so I figured why bother. Then I ran to Discount Tire, found some nice wheels, 15X7, they installed a front wheel, same problem the wheel was past the plastic stock flare. With so many wheels available, it's hard to believe no one makes stock sized replacements.

Stock 15x7 rims have 5.25" backspacing. I still run Jeep rims, but from all the tire/wheel posts I've seen on here over several years, it appears that in fact nobody makes an aftermarket rim with that much backspacing. The best you're likely to find is maybe 4-1/2" and you'll probably have to search long and hard to find that.

If you need 8" rims, your best bet is probably a set of TJ "Canyon" rims. Jeep used the Canyon design on both the ZJ and TJ -- the ZJ version is 15x7, but the TJ version is 15x8. Axles are the same ones used in the XJ, so I expect the backspacing will be the same also.

The best wheels I've found so far with the greatest backspacing (4 3/8 inch) are made by AT Italia, called 5 Razze, 15X7. They're a silver painted 5 spoke style. Tires will be Michelin LTX M/S, 30X9.5.
I orginally located the wheels through the Tirerack.com site, but decided to go through one of my local tire stores. Tirerack told me if I had a problem with a wheel, I'd have to ship it back to them, if I had a problem tires, they send me to a local store that sells that brand. I don't care for that idea, lot of places have the attitude if you didn't buy them you can just go back to where you bought them.

I went with the 3.75" backspacing on my '97 XJ. The reason I made that choice was that I do a lot of wheeling and I wanted to make sure that I had no rubbing on the LCA's. They do stick out past the flares about an inch (so I had to trim the bumperguards a little to eliminate some rub there), but still stuff nicely at full stuff with no rubbing whatsoever. Plus it looks a lot more agressive with the wider stance it has now.

Now, the other contributing factor to the backspacing decision that I made is that in Viginia, there is no law that says your wheels have to be in the wheel wells. In a lot of states you will get pulled and cited for it.

American Racing does make a Series 325 Stics 5 in a 15" X 7" wheel with 5.75" of BS but that might be too much.

If you can get your hands on a set of the Canyon's do it...I got 'em on my TJ they are sharp looking and have 5.25" of BS, but I thought they were 15" x 7" on the TJ as well. I could be wrong about that though....

Good Luck!

'Canyon' wheels from a TJ are 15x8. ZJ's use a very similar wheel, not sure if it is called a 'Canyon', but it is 15x7. The 15x7 version has the Jeep standard 5.25" of backspacing, but the 15x8 Canyon has 5.5" of backspacing.
Currently I'm using 15x8 Canyons with Spidertrax wheel spacers(1.25") giving an overall 4.25" of backspacing. Works well with the 11.50"-12.50" wide tires.

Here's what the ZJ 15x7 Canyon's look like that are on mine - http://members.aol.com/realoldjeep/xj86.jpg
There are buttloads of them on Ebay all the time, there was even one guy that sells brand new repro ones. Plan on around $200 - $300 for a nice used set on Ebay. Unless you are planning on going to a bigger tire like a 33x12.50 in the future the 7" rims will do just fine.
HTH,
Mike B.

American Racing

Makes a black steelie 767 that is a 15x8 with 4.75" of backspacing thats what Im using and having no problems with them at all and Im running 31x10.50 tires....Not only are they built for xjs but the price is right too like 35-39 a wheel(gotta love that)...
good luck
themud

I bought some wheels off Ebay from a vendor who supplied original wheels for the Jeep Cherokee, 99 to 2001. Not sure if they are still producing them or if they are just trying to get rid of their inventory. They are a painted 5 spoke style. They came in two finishes, dark gray and bright silver, I bought the bright silver ones.
I went with 30X9 1/2 Michelin LXT Mud and Snow. I already had a 2 inch budget lift installed on it, but I also ended up replacing the rear springs with new leafs, has a slight rake to it. This is my wife's XJ, she didn't want somthing that looked like a soccer mommy vehicle. It turned out great.