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Rackin the brain on wheels and tires

N

Nuthinfancy

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Michigan
Ok so I have stock 15x7 wheels on my jeep. Im upgrading to 15x10 to fit my new 32x11.5x15 tires. Im confused about backspacing and offset, I havent a clue in the world what the hell that stuff is all about. I dont understand the writeups on it very well. I just want to know what backspacing is I need to keep everything correct. I also have a 5 lugs, what is the bolt pattern? That also doesnt make sense to me. I want my tires to stick out a little bit but not much, if that matters.
 
for a 11.5 tire your gonna want 8" wide wheels not 10"
 
Well lets see. I want 32x11.5x15 Maxxis Bighorns. The chart says that it will fit dpwn to a 9" rim. So I guess the minimum would have to be 15x9 for me. I dont want to have to trim, I dont want my tires to rub against leaf springs and what have you.
 
Last edited:
Most people run 12.5" tires on 8" rims with 4" of back spacing. The same rims will work with the 11.5" tires. JIM.
 
Nuthinfancy said:
yea well unfortuantly the width range is 9.
Click to expand...

That's just the recommend size. Look around here, I'll bet 85% of the people running 12.5" tires are running on an 8" rim. It will be fine. JIM.
 
With 11.5's you want 15x8's
 
Nuthinfancy said:
yea well unfortuantly the width range is 9.
Click to expand...

It's just something an engineer set around and did some calculations and came up w/ 9" minimum was best.... Engineers dont know anything anyway they just pretend to...

No really, a 32x11.5x15 on a 15x10 rim will look absolutely horrible. If you ever decide to go offroad you will not be able to air it down. I ran 13.50's on 8" rims and now 12.50's on 8" rims... No problems at all.

But dont listen to us... go ahead and buy 10" rims than come back and let us know how bad it looks and how you wish you had listened....
 
ROBZ95Xj said:
for a 11.5 tire your gonna want 8" wide wheels not 10"
Click to expand...

I agree, 10" is too wide. You'll be knockin' beads off left and right.
 
I ran both 32x11.5 and 33x12.5 MTRs on 15x8 steelies with 0 problems for several years. Unless your Jeep will never leave the pavement, skip the 15x10s and do it right.

Now I have 34x10.5s on stock 15x7s. Wider isn't always better on rim size, in fact it is usually the opposite in terms of holding the bead at low air pressures.
 
Nuthinfancy said:
OK thanks guys, I got it now. My stock wheels are actually 15x8, so at least I dont have to change anything!
Click to expand...

you will if you don't want them to rub on things like the control arms and leaf springs.
stock wheels have 5.25" of backspace, you need 4 or 3.75" to clear the suspension components with that wide of a tire.
 
87manche said:
you will if you don't want them to rub on things like the control arms and leaf springs.
stock wheels have 5.25" of backspace, you need 4 or 3.75" to clear the suspension components with that wide of a tire.
Click to expand...

The truth hurts and in this case its hurting my wallet. Great fun
 
If you are worried about spending to much money sell your jeep and buy a geo.
 
Just for your judgment. Here is my 33x12.50R15s on 15x10" rims with 3.75 backspacing.(Posing for the shot...) Personally I don't like my 10 inch rims and I'm in the middle of welding up some beadlocks - 15x8s to stick some 34x11.50R15 TSLs on.

S5300001.jpg
 
+1 more on (one moron? you decide) 33x12.50s on 15x8s... I can't remember my backspacing...3.75-4.25" or so...


Same people who would tell you that 9" is the narrowest rim you can run on a 11.50 tire would tell you that your aired down tires were "underinflated."

Edit, just to give you an idea of how drastically backspacing can change things, my 31x10.50s used to rub just before full lock on my lower control arms. 33x12.50s don't rub at all on my new wheels, lock to lock.
 
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