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Advice sought for wheel backspacing with my tire choice

Lustmord

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I have a 2018 JLU Rubicon that I plan to tweak a little for the kind of driving that we do.

We don’t do the serious rock crawling thing, instead using it to explore the southern California deserts and beyond.
Based on experience driving it over the last couple of years over varied terrain I’m going to lift it a little and add bigger tires to better overcome some of the obstacles we come across when trying to get places.

It’s on stock tires/wheels at the moment and I’m planning to upgrade to the Dynatrac EnduroSport 2” lift and 35” tires.

I know for 35” I should replace the stock 7.5 wheels with 8.5 or 9 wheels and with that in mind I’m looking at the Pro Comp 69 wheel, which I had on my previous vehicle (I go for function rather than looks)

For tires I’m thinking of sticking with BF Goodrich T/A KO2 but in 35”: LT315/70R17 C Rating
- I’m considering the E Rating for extra sidewall protection (?) but weight is a factor re the stock tailgate limit.

Another option is the Nitto Ridge Grapplers: T315/70R17 E Rating.

What I need help with is figuring out what kind of backspace and any other requirement I need for the wheels.
I’m going with the Dynatrac lift for the articulation so I want to avoid any rubbing and ideally get to keep the tires within the fenders rather than sticking out more.

Any pointers or input appreciated.

Also, while I’m here, thoughts on pros/cons of steel vs alloy wheels?

Thanks!


Jeep Wrangler JL Advice sought for wheel backspacing with my tire choice X4
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blnewt

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That Procomp is only available in a -6 offset, not a bad choice but you can go more conservative w/ the offset since you have the Rubicon and aren't planning real aggressive off-road action (and also want to avoid too much poke outside the fender). A 17x8.5 +10 to +20 should work pretty well. Even a bit more on the offset like the AEV wheels which run +25 have a pretty good following here w/ Rubicon owners,

As far as Steel vs alloys, alloys have a much larger selection so a lot more styles & sizes to choose from. But nothing at all wrong w/ steelies :)
 
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Lustmord

Lustmord

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Thanks for this @blnewt . I'm still getting my head around the whole backspace thing.
-so if I understand you properly I should be aiming for (hub-centric?) wheels that are +10-25 which would have the tires sticking out slightly and only minimally closer on the inside?
Options seem much more limited than minus offset, and most options seem to be 9".
Thanks for the AEV suggestion, looking at your note and their specs they make sense for my setup, shame they're so damn ugly though (smile)
 

blnewt

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Thanks for this @blnewt . I'm still getting my head around the whole backspace thing.
-so if I understand you properly I should be aiming for (hub-centric?) wheels that are +10-25 which would have the tires sticking out slightly and only minimally closer on the inside?
Options seem much more limited than minus offset, and most options seem to be 9".
Thanks for the AEV suggestion, looking at your note and their specs they make sense for my setup, shame they're so damn ugly though (smile)
You don't have to limit yourself to the AEVs or Hubcentric wheels, you can get adapter rings to get the hubcentric fit as well. You can also run 9" width.

Here's a good site for trying out different combos, you can use the stock Jeep Rubicon setup as your baseline (17x7.5 +44 running 285/70/17 tires).
https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/
Here's a quick search on tirerack.com for Jeep JL Rubicon for 17x8.5" wheels w/ offsets from +18 to +25 just for example
https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/res...el=Wrangler&autoYear=2019&autoModClar=Rubicon
 

ChattVol

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Thanks for this @blnewt . I'm still getting my head around the whole backspace thing.
-so if I understand you properly I should be aiming for (hub-centric?) wheels that are +10-25 which would have the tires sticking out slightly and only minimally closer on the inside?
Options seem much more limited than minus offset, and most options seem to be 9".
Thanks for the AEV suggestion, looking at your note and their specs they make sense for my setup, shame they're so damn ugly though (smile)
You definitely dont need e rated tires as they are designed for much heavier vehicles and will ride noticeably stiff on a lighter JLU and wont air down well. The 315/70/17 ko2 load c is a really nice choice for your stated needs. Bear in mind, Ford engineers selected the ko2 c load 315/70/17 to run on the 5500+ lb raptor. It's more than adequate for a wrangler and rides nicer than my d load Milestar Patagonias.

For wheels, I'd look at 17x8.5 or 17x9 +10 to +25 offset range. There are alot of options in that range. Hubcentric isnt needed...it's a non issue if you bolt on the wheels in a star pattern like you should. I've ran 6 different wheels with 3 being hubcentric...you cant tell a difference.(also dont waste $ on Hubcentric rings) I bet over half the people on here running aftermarket wheels aren't running hubcentric wheels.(71.5 bore size) This is a good resource for understanding offset/backspacing that helped me:
 
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I’m going to argue for hubcentric wheels. It’s anecdotal evidence for sure, but I’ve seen several heavy duty pickup trucks on aftermarket wheels loose front wheels (almost always the right front) due to all the lugs breaking off. One friend has had this happen twice on his Ram 2500. The common denominator was all of them where on non-hubcentric wheels. The theory is that the weight needs to rest on the hub and not the studs. It makes some sense to me and I went with hubcentric. As for offset, I’m running a +10 and my 35s stick out about 1.5 inches. If you go less offset, they will get farther out.
 

ChattVol

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I’m going to argue for hubcentric wheels. It’s anecdotal evidence for sure, but I’ve seen several heavy duty pickup trucks on aftermarket wheels loose front wheels (almost always the right front) due to all the lugs breaking off. One friend has had this happen twice on his Ram 2500. The common denominator was all of them where on non-hubcentric wheels. The theory is that the weight needs to rest on the hub and not the studs. It makes some sense to me and I went with hubcentric. As for offset, I’m running a +10 and my 35s stick out about 1.5 inches. If you go less offset, they will get farther out.
If lugcentric wheels were thought to be a problem in any capacity on wranglers, Discount Tire, Kmc, Method, Raceline and the majority of the other aftermarket wheel companies would be getting sued left and right. I'd go with aftermarket wheel MFG's engineering instead of your friend's RAM 2500 that had lugs break twice. There are many variables that could have caused his failure.
 

blnewt

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All things being equal I would go hubcentric, if you find a wheel that you really want I wouldn't cross it off the list just because it's not hubcentric, and for a little piece of mind I would get aluminum (not plastic) hubcentric adapters, this is kind of like "hubcentric light" :)
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