Confirm or correct my research, please!

[rcadden]

I think I *finally* have a bead on what I want to do with my tires/wheels/suspension on my '21 Sahara Altitude, but I'd love for those more knowledgeable than me to review/confirm/correct.

Context: My Jeep is a daily driver, mostly highway. I get out to the local offroad park ~every other month. I've done some rock crawling, but tbh I think overlanding is more my style. I also live in Texas, so any big trip is going to require hours and hours of highway travel before I get to the fun stuff. Based on all of this, on-road performance is a higher priority than offroad capability.

Based on my previous trips to the offroad park, I know that I'd like a little more height (both axle clearance and overall body height), but really don't want more than 2" of total lift (MAYBE 2.5") so that I can continue to fit in my garage, and so that my wife/kids can still get in easily. I *would* like <=1" of poke for a more "planted" look.

I'm also working with a total budget of ~$4K out the door (Texas sales tax is 8.25%), but the more I can stay under that, the better.

Based on all of this and my extensive research, here's my plan:

TIRES: from factory 255/70R18 (~32") --> 285/75R17 (~34"). I want more aggressive look than what came on my Sahara Altitude, but also don't want a bunch of road noise. Again, mostly highway miles, if I'm honest with myself. Leaning toward KO2's, but I have no personal tire loyalty, so if I can get similar/better for less, awesome. Discount Tire currently has these for $300 ea., so let's call it $1.8K for the set, installed.

WHEELS: I like my Sahara Altitude wheels, and according to my research, it's debatable if I can fit wider tires on them. I also can't get any poke without spacers, so I'm just going to do new wheels. My exhaustive research has revealed the Black Rhino Barstow, Boxer, or Stadium to fit my criteria.

The Barstow are my top choice for cost + offset (available in 0 or -18) but are a bit heavy, at 35lbs/ea. The Stadium are nicer and weigh less (31lbs/ea.) but cost ~$200 more for the set.

My big question here is, 0 or -18 offset, if I'm really wanting to keep the poke to ~1" or less? Either way, I'm looking at ~$1.5K for the set

LIFT: In addition to this, I plan to do a 1" spacer/leveling kit (https://teraflex.com/shop/suspensions/jl-4dr-1-5-performance-spacer-lift-kit-no-shocks.html, ~$200), for a few reasons:

1. I'm already getting ~1 inch of lift from the tires alone
2. A 1" spacer lift is cheap, so if I decide to go bigger later, I don't have a big sunk cost
3. A 1" lift isn't going to adjust the steering/geometry much, so I shouldn't need to worry about additional "correction" add-ons, adjustments, etc, right?

All in all, an overall budget of ~$3.4K, assuming I install the spacer lift myself (which would be super easy) for a really nice, future-proof set of wheels+tires, and enough of a lift to get the job done.

OUTLYING QUESTIONS:

• Are the KO2's the best balance of on-road performance, off-road capability, quality, and cost?
• On Sahara axles, is an -18 offset going to give me more than 1" of poke?
• A 1" spacer lift isn't likely to require additional corrective stuff, like LCAs, sway bars, etc, correct?
• Will 35lb wheels + 285/75R17 tires cause too much strain on the factory axles/drive shafts, and/or cause any problems with the stock tailgate/etc?

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[GATORB8]

For the KO2s, the 275/70R18 has the same section width (per BFG) as the 285/75/17 and would fit on the stock rim. 33.2 OD.

Some similiar options to the KO2s would be the Toyo AT3 (specifically the 3s, the 2s had mediocre reviews) and the Falken Wildpeak AT3W. Those will give you some more options if you end up keeping your stock 18s. A 295 will be about as big as you can get "in spec" on a 7.5" wheel.

Use your own measurements, and this calculator to show you where you're poke will end up: https://tiresize.com/wheel-offset-calculator/

The Teraflex 1.5 spacer is 2" front / 1.5" rear on the JLU.

Really, for your request, a Rubicon takeoff suspension and wheels/tires (with a spacer) would fit the bill WAY under budget.

 

[Hucke_250]

I could not find the black rhino Barstow with a 0 offset in the 5x120 offset. Can you verify it is available?
If you list the width and offset for each wheel, I will calculate approximately how much they will “poke” from the fender mounted with a 285/75/17 tire.

 

[rcadden]

For the KO2s, the 275/70R18 has the same section width (per BFG) as the 285/75/17 and would fit on the stock rim. 33.2 OD.

Some similiar options to the KO2s would be the Toyo AT3 (specifically the 3s, the 2s had mediocre reviews) and the Falken Wildpeak AT3W. Those will give you some more options if you end up keeping your stock 18s. A 295 will be about as big as you can get "in spec" on a 7.5" wheel.

Use your own measurements, and this calculator to show you where you're poke will end up: https://tiresize.com/wheel-offset-calculator/

The Teraflex 1.5 spacer is 2" front / 1.5" rear on the JLU.

Really, for your request, a Rubicon takeoff suspension and wheels/tires (with a spacer) would fit the bill WAY under budget.

Yeah, I *could* keep the stock rims, except for that I want a little poke without using spacers. From my understanding, that's not possible with factory rims.

Good to know on the Teraflex spacer - I might could just get by with their leveling kit, then.

Rubicon takeoffs were my original plan, but I've had a ton of trouble finding them locally.

 

[rcadden]

I could not find the black rhino Barstow with a 0 offset in the 5x120 offset. Can you verify it is available?
If you list the width and offset for each wheel, I will calculate approximately how much they will “poke” from the fender mounted with a 285/75/17 tire.

Well shoot, you're right. So many of the other Black Rhino rims have the option of -18 vs 0, I guess I missed that.

Here's my spreadsheet that I've been using to compare: CLICK HERE (the last tab)

I've also been using tiresizes.com and this other site to try to get a handle on measurements.

 

[GATORB8]

Well shoot, you're right. So many of the other Black Rhino rims have the option of -18 vs 0, I guess I missed that.

Here's my spreadsheet that I've been using to compare: CLICK HERE (the last tab)

I've also been using tiresizes.com and this other site to try to get a handle on measurements.

May be worth checking out Raceline, they have some with similar looks to those in your list. Definitely good quality, and they are active in the Jeep scene (met their marketing team at GSMJI). We have their 934 Clutch wheels in black in 17x8.5 +18mm. Available at several online retailers as well as Discount Tire. Not sure if it's over, but Discount had a 10% off deal on 4 tires or wheels running recently.

https://racelinewheels.com/collections/truck-suv?page=1

 

[rcadden]

May be worth checking out Raceline, they have some with similar looks to those in your list. Definitely good quality, and they are active in the Jeep scene (met their marketing team at GSMJI). We have their 934 Clutch wheels in black in 17x8.5 +18mm. Available at several online retailers as well as Discount Tire. Not sure if it's over, but Discount had a 10% off deal on 4 tires or wheels running recently.

https://racelinewheels.com/collections/truck-suv?page=1

Good shout - I actually had 2 Raceline wheels on my list (944B-Outlander & 952B Aero HD) but while they matched well in most areas (weight, in particular) they have a larger hub bore (78.1 vs 71.5). Not a hard requirement, especially for my light off-roading needs, but I had plenty of other options that were closer to "hub-centric".

 

[Hucke_250]

I am running the Fuel Rebel 5 wheels 20x9 with a +1 offset and 35x12.5x20 BFG K02 tire on my JLU. They extend 2.5 inches from the fender.
With that said a 285/75 tire has a width of 11.2 inches so I would expect a 285/75 tire mounted on a 17x9 +1 wheel to stick out approximately 1.2 inches. With this you now have a known to enter into the wheel offset comparison calculator to compare different wheels too. So the KMC KM544 Mesa is a 17x8.5 +0. When compared to a 17x9+1 it retracts the outer position by 5mm (.19 inches) from the 17x9+1. So with a 285/75 it would stick out approximately 1 inch. Hope this makes sense.

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