Winter Tire and Wheel Size

[Darker360]

Hi folks! First time poster here

I’m looking to grab a second set of winter wheels/tires for my JLUR as I’ll be driving it in wet Ohio winters. I have KO2s in it now which I love, but the cold wet roads we have 90% of the time make it slippery.

My goal would be to get Blizzaks on it (Nokions are on back order) so I’m limited to certain sizes. I’m happy with my stock wheels and the KO2s for spring-fall so I’d like to grab some steel wheels that will fit the current Blizzaks. I attached compatible sizes, but I’m leaning toward 275/70r18. Trouble is I can’t seem to find any steel tires to match this. Not sold on steel, and I don’t care about looks if there’s a reasonably priced alloy option that will work easier.

Thanks!

Dane

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[hoch]

Forget trying to find steel. There are plenty of take off rims from various JL’s that will work great. Just look at your local classifieds.

Regarding tires, I’d just get tires that are in the ballpark size. I think the 255/75/17 gets you the closest with 17” rims. Should be good enough for winter.

 

[yokramer]

Could be a load rating issue as well, I had a similar problem with Discount Tire when the tires I wanted to put on my wifes Juke were 1 rating lower than what it came factory and the site said they didnt fit wouldnt sell them to me, meanwhile the difference was like a total of 300lbs between all 4 tires.

 

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, steel will be hard to find.

Hakkapeliitta?

 

[Darker360]

Forget trying to find steel. There are plenty of take off rims from various JL’s that will work great. Just look at your local classifieds.

Regarding tires, I’d just get tires that are in the ballpark size. I think the 255/75/17 gets you the closest with 17” rims. Should be good enough for winter.

Seems like the most common wheel is 17x7.5in. The 255/75/17 I think is too narrow for that but I’m pretty new to the tire sizing world.

Edit: Manufacturer approved wheel width is 225 which is 8.86 inches so I guess 17x9 would be preferable.

 

[Darker360]

Could be a load rating issue as well, I had a similar problem with Discount Tire when the tires I wanted to put on my wifes Juke were 1 rating lower than what it came factory and the site said they didnt fit wouldnt sell them to me, meanwhile the difference was like a total of 300lbs between all 4 tires.

Great point. Looks like they’re rated for 1,500 lbs so should be good to go.

 

[Darker360]

Yeah, steel will be hard to find.

Hakkapeliitta?

That would be my first choice but they’re on back order everywhere.

 

[SnowMonkey]

+1 for the Hakkapeliitta tires -- I live up in the mountains in CO and have a set. I can't recommend them too much. Straight snow tires -- no studs.

We made a lot of modifications on our JLUR, the suspension and new wheels and 37" tires. We put the Hakkapeliitta's on our stock rims and use spacers in the winter to keep the track the same as the summer.

I don't know what the backorder situation looks like but if you wait for them you won't be disappointed. They test their tires in a place called "White Hell"...

 

[Discount Tire]

Could be a load rating issue as well, I had a similar problem with Discount Tire when the tires I wanted to put on my wifes Juke were 1 rating lower than what it came factory and the site said they didnt fit wouldnt sell them to me, meanwhile the difference was like a total of 300lbs between all 4 tires.

Sorry you had fitment related issues on the Juke, but there is rhyme and reason to our fitment best practice.

We choose to follow industry standard for load inflation, which is critical to safety. We look at the factory tire's load index and construction and the factory recommended air pressure. We then cross reference these numbers using load inflation tables and the table indicates how much load the factory tire carries at the factory recommended pressure. For us, this is the minimum load carrying capacity the new/replacement tire must be able to carry for us to install.

We want to be transparent with our requirements for installing tires.

Thanks for listening,

-Joe

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[hoch]

Seems like the most common wheel is 17x7.5in. The 255/75/17 I think is too narrow for that but I’m pretty new to the tire sizing world.

Edit: Manufacturer approved wheel width is 225 which is 8.86 inches so I guess 17x9 would be preferable.

Rim width range is 6.5 to 8.5 for 255’s.

 

[Reinen]

Seems like the most common wheel is 17x7.5in. The 255/75/17 I think is too narrow for that but I’m pretty new to the tire sizing world.

Edit: Manufacturer approved wheel width is 225 which is 8.86 inches so I guess 17x9 would be preferable.

Narrow tires are better in winter conditions. Forget the steelies, they'll be hard to find. Look in your local classifieds for a set of stock take-off wheels. There's always someone looking to get rid of a set and you can likely pick them up cheaper than steelies.

Blizzaks have great winter traction but it's a very soft tire that wears quickly. It's worth the effort to find a set of Hakkas.

 

[Darker360]

So after chatting with some tire shops it seems the biggest issue is the 17x7.5 wheel configuration isn’t common so a lot of the winter tires aren’t made to be around 33”. I found 4 18x7.5 gladiator overland wheels for $200 that I think will make for easier sizing and Costco has a good deal on Blizzaks for about $1,100. Hakkas would be another $300 but I could swing that given the positive feedback I’ve seen from everyone. My one concern is they’re rated as fair on consumer reports for wet roads while Blizzaks are average.

 

[Mudduck]

Extrema Terrain has some cheap steelies. $85 each 17x9.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/roug...r-steel-gloss-black-wheel-17x9-rc51-7873.html

 

[Reinen]

So after chatting with some tire shops it seems the biggest issue is the 17x7.5 wheel configuration isn’t common so a lot of the winter tires aren’t made to be around 33”. I found 4 18x7.5 gladiator overland wheels for $200 that I think will make for easier sizing and Costco has a good deal on Blizzaks for about $1,100. Hakkas would be another $300 but I could swing that given the positive feedback I’ve seen from everyone. My one concern is they’re rated as fair on consumer reports for wet roads while Blizzaks are average.

Having had both Hakkas and Blizzaks, I'd ignore the difference on wet road testing. I've never noticed any significant difference between them on wet roads. Where the Hakkas stand out is when they're pushed hard and how smooth and predictable they are. Blizzaks have a harsher transition between sliding and grabbing, and they wear fast. I only got 2 winters out of Blizzaks but I'll get 3 out of Hakkas. (My winters are 6mo long btw, YMMV)

 

[Darker360]

Having had both Hakkas and Blizzaks, I'd ignore the difference on wet road testing. I've never noticed any significant difference between them on wet roads. Where the Hakkas stand out is when they're pushed hard and how smooth and predictable they are. Blizzaks have a harsher transition between sliding and grabbing, and they wear fast. I only got 2 winters out of Blizzaks but I'll get 3 out of Hakkas. (My winters are 6mo long btw, YMMV)

I found some R3s that’ll work for less than $1,000 with installation . Pulling the trigger on them if the wheels don’t fall through!

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