15” vs 17” wheels

moab said:
For the cheapest way to go:

You can get a new set of stock 17" JK Moab take offs with new stock Goodyear Wrangler highway tires for around $300 on CL or Offerup. (These came stock on JK's for years. And so many guys upgraded their rims and tires when they first bought their new JK. That there is a glut of them on the market. Thus the low price.) Cheaper if you just want rims and plan to run an off road tire. So in this case 17's are alot cheaper than anything else you will find.

You can of course spend more on the new honeycomb looking JK wheels (I think they're Rubicon). But with the stock MTR's on them they run alot more on CL ($800-$1200). Finding just a set of the rims is a little harder. But alot cheaper. If you want to just use these rims and buy your own new tires. That might run you around $500 for the rims.

In 15's look at 4WP's steel wheels. They have one that is sub $50 IIRC. That's just as cheap as the above JK take offs. But without tires of course.

It really depends on what your doing with your Jeep. Either way I would consider Duratracs or K02 tires. If your off roading. Or just run the stock tires on the JK takeoffs if your just using it as a daily driver around town.

If your rock crawling look for an aluminum rim not steel. Steel gets dings and bends to easily on rocks.

I had 15's on my Jeep when I bought it. And then put a set of JK takeoffs on it (those are the ones pictured in my avatar photo). I didn't notice a huge difference in ride quality. But I didn't experiment with tire pressure either. I think as long as you run upper 20's psi and use Rancho 5000X shocks your ride quality will be generally about as good as it can get.

Now I'm not talking rock crawling or heavy off roading. If that's your thing. Alot of guys run 15's off road. And may have better reasons for doing so. But like Chris said - that may not be that big of a difference between 15's and 17's off road.
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Thank you, appreciate it.
 
I really like a 31" tire like the KO2 or ATX on your ecco rims. They'll fit without a lift and look pretty good to me. Search for pictures, you might like the look too and save a few dollars.
 
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I went from 33x12.5r15 to 285/70r17 (33x11) and could tell the difference in ride quality in about the first 50 feet. The 17" wheels are a lot more comfortable, less lateral tire roll, less undamped bounce, tighter corning, less lane wandering.

as far as weight... a 33x12.50r15 BFG KO2 weighs 57 pounds
285/70r17 BFG KO2 (load range c) weighs 51 pounds

I got on tirerack and played with wheel sizes. Of the few wheels that were available in 15" and 17" sizes, the 17" were about 5 pounds heavier than their 15" counterpart.

so weight is not really going to be an issue

looks are subjective, 15-inch wheels look very dated... They can be cool, but show their age
 
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kmas0n said:
I went from 33x12.5r15 to 285/70r17 (33x10) and could tell the difference in ride quality in about the first 50 feet. The 17" wheels are a lot more comfortable, less lateral tire roll, less undamped bounce, tighter corning, less lane wandering.

as far as weight... a 33x12.50r15 BFG KO2 weighs 57 pounds
285/70r17 BFG KO2 (load range c) weighs 51 pounds

I got on tirerack and played with wheel sizes. Of the few wheels that were available in 15" and 17" sizes, the 17" were about 5 pounds heavier than their 15" counterpart.

so weight is not really going to be an issue

looks are subjective, 15-inch wheels look very dated... They can be cool, but show their age
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Aren't the 285/70/17 closer to 33X11.5?
 
I've been trying to make a similar decision but finally decided on the unpopular choice of 16" wheels. My main motivation for was being able to run the Vanco 16" big brake kit. I feel like 17's are too big and 15's limit my braking options.

Ordered some matte black steel wheels earlier today to get the proper backspacing and some Cooper AT3 XLT tires in 295/75R/16 size (which works out to 33.4x11.9R16 and weigh 58 lbs each).

We'll see how it works out. I'll be running on stock Dana44's on my Rubi (with the 4" Currie lift), so hopefully there's no issue with the size/weight.
 
kmas0n said:
I went from 33x12.5r15 to 285/70r17 (33x11) and could tell the difference in ride quality in about the first 50 feet. The 17" wheels are a lot more comfortable, less lateral tire roll, less undamped bounce, tighter corning, less lane wandering.

as far as weight... a 33x12.50r15 BFG KO2 weighs 57 pounds
285/70r17 BFG KO2 (load range c) weighs 51 pounds

I got on tirerack and played with wheel sizes. Of the few wheels that were available in 15" and 17" sizes, the 17" were about 5 pounds heavier than their 15" counterpart.

so weight is not really going to be an issue

looks are subjective, 15-inch wheels look very dated... They can be cool, but show their age
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Do you have any issues with the 285/70/17 on a TJ? Is there Rubbing, and is yours lifted? I am looking at that size, but am worries that I will run into issues.
 
MMon_TPA said:
Do you have any issues with the 285/70/17 on a TJ? Is there Rubbing, and is yours lifted? I am looking at that size, but am worries that I will run into issues.
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I researched this for my stock tj. And decided to go with 265/70-17. If u use tiresize.com youll see that they are 32s. Anything bigger would be to big for stock. And some would say almost to big. 285/70r17 are 33s depending on manufacturer. And u need a lift for those. Just my 2 cents.

Rubbing depends on backspacing of your wheels and tire size. Even with the 265s i plan to run spacers. As i have jk wheels. But youd most likely need spacers too with 285s.

You can also adjust for rubbing with a few washers. But u will lessen your turning radius. How to article around here someplace.
 
KYJeep11 said:
I've been trying to make a similar decision but finally decided on the unpopular choice of 16" wheels. My main motivation for was being able to run the Vanco 16" big brake kit. I feel like 17's are too big and 15's limit my braking options.

Ordered some matte black steel wheels earlier today to get the proper backspacing and some Cooper AT3 XLT tires in 295/75R/16 size (which works out to 33.4x11.9R16 and weigh 58 lbs each).

We'll see how it works out. I'll be running on stock Dana44's on my Rubi (with the 4" Currie lift), so hopefully there's no issue with the size/weight.
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16" is fine as long as you find a tire you like. Once you get past 33's, there's hardly any tires to choose from.
 
Moab said:
I researched this for my stock tj. And decided to go with 265/70-17. If u use tiresize.com youll see that they are 32s. Anything bigger would be to big for stock. And some would say almost to big. 285/70r17 are 33s depending on manufacturer. And u need a lift for those. Just my 2 cents.

Rubbing depends on backspacing of your wheels and tire size. Even with the 265s i plan to run spacers. As i have jk wheels. But youd most likely need spacers too with 285s.

You can also adjust for rubbing with a few washers. But u will lessen your turning radius. How to article around here someplace.
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Thanks, Moab. I will probably go 265/70/17 then with no lift. I am already running JK 18s with spacers, and wanted more tire to rim ratio, which is why Im going down to a 17. Hopefully, the 265s will work stock with spacers.
 
My jeep is not a daily driver and it is used on trail 75% of the time and all that trail time it never goes over 25 MPH, so take my opinion as such, and I prefer the 15" wheels for the sidewall. I had same size tire (not the same tire though) on a 17" wheel before and it did well and I had no complaints, I then switched to 15" wheel and the traction is so much better. I air down more, get a better looking "pooch", and my mates tell me that the tire just wraps around the rocks. I beat up the 17" wheels and I beat up the 15" wheels (actually just had to replace one of the 15" due to damage), so no difference there. I personally also like the look of 15" wheels with 35's, makes the actual tire look bigger.

The 25% of the time I am on the road, I honestly couldn't tell a difference between the wheel/tires.
 
My 35" MT tires are getting worn, and I'm considering changing from my stock 16" Moab wheels to a 15" just to have some choices for C rated tires.
 
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gasiorv said:
My jeep is not a daily driver and it is used on trail 75% of the time and all that trail time it never goes over 25 MPH, so take my opinion as such, and I prefer the 15" wheels for the sidewall. I had same size tire (not the same tire though) on a 17" wheel before and it did well and I had no complaints, I then switched to 15" wheel and the traction is so much better. I air down more, get a better looking "pooch", and my mates tell me that the tire just wraps around the rocks. I beat up the 17" wheels and I beat up the 15" wheels (actually just had to replace one of the 15" due to damage), so no difference there. I personally also like the look of 15" wheels with 35's, makes the actual tire look bigger.

The 25% of the time I am on the road, I honestly couldn't tell a difference between the wheel/tires.
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Any pictures?
 
Van said:
My 35" MT tires are getting worn, and I'm considering changing from my stock 16" Moab wheels to a 15" just to have some choices for C rated tires.
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The biggest issue with a 15 inch rim and a 35 inch tire is that you still likely run small stock brakes. IMO, big brakes support bigger and heavier tires.
 
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