2004 Wrangler SE wheel and tire upgrade

wenglish

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I just bought a 2004 Wrangler SE I4 2.5L for weekend driving around town. The Jeep appears to have stock wheels (15 inch) and tires that are tiny and look awful. There are a couple sets of nice of Wrangler rims and tires for sale in my area, including one set of P265/70R17 Nitto Terra Grappler G2s with 95% tread for $300 and another set of 285/70R17 BFGs with 50% tread for $325. Both sets come with OEM 5 spoke wrangler rims. My understanding is that the Nittos are 31.6 in diameter and the BFG’s are 32.7. My Jeep is 100% stock with no lift or other mods to allow for enormous tires. My question is will either or both of these tires sets fit my Jeep and whether anyone has zrecommendations on which set to go with or avoid? My research shows that the Nittos are probably the better choice as it appears that the BFG’s might rub, plus the Nittos are almost brand new. Thanks in advance and sorry for posting such a newbie question.
 
i run 245/75/17 on stock suspension with out rubbing
you will need spacer's at least 1.25 that convert 4.5 to 5 lug spacing
the 2.5l may have some issue turning those wheels and tires if your gearing isn't correct
 
Going from a 28" to a 32" tire on a 2.5L will greatly reduce the already low performance of your 4 cylinder engine. Even after upgrading the gears; performance will still be mediocre.
When I went from a 225 75 15 to a 255 75 17 on my '01 Sport 4.0L NVG3550 I could not use 5 gear until I was above 70 mph due to the 3.07 gears. After upgrading my gearing; the performance returned and then I needed to calibrated my speedometer.
 
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At this point, Im gonna be using this Jeep for some topless, doorless cruises for a few miles on Saturdays and Sundays. Not anything that’s gonna require a lot of giddy up. You think the tires will make that big of a difference if that’s all Im doing? Eventually Ill prob do any engine swap as the current engine has > 200k miles on it.
 
Those 33s will make a dramatic difference, but as long as you don’t plan on doing lots of highway driving you’ll be fine.
 
Get the 31s. My 2004 SE is fine around town. Terrible on the interstate.

Id like to regear from 4.10 to 4.88.

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You will prb have frame rubbing, personally I wouldn't rush on it. Think about keeping 15's on there for more tire choices in C load range. Scour this site and learn what works and what doesn't. There's a ton of tire/ wheel info here.
You will need adapters as the 17's won't fit our jeeps bolt pattern which could set you back another couple hundred bucks. Now your $300 tires just cost you $500.

Also as someone stated, maybe @Chris, there's a dude that got over 600k miles out of his motor...and motor swaps aren't cheap.
 
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I’m in a similar situation, shopping for new tires for my 97 SE. Threads on this forum have convinced me that even though I could fit 31s without a lift (just some potential rubbing, fixed by spacers or by washers on the steering column), there would still be the drawback of the impact on the engine performance. I am sticking with my 15” rims to have better luck finding C range tires, and am going to keep it around 30”.

And yes, those JK rims for local sale have a different bolt pattern and will require an adapter for the TJ, which I think will also act as a spacer, pushing them out a bit.
 
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