Not looking for bead locks. Too much $. Dont plan any real hard trails either. Just a good looking fair priced set of rims. The "rubicon" set I have dont do it for me.
Are 16 inch wheels endangered?
- Thread starter Goatman
- Start date
If I were buying new wheels and tires I would purchase 17x9 wheels and either 35x12.50R17 or 315/70R17 ("metric 35") tires. There are good choices for both "C" and "D" load ranges. [There are many 33's as well, but I haven't researched those.]
I would not choose the 15" size. 17's are the new 15's. JK's and JL's come with 17" wheels, which means that 17" has and will continue to have a greater market share than 15". The selection of tires for 17" rims has been increasing while the selection of 15" tires has remained unchanged or is decreasing. Running 15" rims will also limit the size of the brake calipers that will fit thus limiting the available choices if one chooses to upgrade to larger brakes.
If I wanted to buy tires only, I would stick with the 16" wheels and deal with the reality that most will have an E load rating. I would focus on the few D's and the "softer" E's. You are correct that there are still many good choices, and though a C load rated tires is better matched to the weight of a TJ the real world differences at low tire pressures are not so dramatic as to be a limiting factor to the majority of jeepers.
I was recently faced with the opposite situation. I had a perfectly good set of 315/75R16 Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3 tires that came with the jeep and were worth more to me as usable tires than they would be worth to someone shopping for a deal on used stuff. I needed new wheels because I converted to manual hubs with a 5x5.5 lug pattern. Faced with the dilemma of losing my shirt on a set of almost new 16" tires if I sold them plus the substantial expense of new 17" wheels and tires, I decided to sell just the wheels, keep my 16" tires and use them until they wear out - mounted on a set of inexpensive 16" alloy wheels with the new lug pattern.
Mr Bill's, you said exactly what I was thinking the best way. Thanks. It was just jumbled in my head so I couldn't get it all straight.
Chapman4266
TJ Enthusiast
Yep. We got that for my mom for a retirement gift last year. FYI she’s still not retired.
it’s all original limited edition. That little thing will move and corners on a dime
To many plys, i.e. stiff, for a lighter TJ. Some run them and live with it, but you're better off with a C or even D rated tire.
Kenneth G Zinis
TJ Enthusiast
I too loved the Moabs but switched to 15s due to lack of 16 tire choices. Lots of sidewall for flexxing too.
I just put new KO2s on my stock 2006 LJR (35,000 miles) with 16" Moabs. Guess they'll be on there forever. The old tires were not worn, they were 11 years old and I was told no shop will repair a tire over 10 years old.
Or 17.5" for that matter. I've also seen a 14.5" used for Mobile Home tires.
Look at the wheels in the post immediately above yours, those are D shaped holes. 8 hole just means how many holes.
they may be inexpensive but they look damn good.
I'm gonna go a little offtopic here because these are 15s; I used to paint every wheel I came across but I've started appreciating aluminum much more than I used to. I'm glad I used plastidip to do the ones on my Jeep because I stripped it off and the LJ looks so much better with aluminum than gunmetal gray.
You sure about that?
Seems like when I last looked, there were only a SMALL number of C-rated 35" x 12.5" R17's - almost all were E-rated. A quick glance at what Tire Rack offers confirms this to still be the case:
I've love to go 17"s personally, but lack of good options for tires is a problem for me. Additionally, there are very few good-looking and TJ-appropriate wheels with the 3.75-4" of backspacing most of us need in 17".
Hell I'd do a backflip is we could get a good classic-looking aluminum wheel in 17" x 8.5" on a 5 x 4.5" pattern with 3.75" backspacing and had even just a half-dozen C (or even a light D-rated) tire.
I just ordered 15" Vision wheels with 35 x 12.5 x 15 Cooper Evolution. They're replacing CWT 16" beadlocks. I don't yet know if I'll get new 16" tires for the beadlocks or sell them (5). Tires are 10yr. old BFG KM2 with great tread but weather checked to beat the band, so basically junk. I went to 15s instead of 17s for the 'C' rating mentioned above.
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