Bobby G

Hi guys,

Im new to the forum here - been doing tons of research...dont have a mechanical background but im handy and understand things ok as i read them....the problem is, there are so many different opinions and answers here...

I have a 2008 4-d jeep sahara....getting a 2.5 BB lift and new rims and tires...question is simple - 33s vs 35s....what is best for me. some details, I dont off road (besides the brigatine beach in the summer) and the jeep is one of my daily drivers, although i work from home and its not like every day its going 30 or 40 miles to work.....

I really love the aggressive look of the 35s and can afford them and with the 2.5 in lift know ill be fine...my concern is everything i am hearing about regearing, power loss, etc....i dont even really care about the mpg....i am ok with that. Knowing i dont offroad at all and its really a mall crawler (the wife drives it too and we are having a baby in 6 months) what opinions are out there for what i should do.

Thanks a lot everyone who answers/gives opinions.

Trail Duty

From your description, I would go with the 33s . The power loss will be a lot less and you will most likely not feel the need to regear. Since you don't offroad and drive a relatively long distance every day, the only thing 35s will get you is worse gas mileage, more wear on drive train components, and less power. Although 35s do look better, I would definitely go with the 33s in your situation. Good luck!

aldaman

I agree with getting 33s rather than 35s. When I ran 33s on stock 3.73 gearing it was bearable but there was definately a noticeable loss in power. Driving with the OD off and running a Superchip helped. Imagine if I ran 35s without regearing to 5.13s, I would have been miserable. In addition, since your wife will be driving the jeep and a baby along the way, she may complain about how harder it would be to get in with 35s. Even my wife complains about getting in my jeep and I am only running 33s with a 2.5" coil lift....

suicideking

Even though you'd be perfectly fine with 33's, get the 35's anyway.

If you want them, you will regret it the second you drive it home and see someone with 35's on the way. I'm a good example -- Had 33's for 9 months and then got 35's. Sold my 33's at a huge loss. I do wheel though...

You could always compromise and get 34's.

BlackRockBurner

Something to consider also is how tall you and the other half are. The taller rig may require a collapsing step stool.

MitchMG

I have the same problem(s) here.
There a proīs for the 35" and conīs.
Iīm always thinking what ist the real difference between the largest 33" tire and the smallest 35" tire ? You always hear that a lot of 35" tires arenīt any larger than 33" tires.

In Germany I have an additional problem. We are only allowed to drive the tire size in the car documents. I changed them to 33x12.5x17
So going to 35" tires will be a pain in the ass with paperwork and authoroties.

So maybe someone can tell me the largest MT 33" tires (and also working offroad) available ? So changing to real 35" tires isnīt maybe not really necessary ??

For the thread starter a middle tire size like 305/70/17 is maybe a perfect thing ??

GJeep

Like someone already said -- if you want the 35", you may regret getting 33"...

But --

Being 8~9 month pregnant, getting in/out a Jeep that is 3.5" taller, may not be convenient.

A steady stool can solve this, but when she drives alone, how would she get the stool back in the Jeep?

Steps, or folding steps, will make her independent.

You'll probably need to re-gear for 35".
This also means buying a AEV ProCal Module for making the new computer settings.

GJeep

It's the same here... I went through a bureaucratic hell to approve the 35" (and the 4" lift...).

305/70/17 is 33.81". However, the actual diameter is typically less than the calculated diameter.

For comparison, my 35" ((315/70/17) is 34.36”. I think it's almost exactly the actual diameter.
The calculated difference is 055", but actually it'll be about to 1".
The difference for offroading is, IMO, quite small.

joey0480

I thought long and hard about this as well on my end. I am opting for 33's on my 2013. I think in your case, with sorta the same situation, 33 is the way to go.

GJeep

CORRECTION:

My 315/70/17 Mickey Thompson MTZ --
Calculated = 34.36”
Actual = 33.86” (with 30 psi)

That's 0.5" less than the calculated diameter.