If you air down when wheeling and hit the low teens to 20 psi...without bead locks...you have less of a chance of blowing a bead with the slimmer rim...just my two cents...I have a 12.50 on an 8 inch rim and rockcrawl at 18 psi...never had a problem...but one of the guys I was with two weeks ago had a 12.50 on a 10 inch rim and sure enough blew a bead aired down....

 

Ill be driving it 500 miles to Moab and back....highway safety isnt an issue on the 8" rim is it? That is my ONLY concern. I realize offroad, it might be advantageous to have the 8" vs. the 9" width. But if it is going to cause issues on the road at speed, then I will go with the wider wheels even if they are more expensive.

 

i thought this was suppose to be an "Easy wheel width question. ".......lol guess not.... oh well