My wife has made the decision to go with XD Crank wheels for her 2011 4D Unlimited Sport. 5" backspacing. She likes the simplicity of these wheels.

I have already purchased a cheep rough county 2.5" spacer lift and will be installing soon.
I would like to go with a tire size close to 33" diameter (maybe 285/70/R17 or 275/70/R18 somewhere in that range).
My wife loves the lifted and offroad ready look but unfortunately will not take it offroad. It might see some light trails for camping but thats about it.

Questions I have are:

What diameter wheel should I go with (17 or 18)? and why?
Are tires cheaper with one size over the other?
Don't think I need wheel spacers but do I?
What size tire should I go with? Is 33" going to look good with a 2.5" lift or will it look small?
What tire looks offroad aggressive but performs well on the street?

 

Hey there,


I am getting ready for same thing. I will, however use for "off road" but not trails... Beaches. Light camping trails as well. I scuba dive and living on Long Island, want access to the water we have every direction. No mountains, rocks, etc.

Yesterday, i met someone from here who had the setup I was thinking about exactly, and it helped seeing it in person.

I am keeping my stock JKUSahara rims. Putting 2 inch leveling kit with 285/70r18 duratracs and wheel spacers.

Looks great for my purposes. Appears for what you ask to be "off road" ready.

I wasn't sure of I should get 295/65r18 for wider look, but these look great. Will add 1.5 inch spacers to push out a bit, but they look great and won't see the stress of real off road.

It's easy to get your wife the look she wants, and stay in budget.

I'll send pics when my truck is done next week.

Sorry for long response, hope it helps, I'm new to this Jeep thing. Having fun.


-FD

 

I went with 285/75 R16 with the 2.5 RC BB and like it very well for how i use my JK. I plan on adding some adjustable LCA's soon because the caster is out by about 1 degree but it drives really well so far.

 

I would go with the 17" wheels. No real difference in tire cost, but the 17's will give you more options for tire sizes - especially if you want to go larger in the future.

Most 2.5" lifts recommend 4.5" backspacing or less, but you should be fine with the 5" since you are not planning to go very wide with the tires. It will also help you keep the tires completly covered by the fenders.

I think 33's look nice with a 2.5" lift. And, you will have no rubbing or clearance issues to contend with.

Goodyear Duratracs will fit this bill nicely. Great aggressive look with good pavement manners. I can only hear mine when running doorless (but I could hear a hum from my stock Bridgestones with the doors off.)

Good luck. It's going to look great!

 

I went with 285 70 r17 goodyear territories, basically a duratrac tire, had them on stock rim and had to get wheel spacers because they rubbed at full turn. Like mentioned above go with 17 because of tire selection, if you went with a 15 though the tires are much cheaper

 

Love those wheels.

 

Go with the 17" wheels and you'll save a little money and have a lot better selection of tires/sizes available to you. As another poster pointed out its not a huge difference in cost, but the 17" wheels will be slightly cheaper for tires... if you were going bigger than 33" tires the cost savings would probably be more, but just having the bigger tire choices available makes the 17" wheels my first choice.

17" wheels will also be better for offroading if you ever do get on some more technical trails. The larger sidewall of the tire can actually help protect the wheel from damage and the tire will have a little more flex to it when your driving over obstacles, especially if you air down.

Basically the only reason to go with the 18" tires IMO is that you like the look of the larger wheel... some people prefer the look of larger wheels.

 

I would say go with the 17's, but the XD wheels start at 18"

 

I would stick by 17" wheels as well, I bought my Pro Comp 7069's in 17's an love em, they look just right when you match them with a tire size twice as big like 35's, and they give more options for sizes to begin with. I mistakenly went with like 31's at first, then upgraded to 35's after like 2,000 miles, i have no complaints... 3 of the thumbnails are with my new 35" Nitto Trail Grapplers, the other is with the 31's with no lift kit

 

Thanks for your help guys! I am going to go with the 17" wheels. Getting them as a birthday present for my wife (very expensive b-day present).
She is 7 months pregnant with our baby boy. Has always wanted a jeep for her whole life and finally bought one last year. She is adding a little pink to it like seat covers and tire cover but it still looks good. Even though she is pregnant she still wants the jeep lifted with bigger tires. That makes me so proud. This will be her nice mall crawler. Here is one pic I took before the seat covers.



I am limited on the size to pretty much 285/70R17 around the 33" diameter because of the rim width.
Not sure on the tire brand as of yet. Here are a few thoughts on brand:
LT285/70R17 - Duratrac - 11.5 section width, 33.0 diameter
LT285/70R17 - Cooper Discover A/T3 - 9.1 tread width, 11.4 section width, 32.83 diameter


Here are the sepcs on the XD Crank Wheels:
Part Number: W/PXD80179050700
XD Series XD801 Crank
17x9, 5 on 5.0 Bolt Pattern
Backspace 5 in
Max Load = 2200lbs.
Finish = High Temp Matte Black Coated
Center Bore 78.3
Offset = 0.