I have 15" Cragar soft 8's and they fit fine, until I went to rotate them.. my passenger rear wheel, when moved to the front, rubbed on my caliper so I put them back to where they were.. Im thiking of grinding the caliper.. or since Im lazy, I will just never rotate my tires.. Hopefully they will wear out sooner and give me a reason to go to 35's

 

I don't see why put 15s on a jk, but I know that wasn't the question, yes you can, but as they mentioned before, some brands won't fit. also your selection of rims would be only to cheap steelies, maybe that's what you're looking for.

 

just a note-- here why to add 15's. 1. if your running 35's - tires are much cheaper to buy for 15s. 2. It gives you more rubber for better flotation and could help to protect from bending a rim than a lower profile tire. 3. A big rubber tire makes your tires look bigger. look at a pic of a 35 on a 15 then look at a 35 on an 18. I think 15s are better.

 

Why is the selection only cheap stealies??

 

I had the same question a few moths ago. I found that even within the same manufacturer, not all wheels are same. Not every single wheel is "true" It is a hit n miss game. My understanding is that most of the problems lie on the Rubi's...don't know why. and most of the rubbing is on front caliper only(they are larger than rear). I'm still trying to find some for my Rubi, but am considering having to pay 300+ in differnce from 15 to 16's to avoid problems.
My $0.02.

 

steel rims tend to be thinner than some other materials, that leaves more room on the inside diameter of the rim, giving you more space for the brake calipers.

 

while this is mostly true, you get just about the same benefits that you mentioned with a 16inch rim, plus you can actually choose rims from a much wider variety. thinking that smaller rims make your tires look better, is only a matter of opinion and taste.(I personally don't like it) 15 inch rims in a 35 tire are pretty hard to balance, while on bigger rims they tend to balance pretty good. so if your looking for cheap wheels, with cheap tires in only one type of rims then 15s are the way to go. (I'm not saying this is bad) if that's what you like

 

biggest benefit of 15 inch wheels and tires = price.

 

Here are my 15ings.

 

The 15's don't fit if you plan on swapping out to some of the Dana 60 setups. They have even larger front brake/caliper assemblies.