I have a stock 2010 4 door Rubicon and I'll finally be installing a lift in the next 6 months. I'm going with a 3 1/2" lift. So I was wondering what the advantages and disadvantages are for staying with a 17" rim or dropping to a 16" rim. I'm expecting to run a 35" tire.

Thanks!

 

I recommend 17" rims, more choice of tires. Also no worries on larger rotors if you decide to move to bigger brake systems in the future.

 

More tire selections with the 17" wheels and if u upgrades to big brakes kits, they fit only 17" or larger rims.

 

Many aftermarket steering components: drag link tie rod and the like will not work with 16in. wheel.

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I went with 16s love the way they look but as everyone has posted the pretty much limit any upgrades. Had I looked into it more I'd have stayed with 17s for that exact reason. If I want to go any bigger than the 35s I have now I will have to go back up to a 17 inch wheel so I can upgrade brakes etc. I'd say go with 17s

 

There are only two benefits to 16 inch rims. One is price of the tires the other is more rubber between rocks and the rim but that is a tiny difference between the two.

 

I agree with all that was mentioned above. I'll also throw out that if you ever plan on running 37's in the future, you have very limited options in 16-inch where in 17-inch there is a plethora.

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Just as further FYI. I had originally been debating between 17's or 18's and was leaning more towards an 18in wheel because I have the Mopar Big Brake Kit installed. I read with the OEM Rubicon 17in wheels, there were interference issues with the BBK. So I wanted to error on the side of caution and go 18's because I was concerned if I went with a 17 aftermarket wheel, I may run into those same interference issues and I really liked my BBK.

With 18's, my options of wheels were so limited and the prices were higher as well. I was limited to buying a wheel I really didn't like the looks of, paying a higher price for it, and not getting the proper backspacing I wanted. Then on top of that the tires were much more expensive for the 18's compared to the 17's which was odd to me, because there's actually less tire on an 18 than a 17.

Go with a 17in wheel, in the long run you'll find out things will be much simpler and cost a lot less for no real gain of going with the 16in.

 

....also if you had 16" wheels and ever decided to sell your used tires, good luck finding any buyers.



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A "big brake" upgrade is out of the question with anything smaller than 17". Also, as a rule of thumb, the bigger the wheel size, relative to tire diameter, the easier the assembly is to balance (the closer the wheel weight is to the outer circumference of the less relative weight required).