Santa was good to me this year and I now have the budget to upgrade my stock 16" steelies and tires to something larger with new wheels. Trying to get out of the soccer mom look into something with a little more style and ground clearance. I wanted to run two options by you guys to get a sanity check to make sure I haven't missed something before I pull the trigger (many thanks to the forum vendors for providing quotes!). Any comments are welcome (technical and style).

Background info: My 2010 JKU Sport (6 speed, 3.21 gears) is still pretty much stock. Most of the time it's my DD with 2 off-road trips a year (think Rausch creek greens and a timid blue). I have rubi shocks and springs so I have a little more lift (about an 1 - 1.5 inches) than normal. I figure it's about the same as a leveling kit. Here's the current pic with the rubi gear on it https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/albu...hmentid=195846. The end product should look very similar to this one https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...=1#post2271812, but I'll be on 17"s and not 15"s.

My goal is to put 33's on. Since I'm mostly on the road I've been looking at the Nitto Terra Grappler A/Ts. Here are the two options I've come up with.

Option 1: 17" wheel with 285/70R17. I'm looking at a Black Rock 909 17x8 with 4.5" backspacking or a ProComp 7105 17x8 with 4.5" backspacing.


Option 2: 16" wheel with 285/75R16. The tires are generally cheaper in this size which is certainly attractive. Problem is that the two rims I like from option 1 are not available in this size. So now I'm looking at a ProComp 7031 16x8 with 4.5" backspacing.

Here are some questions I'd like to get some feedback on:

1. Fit - according to the FAQ's 33's should work, plus factoring in my extra from the rubi shocks and springs. So I think I'm ok here. Not so sure about when my sway bars are disconnected. Front air dam is already long gone - thanks Rausch Creek!

2. Backspacing - the 4.5" seems good after wading through all the various Show Your 33's threads.

3. Rim width - both are 8". Do I need to be concerned about going any wider? Down the road the largest I expect to ever go is a 35" tire. Am I limiting myself with this rim diameter?

4. Rim diameter - the 16" rims get me into the cheaper tires. But there aren't a lot of rims that I like in this size. Seems like a lot of the newer rims are in the 17" size. Is there a possible trend with the tire manufacturers to move more production to the 17" sizes that might bring the tire prices down in the future (at least relative to 16"s).

5. Programmer - I'll need to adjust the speedo and such for the new tires. It looks like either the AEV ProCal or ProComp AccuPro will do the job. The AccuPro is a little pricier but will display OBD codes. Any preferences?

6. Gearing - no plans to change the gearing, so I'm just going to have to eat my 3.21's until I win the lottery and can put 35"s and new gears and maybe a locker in.

 

You did a good job researching. Any of those wheels will work well, and 8" width is fine. A lot of us run it up to 12.5" tire width. It seems the industry trend is away from 16's, but that doesn't mean anything else is getting cheaper. I went with 16's, anyway. I like the look of the extra 1" of sidewall compared to a 17. I don't intend to go larger than 35" tires and the selection at that size and below will be good for a long, long, time. You may even want to contact our DiscountTireDirect rep and see if he can get you into some alloy 15" wheels you like. The tires will be even less expensive.

I use an AEV ProCal.

When you finally re-gear you'll say it's the best thing you've done to your Jeep. I hated 3.21 so much I did it when I had 32" tires.

 

I went with 35x12.5 KM2s on 15x8 flat black MB72s from Discount tire direct....the price couldn't be beat.
I put 70 miles a day x6 days a week on my jeep and I am very happy with the purchase and the tire as a daily driver.
I also wheel just about every weekend and couldn't ask for a better setup!

 

Appreciate the feedback. I do like the looks of the more sidewall with the 16's and seriously considered going to 15's for just that reason. But I didn't want to deal with clearance issues on the calipers (although the 15" 909's have not seemed to have a problem).

The ProCal looks like it will do everything I need for the speedo, plus I can disable the TPMS since I'm not installing it on the new setup.

 

Any problem with sidewall flex with the 15's and 35s while doing normal highway and town driving? I like the look of the 15's. No clearance issues on the brake calipers?

 

Clearance worked great with the 15s I used. Even put one on a buddys 2012 and he had no issues either. But I stress this is with the MB72s....could be different with other 15s.
No probs with highway driving, around town, or on the trail.....I have really been impressed with the over all setup.

 

I give you an A+ for your research. This is a great thread with really good questions.

Going with 15" rims will definately spare you cash in the long run. The black rocks seem to fit fine with our brake calipers so you're right, we shouldn't have an issue there. Your gears will be alright for the types of driving you do but it's good to invest in either programmer you're considering.

With 4.5 backspacing you should be fine with the sway bars and stuff rubbing. 8" rim width is fine as well.

Sounds like everything will work great so i'm excited to see it work out for ya.

 

I run 15" mb72s and 35 km2s without any issues. If you don't like the look of that specific 15" wheel contact a discount tire rep and look at other wheels that will work in a 15" and save some money on tires. I really like the look of more sidewall makes the tires look bigger.

 

Another thought - can I re-use my existing lug nuts, or do I need new ones (assuming the silver color doesn't annoy me on black rims)? One vendor quoted me new gorilla lug nuts as part of the package. Obviously the stud sizes didn't change, but I didn't know if there was some sort of clearance issue with the diameter being too large on the existing ones.

 

My new lugs were narrower.....so they were required for the new rims. But in my case with black rims I wanted black lugs anyway. Make sure they send you enough to do the spare as well....I had to remind them after the fact, but they did send another set.