I have a 12 Arctic edition with the black 5 spoke factory 17" wheels. I believe they are 7.5" wide. Can I fit a typical 35x12.5x17 tire on these? I'm really interested in the new Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 tires in a 305/70/17 size.
Your thoughts?

Thanks,
~~~Tony~~~

 

Yes you can run them on the facory wheels, but you will need to use 1.5" wheel spacers.

 

Cool, I'm already running 1.5" wheel spacers with the stock 255/70/17's as I did a 1.5" Teraflex leveling kit and wanted the wider stance.
My real concern is the fact that all tire manufacturers seem to recommend an 8" minimum wheel width. Some even say 8.5" minimum. I have heard of some places refusing to mount on such narrow wheels, yet I see plenty of pics of what looks like my wheels with these size tires on them.

 

You summed it up. Tire mfg's list a recommendation in the spec for each tire. Some shops will not mount on rims that are narrower than that spec. Others will. Many people are running wide tires on narrow rims without issue. If you can find a shop that will mount them for you, go for it. If you can't, find wider rims with a more appropriate backspace and sell the spacers.

 

I ran my 35 on the stock rims just fine. I say if you cannot find a shop that will mount them keep looking and you'll find somebody that will. For what it's worth I had mine done at Sam's Club.

 

One thing to keep in mind is a wheel that is too wide or narrow for a particular tire will affect how it wears and handles, which is one reason for recommended widths. When using the stock 7.5" wheel, you have to adjust the air pressure so that the tire gets a flat contact patch with the road. Also, the sidewall sits very flat on that wheel, and it makes tire slightly taller.