You shouldn't rub in any circumstance with a 265, especially with less backspacing of the new wheels. A 265/75/16 measures out to be 31.6" in height. More than half the wranglers on the road come with a 255/75/17, which measures out to be 32.1" in height. In other words, a 265 is still half an inch shorter than the tires that come on half the Wranglers out there.
Go with the 265/75/16s... I really don't think you'll regret it, but as was mentioned by redneck jeep earlier, try to get something in a load range D, not an E. E load range tires have a ROUGH ride compared to a D on a Wrangler.
Something worth looking at... The Nitto TerraGrappler AT tire. Discount Tire Direct has great deals on them and if you order through any tires through them and are a forum member, they've been giving an even better deal than you find on their website. I ordered my TerraGrapplers from them and I love them.
They have the BFG AT on there too. If you send a PM to Discount Tire Direct and tell them that you read on the forum that you get a discount for being a forum member, they'll take care of you from there. Here is a link to their sponsor link if you want it. It has their PM info on it as well.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/sponsor-list-87/wheels-tires-22266/

 

so D rated rides better than E rated? will i notice much difference going from the stock 225/75/16's to the 265's with the new wheels?

 

Yes. C rated=6 ply, D rated=8 ply, E rated= 10 ply. You should not have any rubbing issues since Jeep uses the 265 stock on Rubicons. No, you should not notice much difference at all. You'll need to let the dealer reprogram the speedo. It won't be much difference, but you'll need to cover you hind end on the warranty since an odometer that's inaccurate is one of the few reasons they can void your entire warranty. It fact, it may be the only reason.

 

I believe it's 255 on the stock rubi's. but the difference between 255 and 265 is about 1/2".

 

Yes, the Rubi tires are 255s. However, they are a 255/75/17, as compared to a 265/75/16. Because of the difference in rim size, even though the Rubi tires are narrower, they are actually taller than the 265/75/16s.

The actual height of the tire is determined by all three numbers. Here is what each number means, using a 265/75/16 as an example.

The 265 is the width of the tire from sidewall to sidewall in millimeters. 265 means that it is 265mm wide.

The 75 is the aspect ratio of the tire, which is the height of the tire from bead to tread. It is a percentage based on the width of the tire. In other words, a 265/75/16 means that the height of the tire from bead to tread is 75% of the width of the tread, or just under 200mm.

The 16 is the diameter of the beadseat for the rim that the tire is built to fit.

(caution, MATH AHEAD!)
Here is how it works...

If a tire is 265mm wide, that means that the sidewall height is about 199mm, because 199 is about 75% of 265.
Because the sidewall is measured twice when measuring the overall height of the tire, we double that number. That brings us to 398mm.
You then add to that the height of the rim in mm. There are 25.4mm in an inch, so multiply 25.4 by 16 and you get about 406mm.
Since 398mm is the height of the two sidewalls combined, and 406mm is the height of the rim, we add them together to get an overall height.
That brings us to 804mm.
To bring that back to inches, we divide that by 25.4, since there are, as established earlier, 25.4 mm in an inch.
804 divided by 25.4 = 31.6, which means that a 265/75/16 is 31.6 inches tall.

For a Rubi Tire - 255/75/17

75% of 255(width) = 191.3(sidewall height)
191.3 x 2 = 382.6 (round up to 383 and hold onto that number)
17"(rim size) x 25.4 = 432(rim size in mm)
432 + 383 = 815
815 / 25.4 = 32.1

So a Rubi tire is 32.1" tall.

Ya'll may already know all this stuff, but I just thought I'd type it out incase someone who doesn't know it can decipher my babble into something that makes sense. That's what you get for me having access to a computer at 1:30 in the morning.

 

wow goose ,good info even if i do have a headache from reading it...thanks! hey what heppend to utahgoose anyway?

 

ooooooookkkkkkkkkkk i now understand never really knew what all those #'s meant , thanks for the info

 

Thanks. Let me get you some ibuprofen...

My wife and I are moving to Colorado. We'll be there at least a year, but may be back to Utah, so it was easier to just drop the state name, and go with Goose. It's been my nickname for about 12 years anyway.

 

Hey Goose, What is the backspacing on your soft eights with the 265/75's?
Oh, and what size are they?

 

They are 16x8 with 5 inches backspacing. I like the way they sit, but I may need to go with less backspacing if I go up a few tire sizes in the future.