Picking Rims and Tires

[bottobro]

OK so, I got my BL hopefully going in soon. So I am shopping for tires and new rims (one of my stock is a bit warped)

I am trying to understand everything in tires, it has always confused me. I'm hopefully looking to run 33" I need a good highway tire cuz I am still at school and doing highway traveling. (looking into goodyear wrangler MTR with Kevlar)

I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I pull the trigger and empty my wallet.

I'm looking to be somewhat budget friendly on rims. And going to spend a bit more on tires.

I'm unsure to stick with a 15" rim or go to a 16".
Offsets? Ive been reading mixed things on what to go with.

any and all links are helpful.

 

[AZhiAZiAM]

15's will be cheaper tires, but your choice of tires won't be as large as a 16/17. look into frontier or other stock rims, i love my DR's and i think they look awesome on xterras, couple people run some pathy rims and they also look great too. i know you said your on a budget for rims but if you weren't its all about methods, and SCS for me

 

[NismoFire]

Stick with 15"s. If you go up to a 16", you'll be paying more per tire, as metric sizes are ridiculously overpriced for some reason. Also, if you ever do go offroad, you'll have more sidewall available vs less.

Steel wheels are heavier than aluminum, and don't really offer much that aluminum can't. I run factory Nissan Frontier wheels (15x7), and plenty of others have kept their stock 15s as well. Matter of fact, I ditched my 16" wheels for the 15s for the reasons mentioned above.


I can't speak about the tires, as I have no experience with them.

 

[Roadwarrior]

MTRs are awesome off road but are eaten alive on the road. Expect maybe 30k out of them if you travel often on them. Do you need a MT? An AT might be a better option, I recently went MT's (Kenda Klever MTs in the 285/75/16 flavor) and while I love them, I am not expecting AT mileage out of them

 

[bottobro]

30k is better than what i just got out of my AT's that's on the truck. (BFgoodwrench Long Trails). Backs are almost bald and the traction has always stunk on them.

I know if i move to MT the mileage is going to go not to worried. I do a lot of snow and beach driving plus offroading just haven't had the tires to do so lately lol

Ill stick with 15's then. I just want to make sure i get the right backspacing on them. Don't want them to rub

 

[Intender]

I have mtr's and I have to say if my primary purpose in a tire was to drive on the road I would not get them. They are expensive, they are heavy, they are loud, and really hard to keep balanced. My main purpose for them was offroad so I deal with the negatives because they shine in dirt and rock. They do surprisingly well in the rain in my opinion. I have had them in shallow snow and deep snow before and I would say they are acceptably good in more than 3 inches of snow, and in deep snow they are amazing. this last storm I had about 15 inches here at the house and I drove through a few a few spots with over 20 inches and I had no trouble until they plowed it down and it froze the next day. When there is only about 1 inch of snow on the ground they are pretty crappy. Better than front wheel drive or rear wheel drive, but not as good as my wifes awd mdx with all season tires. If I was going for a bit of offroad from time to time, but lots of highway miles I would probably go for the duratracs or some other AT tire.

As for backspacing, only way to reduce the risk of scrubbing is to stick with the stock backspacing of 5.5 on the factory rim. I have had to cut a fair bit of metal with mine at 4.75" bs mostly due to the chunky tread on the mtr. I had all the plastics removed and still couldnt turn the wheel without some serious scrubbing just trying to get home after I got my tires installed. As soon as I got home I took a sledge and angle grinder and went to town. I have had to cut a bit more since then due to rubbing off road. Also dont forget about the center bore on the wheels. Cant remember the exact number, its 100mm, which I think is around 4.25" if memory serves me correctly.

 

[bottobro]

Im not too worried about removing plastic or metal. I really want to get some clearance on the truck and make it look more aggressive

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Wheels/S...x?t_c=11&t_s=209&t_pt=100021&t_pn=PCW51-5883F

These would work with the truck and 33x12.5 tires on my X correct?

Tires and rims have always been a difficult understanding for me with trucks

 

[yellowx16]

That's pretty low backspacing on those rims. some people have 3.75" backspacing, I think caseycamby might have those exact rims actually, so it can be done, you will be trimming some metal though. I had to trim metal with 4.45" backspacing. Wasn't really a big deal though, just a BFH to massage the backside of the wheel well and you're good to go.

 

[caseycamby]

Yeah those are similar to mine.. Same specifics but a slightly different style haha

If you're planning on running 33s with just a 2" BL and a 3.75 backspaced wheel... You'll be trimming your doors haha. I ran 31s with a 2" BL and a 3.75 backspaced wheel and I still had to trim some plastic haha. Your best best will be a 4.75 backspaced wheel or the stock 5.5.

As for tires, the max I would go, as far as aggressiveness, would be the Duratracs. Check out the BFG ATs or the Cooper ST Maxxs. Both great tires that will last a pretty good while and still do good for you off road.

 

[Xado89]

If you're doing highway driving I'd get away from mtrs. Not the best choice for road wear. I'd stick with an at like the a few others here mentioned. You'd b just throwing money out the window there. I have a bit of backspacing, I had to cut metal right up to the front doors on my x. That's what I wanted though. If you're willing to cut...anything will fit

Sent through an exorcism and salt flavored shotgun shells.

 

[bottobro]

OK so im looking into Goodyear DuraTracs and the BFgoodwrench All Terrain T/A (leaning more towards goodyear) now these will fit on stock Xterra rims? ( 33X12.5) If not what should i be looking into? backspacing is just too confusing haha

 

[caseycamby]

Yeah they'll fit on stock rims. Your best bet is either the stock 5.5 backspacing or 4.75 backspaced wheels. The 4.75 will stick out just a little more than what you have now.

 

[Xado89]

Yeah they'll fit on stock rims. Your best bet is either the stock 5.5 backspacing or 4.75 backspaced wheels. The 4.75 will stick out just a little more than what you have now.

What he said. Also, good choice with the Goodyears. Those would have been my next choice if I didn't go with the Falken's.

 

[caseycamby]

Duratracs, ftw!

 

[Intender]

backspacing is the distance of your mounting surface to the back (inside) lip of your wheel. so if you have a stock rim which is 7 inches wide with a 5.5 inch backspacing you will have 5.5 inches off your rim behind your surface where it mates to the hub, and 1.5 inches of your rim sticking out front. if you go up to an 8 inch rim with 4.75 back spacing you will now have 4.75 inches of rim behind the mating surface and 3.25 inches sticking out. So you have widened your wheel stance by 1.75 inches per side. offset is just another way of explaining the same thing, except it is measured from the point of the mating surface at the center of the wheel instead of the back edge. positive offset means you are making the stance narrower, negative is wider. it is usually expressed in mm, and there are 25.4mm per inch. An easy example would be an 8 inch wide rim with a -55mm which is close enough to 2 inches to not matter. So in this example the center point of an 8 inch wheel would be 4 inches and you would move that 2 inches towards the back edge of the wheel. this would give you 2 inches of wheel to the back and 6 inches of wheel sticking out, which would obviously be a crazy wide stance for an xterra. I think what you want for an xterra with an 8 inch rim is something like a -12 offset if memory serves me correctly.

The only other things to worry about with a wheel is you centerbore size and what type of lug nuts you need. centerbore is important for a couple of reasons, but only one of them applies to the xterra. You need to know that its big enough to fit over the auto hubs on your truck. The other reason is wheels can also be hub centric or lug centric. if you have a vehicle that requires a hub centric wheel you need to make sure you have right size hub or your wheel will not stay centered on the hub no matter how much you crank down the lug nuts. Not sure that any cars are made that are hub centric anymore, but I could be wrong. And for the lug nuts it will usually tell you what kind you need in the description somewhere. the x comes with acorn style, so if your rims call for something else you will need to get new lugs that are the right thread pattern and deep enough to reach the wheel. steel wheels have a very thin mating surface vs most aluminum wheels and usually take acorn style, so you should be good with stock if you go with steel wheels.

 

[caseycamby]

^ a wealth of overflowing knowledge at your fingertips

 

[robcarync]

so...for those that have purchased rims...

15x8 rim.... 4.75 backspacing....is how much offset? +6 mm?

 

[bigjim247365]

Yeah they'll fit on stock rims. Your best bet is either the stock 5.5 backspacing or 4.75 backspaced wheels. The 4.75 will stick out just a little more than what you have now.

Casey, is the back spacing on your rims 3.75? like the ones on ACs website?

 

[caseycamby]

Casey, is the back spacing on your rims 3.75? like the ones on ACs website?

Yeah they're 15x8 and a backspacing of 3.75.

 

[csparks13]

bottobro, I'm in the same boat as you right now. I like the wheels you posted the link to also. The 3.75 BS scared me away. My second option is the soft 8's. robcarync, from the chart above an offset of 6 has a backspace of 4.75 is this correct? Orginally I thought most people are running 4.5 but seems as if I see more people recommending a BS of 4.75 due to trimming issues. Will you be able to notice the difference between 4.5 and 4.75? Hopefully this helps bottobro also as I think we're trying to figure out the same thing here.

Link for soft 8's with offset of 6 & (4.75 BS I think) at discount.
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/wheels/cragar/size/viewProductDetail.do?pc=59260

 

[caseycamby]

bottobro, I'm in the same boat as you right now. I like the wheels you posted the link to also. The 3.75 BS scared me away. My second option is the soft 8's. robcarync, from the chart above an offset of 6 has a backspace of 4.75 is this correct? Orginally I thought most people are running 4.5 but seems as if I see more people recommending a BS of 4.75 due to trimming issues. Will you be able to notice the difference between 4.5 and 4.75? Hopefully this helps bottobro also as I think we're trying to figure out the same thing here.

Link for soft 8's with offset of 6 & (4.75 BS I think) at discount.
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/wheels/cragar/size/viewProductDetail.do?pc=59260

That .25 inch of backspacing will be a minimal difference, at best. Either way you should be fine.

 

[lbishop]

im running 4.5 inch backspace with 265/75/16s... Sitting on 2 inch body lift and 3 inch suspension lift. I trimmed the plastics, and beat the pinch weld back to get them to clear. When I step up to 285's next go round, i'll be trimming metal.

 

[robcarync]

15x8 rim with 4.75 backspacing... VS stock 16x7 rim with 5.5 backspacing

15x8 will offer a wider stance, right... .75" on each side?

I have read the backspacing vs offset a billion times and still can't keep them straight in my head as far as converting one to the other without drawing freaking diagrams and making an excel spread sheet

I just know everyone says 4.75 backspacing but discount tire direct has the rims listed by offsets +6,0, -6, +12, etc

I want to get a slightly wider stance to increase stability...and I don't care about trimming anything to steer. I just want to make sure the rear wheels can still stuff in the fender well. Sorry to thread jack, but figured it was relevant

 

[yellowx16]

if I calculated it right it seems that your rims stick out 1 3/4" more than factory on each side. 3/4" less backspacing and an extra inch of overall rim width.

 

[robcarync]

if I calculated it right it seems that your rims stick out 1 3/4" more than factory on each side. 3/4" less backspacing and an extra inch of overall rim width.

Perfect...thanks for the confirmation...needed a 3rd party sanity check

 

[csparks13]

Perfect...thanks for the confirmation...needed a 3rd party sanity check

What wheels are you going with?

 

[robcarync]

What wheels are you going with?

nothing decided as of yet...looking at discounttiredirect.com and summitracing.com at 15x8 rims that are black with the correct backspacing

everyone usually goes with cragar soft 8s or whatever...DTD has a brand called "Unique" which basically looks the exact same as cragar (ironic, eh?...named "unique" but looks like every other wheel)...but from what I have seen summit has better prices and free shipping on rims.


My tires are still pretty good for now...so I will probably not get them for a while now...but I am always poking around to see what I want to do next

My rationale for new rims is that 15 inch tires are cheaper with better off road selection, and a slightly wider stance will make it more stable in off camber situations. The cost difference in tires alone almost pays for the rims on the first set of tires. Only down side is steel weighs more than the stock Alloys...

Which is why I am also deciding on wheel spacers vs. rims. Wheel spacers just kinda scare me though...

 

[xterror04]

All of the soft 8 style wheels are made by US wheel, they just get branded as unique, crager etc...

As long as you but a quality wheel spacer you won't have issues, I've run them for years...

As you pointed out Rob steel wheels are heavy, when I had soft 8's I noticed a power loss... The 15x8's weigh around 31 lbs a piece... My pathy Lego wheels are just a hair over 21 lbs...

My next tires and wheels will most likely be 17's then I can get metric tires in a 34" tall flavor... Every inch counts... Lol

 

[robcarync]

Xterror04...since you have run wheel spacers...once you bolt them on, is there a reason to take them off? As in...for changing rotors or brakes etc...do they need to be taken off?

If not, I would feel better about red loc titing those things on there and never taking them off.

Sorry for the thread jack...but hey, it is just more info to show up in a search result

 

[csparks13]

I've been looking in the same places. I noticed summit was cheaper than DTD. It's like $10 per wheel after you add the cost of the center caps from summit. They are included in the DTD set. I'm thinking DTD would price match in store if you tried. Which is what I plan on doing maybe tomorrow. I'll post up my findings. I'm thinking this is the wheel I'm going to buy. Hoping the offset and BS is correct. Does this look right?

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/wheels/cragar/size/viewProductDetail.do?pc=59260

 

[xterror04]

you have to take them off to access the drum brakes, as for the front the only reason to remove them would be if you were removing the disc brake