18" wheels and tires

[honu]

Some time back, maybe a couple or three years ago, I installed a set of Dodge Magnum R/T, 18" wheels and 225/60-18 tires on my 2002, two wheel drive, Liberty Limited. I wanted a custom wheel, I had these in my garage and, besides, they're forged and a lot stronger than most "affordable", aftermarket wheels.

I posted up a photo to show off the new look and a member here brought up an excellent point I hadn't been aware of. He brought to my attention to the fact that the Dodge bolt pattern was 115 on 5 vs. the Jeep's 114.3 on 5. He was concerned that there'd be problems with the wheels not mounting properly and possibly shifting, causing the wheels or studs to crack or even fracture. Unfortunately, my fiscal situation at the time, precluded me from buying new wheels and tires, so I was stuck with these.

Anyway, today I had to replace the tires and while doing so, inspected the wheels, lugs, rotors and brake drums. The manager of the tire shop checked them also. We found there was no abnormal wear or cracking of the wheel's mounting pad or around the lugs bolt holes.

He pointed out that the wheels are "hub centric" and don't use the lugs to center the wheel, so there'd be no chance of the wheels shifting on the rotor or drum.

Just thought I'd pass this information along...

Here's a photo of my Jeep with the new tires, I went up to 255/55-18's in order to correct the speedometer... they look and fill the wheel well better than the previous tires did.

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This Liberty is driven almost exclusively on the street, by my daughter... the only "off-road" it's seen is an occasional, 15 MPH, fire road excursion, when the family's out "camping" in the motorhome.

Obviously, I'm no expert, so I'd be very hesitant to recommend use of the wheels for vehicles bouncin' around, out in the boonies...

 

[lautinjr]

Actually what usually happens is the studs bend and after a few uses tend to brake causing a loose wheel. The wheel has a conical seat just like the lug. As these 2 seat together the stud will not be perfectly on the lug nut position causing a slight bend after a few rotation the studs will have bent a few different directions and been through a few heat cycles and torqueing. They then start to brake. Ive seen this a few times unfortunately. Good news factory studs are really good quaility and it takes considerable time. After market studs like Dorman usually only last a couple rotations.

 

[honu]

Actually what usually happens is the studs bend and after a few uses tend to brake causing a loose wheel. The wheel has a conical seat just like the lug. As these 2 seat together the stud will not be perfectly on the lug nut position causing a slight bend after a few rotation the studs will have bent a few different directions and been through a few heat cycles and torqueing. They then start to brake. Ive seen this a few times unfortunately. Good news factory studs are really good quaility and it takes considerable time. After market studs like Dorman usually only last a couple rotations.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that.

I did check the bolt holes in the wheel, to see if there'd been any uneven wear, indicating the lug nut was putting excessive presssure on one side of the hole... I didn't see any.

The wheels have been on the Jeep for approximately 25,000 miles, so perhaps I've been fortunate...