Re: i need help finding wheels
jelohead said:
i bought my first jeep, a 05 liberty rocky mountain renegade this past june. it came with 225/75/16 wrangler st's on "polished" wheels. i want to put probably 3 season tires on 18" chrome wheels, but everyone i talk to, including manufacturers and web dealers all give me different, and sometimes conflicting info on what the proper width and offset should be. the tires will be 255/55/18 ok all you experts, help out this newbie? what is the absolute proper wheel size i should be looking to purchase? thanx, jelo (libblack)
Not to totally thread jack, but I did the math on your 18's you want.
Im starting with info that was VERY difficult to find... stock offset! I've gathered that it's somewhere between +35mm to +40mm. I've erred on the side of caution and assumed that the stock offset is +35mm. If it happens to be +40mm then that just means that when going with my measurements you'll have more clearance on the inside edge of the wheel (further away from the struts, etc.)
18x7.0 = +35mm offset or 6.25" backspacing (7.0 is stock KJ wheel width)
18x7.5 = +29mm offset or 6" backspacing
18x8.0 = +22mm offset or 5.75" backspacing (I don't know if 18x8 exists?)
18x8.5 = +16mm offset or 5.5" backspacing.
Simplify (for the KJ only): Working it out for every half inch the wheel gets wider just subtract 6.3mm from the offset (or subtract .25" from the backspacing)
Basically the wider the wheel the small the POSITIVE offset you'll want.
FWIW if you went REALLY crazy and got a 10" wide wheel, you'd actually cross over into NEGATIVE offset -5mm offset or 4.6" backspace. 10" wide wheels would look really **** on a Liberty.
DISCLAIMER: Although these measurements get you the desired offset for clearance of the suspension components, I make no claim that they will allow for proper turning with no rubbing fore or aft of the wheel (against the fender wells). This can ONLY be done by fitting the tire and wheel on the vehicle and trying it. Your best bet is to go and talk to your local shop, and armed with the information I've provided hopefully they'll be more likely to let you trial fit a set.