16" wheel backspacing

16" 4.5 backspacing

I have a 66 cj5 Dauntless with no lift and am picking out wheels. I was looking at a 16 x 8 with 4 1/2 backspacing.
Will this pose any problems?

 

It may cut down your turning radius. I believe that 3 1/2" is stock. Why use 16" wheels though? You are going to limit the variety of tires you can run, somewhat.

 

I chose 16 x 8 after reading several posts on the site. I wanted a little more wheel than the 15' stock I am currently running. I have been so confused. I know 5 x5.5 bp and 3.75 is the standard backspacing, but I also read on this sight that 4.5 bs will work work well. I found these centerline wheels that looked great, but they had 4.5 bs.

http://www.samscustomshop.com/shop_...ine/centerline_wilderness_series_wildcat.html

 

actually you will have alot better choice of tires with a 16" wheel. This isn't 1980.

JB

 

I was thinking of 31 x 10.5 Michelins. I was really trying to pick a 5 spoke/slot wheel first. This is going to be all road driving. Any suggestions?

I was looking at the American Racing Moab's, but they are 17 x8. The Cragar 441 were alright as well because they come in almost every size. Any other suggestions?

 

I went by Discount Tire and ordered the generic "D" hole rock crawler look-a-likes to put my BFG MT's on. (30x9.5) I did have to specify a different (than stock that is...) backspacing to be sure the tires wouldn't rub more than the stock ones, but wasn't a big deal for them to do so. Had everything inside of 2 weeks. I literally drew it out on paper using the dimensions from the BFG spec sheet to come up with my backspacing.

If you understand backspacing, you can sketch it out to compare your old rim/tire combo with the new rim/tire combo. If you aren't having any troubles with rubbing now, then all you have to do is ensure that the inside edge of the tire is in the same place. Note that this does not mean that the outside edge won't hit sheet metal. Some drawing and headscratching ought to do the trick.

I'd be happy to measure my backspacing if it will help, but I stayed with the 15" rims.

 

You must have gotten ahold of Dan's crack pipe. I can't say much about street tires, but in offroad tires the bulk of the tires available are 15". The Michelins mentioned above should be no problem as I've run them on my F250, which has 16" rims. The bigger the rim for a given tire size the smaller the sidewall area. Might be fine for running to the store and back, but if you are in the sand or the rocks a fatter footprint is the way to go. Big rim + low pressure = less bulge. But, maybe I'm just stuck in 1980!

 

I will never take this off road. I am going to buy another cj for that purpose in the future. I have just been trying to find the perfect looking wheel! The ones I like have been 17" which is too big and 16 x 8 with 4.5 backspacing. Where do I go?

 

There would be little gain using 16" wheels. In addition to shortening the sidewall (great for on-road handling, but not so much for off roading) the normally available backspacing (4.5-5") will cause lots of inner clearance problems.

Because most modern 4WD trucks and SUV's have IFS, they require more wheel backspace for proper handling and larger diameters to clear larger brake calipers.

Your solid axle Jeep doesn't want more than 3.5-4" of backspace, 15" diameter wheels generally are built to this spec and you have lots of tire choices from 30-33" diameter.

Plus, 15" will be less expensive in most areas.