16 or 17 inch wheel ?

[Elbert]

I know that this may have been hashed out many times or whatever...in any case here is my question.

I want to run a 35 inch tire..or metric equivalent , I have a 86 FJ60, that stays loaded with a bunch of crap that I mostly trail ride with.

Anyway...given i want to run something like a 35 inch mud tire...is the selection of tires better at the 16inch wheel size or 17inch...if anyone has any first hand knowledge. I've been looking around some.

At present I have 33 BFG MT KO's on 15 inch....I want to get out of the 15 inch wheel game...

 

[Corbet]

Moving forward I'd go with 17's.

Tire selection will only be better with the larger rim in the future. Currently its probably equal for 35's. 37's have a clear advantage with a 17" now. OEM's have already gone to 18's. That's really pushing it on sidewall height IMO on a 35" tire. But it all depends on the nature of your wheeling I guess.

 

[Elbert]

Please explain the sidewall height note?

Just thinking loud... 35*12.5*17 or 315 metric tire..along with a 17*8 wheel.

 

[Corbet]

I've always tried to have 10" of sidewall height for offroad use. Meaning with a 15" wheel then you'd have 10" of sidewall with a 35" tire.

The less sidewall height the less protection to the wheel and less tire to contour to the rocks when wheeling aired down.

Typed poorly from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[cruiserpilot]

I've gone the 17" wheel route. One BIG issue is the lack of sizing for our particular old style axles. It is very rare, boarding on impossible, to find - and I qualify this with personal taste - 17" wheels with less than 4" of BS. I ordered 4Wheel Parts wheels, 17x9 steel with 4" BS to run Toyo Mt's 285/75R17. Now I find a bit of rust, and I'm tiring of the big round hole style.
So I'm looking for new alloy wheels. I haven't looked at 16" wheels, obviously, but the 80 series came with 16" factory, so that entire selection of wheels is available to you.
Level 8 Motorsports and Stealth Wheels are the nicest I've seen, but everything they offer that I've found, requires wheel spacers to counter excessive 4.5" + BS that all new Toyota's use.
Good luck and when I find what I like, I'll be sure to post it.

 

[Corbet]

In a 17" I'd look at other Toyota OEM wheels. You can't beat the strength for the price. 17x 7.5" sequoia/tundra/FJC/4Runner wheels are around for low cost. But I'm just not big on bling wheels. Never have been personally.

Typed poorly from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[Elbert]

I have some 17 inch FJ cruiser wheels in black steel.... They are OEM.

I think they too requires spacers....I've got some 17ich AT tires moutned on them (not on the LC) and I guess I need to go back and pull the spacer off the front axle and test fit the cruiser wheels...

I just like the plain jane type black steel wheels for my junk... not the wagon style wheels though..

I agree on the sidewall business, but I'm limited in the tire size I can run and 35 is about max given my present setup. I could simply look to get a 35 tire and use my present 15 wheels but I would like to get away from that if possible and get away from teh sue of wheel spacers.

 

[titanpat57]

Im running all 265/70/17's (truck and trailer)...going to switch everything over to 285's this fall..