94 XJ Wheels question

[lilmatty]

Hi. First ever post here.

Just bought a 94 XJ Sport that's basically stock and ready ot build up. It has 15" wheels on it and will upgrade those to 16x7.

Question is: when buying the 16" wheels what bolt pattern do I describe to the tire dealer? Are there other model years and Jeep models with the same patterns?

Matt

 

[Lawn Cher']

You should have posted this in OEM tech, it would havel gotten more responses... anyway, all Cherokees (XJ,) Comanches (MJ,) Wranglers (YJ-old & TJ-new,) old body style Grand Cherokees (ZJ,) and Liberties (KJ) use wheels with a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. Most are 15x7, but TJ's had 15x8's available; KJ's, ZJ's and some late model XJ's had 16x7 available. The backspacing (which affects how much the wheel sticks out) are all the same except for the KJ, which I think tucks under the body a bit more than the rest. The stock XJ backspacing is 5.25"... less backspacing makes the wheel stick out more.

With more information on what your intentions for the vehicle are, we can offer more advice on wheel and tire selection.

 

[lilmatty]

Thnaks. We're looking at putting on 285-75R16s after the lift. We currently have those 15x7s. We're shopping for wheels that'll fit on the bolt pattern but just didn't know what to ask for.

 

[Lawn Cher']

Get a 16x8, 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern, with 4.75" or less backspacing. With that 285 tire width, a 7" wide rim is kinda narrow and will cause the tire to wear unevenly.

 

[lilmatty]

I'm told by others that a 7" wheel will hold the bead in air-down situations better than an 8" wheel. So we trade off tire wear for off road flexibility?

 

[jjmat3]

I would be concerned w/ the tire wear issue on a DD, but I am more concerned w/ bead popping on a mostly trail driven rig. Heck, w/ the abuse the tires will be given, I will destroy them before wearing them out anyway.