Tires and wheels stolen... what should I replace them with?

[FireghostXJ]

I have full coverage on my xj and on Saturday morning I walked out of my garage and found my xj on blocks. Someone stole the new Falken Wild Peaks with than 1000 miles on them and on black steelies.

I was thinking of replacing the wheels with some aluminum 17" wheels (or steelies) and not sure on the tires. I dont want to go bigger than the 33"'rs I had and its not a trailer queen so I do drive it from time to time on the street. The wild peaks were great for off road - climbing rocks and in the snow, but were loud at highway speeds as well as vibrated alot.

I would like to stay with an all terrain to minimize on vibration and sound, but would consider a baja or m/t.

Even though insurance will cover the cost, I dont want to go over board. Any ideas would be helpful.

 

[FloydXJ]

Aluminums are a good call IMO. The reduced weight should result in a little more pep and MPG. However, while there are testimonials that this does happen, there are others that say it makes no difference. There are pages of debate on whether this "unsprung weight" difference does this or that....I am of the opinion that it is an improvement. The downside is they will crack instead of bend if hit hard enough. Although I have been wheeling aluminums offroad for 21 years without a failure. I think you have to wheel quite hard for this to be an issue.

Anyway, as for the tires, there are thousand people with a thousand opinions. I have heard a lot of great things about duratracs. MT/R Kevlars and KM2's are always a standard off road choice for vehicles that see the road and do well offroad. Both are louder than all terrains, but are fairly quiet for a mud terrain. Search around for tire quest threads and see what looks good for you.

 

[Vanimal]

aluminum. steel is heavy as hell.
i really like my cooper sst's, quiet on the street and grip awesome. they were relatively cheap too.
i'd definitely go with 17's, 15 inch tires in larger sizes are getting to be difficult to find. 17's are the new 15's.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

How about some nice 16" TJ Rubicon Moab wheels? 17's would work too, but the JK ones are 5x5. Otherwise, maybe some walker evans? My favorite A/T tires are still the Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO. But I have heard good things about the Falkens.

 

[Power73]

id go with some aluminum 17s and a set of goodyear duratracs. duratracs have the best of both worlds, they look aggresive but are still a all terain tire. i havent had mine offroad much but ive heard they do pretty good offroad as well

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I really love the KM2s that I have right now. I had the center lugs cut and they have about the same road noise as my bfg A/Ts. They hook up great offroad and have fantastic on-road manners.

Also, I have cracked aluminum wheels, but it takes quite a bit. I think you'll be good moving to aluminum. With american racing outlawII wheels, 4.88s, 35's and an ax-15 I was getting 18ish mpg on the highway @70mph without too much trouble. It has been a year or so since that jeep has seen dedicated DD Life. Now it is just a trail rig that I usually trailer so I don't need to worry about "how is it going to get home??!"

It is a jeep, I don't think your building it for stellar fuel economy..

 

[K.Hess]

I have the duratrac's and love em. great road manners and do well off road.
that being said they are soft and wear quicker

 

[souske]

Pm sent

 

[MaxxXJ]

I do a good deal of rock crawling, and I bend at least 1 of the lips on my steel wheels on every trip. Aluminum wheels arent in my future , I actually just ordered rock rings for my wheels to help toughen them up :gee:

Your rims were new so you might not of bent those, but are you typically pretty rough on your wheels?

Most of the reviews I've read leans towards KM2's, i actually just saw a for sale post for km2's on here with 25k miles on them and still had 8/32-10/32 left on them, they seem like they wear pretty well.

 

[zachandandy]

From what I've seen, tires for 17" rims are more expensive. Also a 33" on a 17" rim doesn't have a lot of side wall, so aired down you will be bashing your rims. The wife and I both bend the lips on our rims pretty regularly, however my 15's seem to fair better than her 17's(both on 35's). I'd say i'm not nice to my jeep though. http://youtu.be/SxCUIQ9VOGk Km2's seem to be very good for the price.

 

[AZjeepin1]

Anddddddd wheel locks.

 

[MaxxXJ]

From what I've seen, tires for 17" rims are more expensive. Also a 33" on a 17" rim doesn't have a lot of side wall, so aired down you will be bashing your rims. The wife and I both bend the lips on our rims pretty regularly, however my 15's seem to fair better than her 17's(both on 35's). I'd say i'm not nice to my jeep though. http://youtu.be/SxCUIQ9VOGk Km2's seem to be very good for the price.

Didnt look like you made it..saw more front end damage than the wheels

 

[zachandandy]

Zero front end damage, stacked a few rocks and...

http://youtu.be/e5eWUV-kmYQ

 

[MaxxXJ]

Zero front end damage, stacked a few rocks and...

http://youtu.be/e5eWUV-kmYQ

Must have strong bumpers, you had some mean wheel hop thou, good stuff

 

[DrMoab]

From what I've seen, tires for 17" rims are more expensive. Also a 33" on a 17" rim doesn't have a lot of side wall, so aired down you will be bashing your rims. The wife and I both bend the lips on our rims pretty regularly, however my 15's seem to fair better than her 17's(both on 35's). I'd say i'm not nice to my jeep though. http://youtu.be/SxCUIQ9VOGk Km2's seem to be very good for the price.

This is a blatantly false statement. You lose an inch between the ground and the wheel. I went from running 35's on 15" wheels down to 33" on 17" wheels and I don't hit the wheels any more now than I did on 15's with two inch larger tires.

 

[zachandandy]

"Blatantly false" yet you lose an inch? An inch is an inch, aired down a hit that would bend a 17" rim 1" won't bend a 15" rim running the same size tire, basic math never blatantly false. It's a pretty well agreed upon rule of thumb in the offroad community that the tire be at least twice the size of the rim. The sidewall on an aired down tire is a part of the suspension, and helps absorb impact off road. You could argue its not a huge difference, but you can't say I'm wrong and only right by an inch in the same sentence.

 

[DrMoab]

Edited because I was wrong.

You are correct that it adds a bit of cushion. But it isn't enough to worry about and I've beaten mine up for 50,000 miles. Close to half of them on dirt and I've never bent or even hit a wheel. There is still a ton of sidewall between a 33 inch tire and a 17 inch wheel. Would I suggest running 17's with a stock tire off road? Of course not but to say that having the difference between 8" of sidewall or 9" is silly at best.

 

[Boatwrench]

What tires will perform well in rain? My XJ on BFG A/Ts is sliding every brake application and I need a set of tires before Fall Fling.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

What tires will perform well in rain? My XJ on BFG A/Ts is sliding every brake application and I need a set of tires before Fall Fling.

Even tho almost the same the General Grabber AT2, perform much better than the BFG's.
The Falken AT's (Wildpeak AT/Rocky Mountain ATS, same tire) are really good and seem to wear well. Yoko Geolander AT-S are great as well. Not sure what size you are running, but between tirerack and discounttire I am sure you can find some at a reasonable price.

 

[dart70LA]

For what it is worth, I went from 33" duratracs(32.5") on 15" aluminum wheels, to 255/70r17 BFG KM(32") on steel wheels.

In 2-3 years I never had an issue with hitting the wheels with the 15" aluminum, but within 6 months I had bent the rim of the 17" steelies.

I run less air than in the 15's(10/8, vs 15/13), because the sidewalls tend to not flex as well. But the tires barely bulge at all.

When the time comes, I will be going back to 15" wheels and 33" tires. If I was going to run 35" I would consider the 17's, but for anything less than that, 15" is what I would suggest.