Front Strut And Offset Rim Question

[SKR]

Ok, so I'd imagine that if you used a offset rim which is large enough to clear your front strut coil mounts, your vehicle would operate better offroad, especailly if you removed your swaybays.

 

Has anyone done this and what sized offset was used, what tyre size, was there any stress put on other area's due to this??

 

Question prompted due to 31" mudders on standard factory alloys, no lift, 2-3mm clearance and strut topping out only on fast stuff.

 

Cheers

[XPLORx4]

Welcome to the forum, Kiwi!

 

A 15x8 or 16x8 wheel with 4" or 3.75" of backspacing works well to fit either a 32x11.50R15 or 265/75R16 tire (with a " lift) or 31x10.50R15 or 255/70R16 tire (without lift). I have had 15x8 wheels installed on my truck for over 100,000 miles and they have performed quite well, no matter what kind of tires they've worn during that time span (31x1050R15 BFG AT, 32x1150R15 Goodyear MTR).

 

Here is an example of how much the tires extend beyond from the wheel well with 15x8, 4" BS, 31" tires:

 

[vengeful]

I have my front swaybar removed, 32x11.5" tires, and 15x8" wheels with 3.75" backspacing. I'm running the 2" AC lift. The tires stick out from the fenders appx 2". It performs great off-road, and on. I noticed a drastic difference in handling characteristics after removing the sway-bar. It has a lot more body roll, but soaks up bumps better.

 

I have not noticed any problems that can be related to running the larger offset on the tires, though because of the heavier wheel and tire package, the steering is a bit heavier.

[SKR]

I'm interested in clearing the front coil mounts with the offset, currently I have about 3cm of tyre under my front coil mounts at the top of my strut, horizontally, which I'm sure inhibits the preformance. I hope I'm clear enough.

 

Thanks for the welcome as well!!!!!!!

[XPLORx4]

I'm interested in clearing the front coil mounts with the offset, currently I have about 3cm of tyre under my front coil mounts at the top of my strut, horizontally, which I'm sure inhibits the preformance.

 

As long as the tire doesn't actually contact the lower spring perch on the strut, there is no negative effect on performance at all, and therefore nothing to worry about. 30mm of clearance is actually quite a lot of space. You earlier said it was only 2 or 3 mm, which is definitely WAY too close!

 

The main advantage of getting wheels with more negative offset is that you can run larger/wider tires, as well as increase the vehicle's track width (distance between left and right tires on an axle). Increased track width improves handling and cornering.

 

Other than that, there aren't any significant performance advantages gained by getting "wider" wheels.