jjonez Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Hey everyone, So after creeping on the forums for awhile and slowly collecting parts, I guess it's finally time for my first post. So I bought the 2" spacer kit from Steve Fleury and am finally ready to throw them on, but thought I'd get some opinions on tire sizes. I would like to put on 32" Yokohama Geolandars, however with my stock 15x7 wheels my only option would be a 11.5" wide tire. Is this pushing it? I've read about Jeep owners doing it, but after taking a look I would be concerned about rubbing, particularly on the front struts. Would wheel spacers solve this issue? Or should I just play it safe and go with 31's? After looking at the before and after pictures that Steve has, I'd be worried that 31's might look just a bit too small and silly with a full 2 inch lift, but please tell me I'm wrong! Unfortunately larger wheels aren't in the budget right now. Oh, and fyi I'm pretty green when it comes to DIY car modifications/maintenance, if you could't tell, but gotta start somewhere! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushnut Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 If you can't budget new wheels just yet, spacers are the way to go, I went with 1.5 spacers and I'm happy with the look and performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Bushnut are your spacers bolt on or just rings to slide over the studs? Talking of which, does anyone know of hub centric spacers for the R50? My concern with bolt ons is that my extended lugs in the front will protrude beyond the spacer thickness and make it impossible for the wheel to sit flush. I'm not looking for crazy thick just something hub centric to alleviate any vibration issues that may contribute from lug centric wheels. To address some of your concerns. IMO 31's are fine on a 2" lift. 2" really isn't a lot on stock springs. Realistically you get more like 1.75 out of it as it will compress the spring more. Here is a picture or mine with the same 2" lift and 31's 32x11.5 is a nice size, but not drastically different from 31's. I've moved up to 33's but that required a lot of trimming of the fenders before I got the SFD. Tires are expensive so my recommendation would be to wait and save up until you have enough money for rims. Then buy the right size tire on a wider, more offset rim. The look will be a lot better than stock rims. Doing things right the first time around saves money in the end. As for DIY, this is a good vehicle to learn on. Replacement parts aren't too expensive and the junk yards usually have multiple r50's for cheap parts too. Start with the simple stuff to build confidence. Change all your fluids. It will make you feel good lol. Go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushnut Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 the lugs on the spacers were to long for the stock nutts so I drilled them out on my buddy's lath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjonez Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thanks for the replies. I would save up for wheels, except I'm awfully close to the end of my tread on my current tires haha. Your 31's looked good to me so I think I'll keep things simpler and go with those. And yep, clutch fluid is nice and dirty so I'll get around to changing everything soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasttunes Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 The ideal tire size for your 15x7's is 205/65R-15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjonez Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 ha uh, seems rather small... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Bushnut, where did you get your spacers from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 jjonez: side profile of 31" (LT245/75-16): This is with 2" spacers and OME springs (1"/1.5") front and rear. Stock 16x7 wheels with .25" wheel spacers. CDN: Gorilla has a line of hub centric rings (available through Summit, Jegs, etc.), but you can also try justforwheels.com. IIRC our center bore is 100mm. I can confirm that this week. I'd think that if you went with the bolt-on type, your tires would stick out too far...you'd have to go with at least 1.25" to clear your longer studs if you used rear OE studs up front like I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I just purchased 1.5" bolt on spacers lol. Gonna be WIDE!!! Hopefully it won't look too redneck. But these spacers were actually listed as specific to the R50 so the bore should be centric. Time will tell. At least this was I can always get wider rims and tires in the future if I wanted to. My thinking if I need new rims I'll go with 15x10 instead of 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebelord Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Unless you have a subframe drop. 31" is a good size. No worries about clearance cutting. And allows tuck on flex easily. Plus the stock size is mostly 29.5" unless you have the funky early LE wheels. If you look at both my Pathfinder they both have 31" and run perfect down here. (The 99 with thr black wheels are actually 29" AT. But the muds are 31") Sent from fat fingers on S6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DejectedNuts Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I read somewhere that you can use Xterra wheels. Is that true? Is so, what dimensions are they? I am having trouble with bead leaks and I'm wanting to change my wheels and go bigger as well. Also I'm having trouble sourcing steel wheels with a 3.75" backspace. So I'm thinking of trying a wrecker and maybe I'll find some good used wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 You can't find steelies with 3.75 BS?! Just order some from 4 wheel parts, they have warehouses in Canada. Look for Soft 8's or Rock Crawlers. Pro Comp makes some very popular ones. They also aren't very expensive. Xterra wheels like Pathfinder wheels will come in different sizes. AFAIK the bolt pattern on all or most Nissan's is the same, especially on these 2 vehicles (6x5.5). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) Xterra wheels like Pathfinder wheels will come in different sizes. AFAIK the bolt pattern on all or most Nissan's is the same, especially on these 2 vehicles (6x5.5). Actually, most Nissan truck/SUV wheels before 2005 will fit to some degree. 05+ will not fit because they are 6x4.5. You could get adapters, but the center bore would be too small if you have hubs (4wd) Titan/Armada wheels have the right bolt pattern, but the center bore is too small for 4wd Pathfinders. For 2wd, you can usually groove a lip on the wheel mounting side to clear the ring on the hub (100mm). Not sure if there's enough metal to make them fit 4wd, but I don't see how there couldn't be. Some Xterra/Frontier wheels are 15". Older R50s came with 15", but the facelift ones came with 16" and 17". The 15" should fit as long as the calipers didn't change (don't think so). The backspacing and offset varies. Edited July 29, 2015 by hawairish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyeager Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I read somewhere that you can use Xterra wheels. Is that true? Is so, what dimensions are they? I am having trouble with bead leaks and I'm wanting to change my wheels and go bigger as well. Also I'm having trouble sourcing steel wheels with a 3.75" backspace. So I'm thinking of trying a wrecker and maybe I'll find some good used wheels. Summit sells 15x8 with 3.75bs for about $50 each. And free shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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