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Hi New to pathfinders from Utah


02QX4
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How is it going I am new to Pathfinders. I have always like the Pathfinder platform, I started out in Jeeps as a young man I built several Grand Cherokees, and Cherokee and run moab did lots of trails just grew tired of some of the unpredictability and unreliability of Chrysler products so I move on to a Japanese brand and moved to Subaru's. My boy and I even rebuilt a Subaru Forester into a overland vehicle with a full kitchen lift bigger tires running water solar charging etc. It was a fun project. However it just was so light duty in the off road aspect so I feel this will bridge the gap and its a new project for my boy and me. I picked up a 2002 QX4 it has 111000 miles and runs great......all is not well however the car came with bald tires so I negotiated the price down and went right to the tire shop since i had to drive home 200 miles through a blizzard.........

I was convinced by the tire shop a "Pathfinder expert" recommended a setup for me. I purchased some take off wheels they had 17x9  minus 12mm offset, I did some searching and it seemed the aggressive offset would help this tire size clear the strut spring perch. well I left the tire shop, and realized shortly into the trip that this is too much tire, I wasn't too worried however because i do plan on a mild lift the Ironman Spring lift, I plan on building this into an overland vehicle again kitchen and all, so I want the heavy rear springs to carry the weight in the back., so I pulled off the road removed the mudflaps and trimmed the bumper slightly, no more rubbing on turns except some mild inner fender rubbing, so I figure sweet i'm set.

I got home and was looking over the clearances and no its not ok.....the -12mm offset has the wheels so pushed out i'm not tucking into the fender flares, so I have like 1.5" of suspension travel before i smack the finder flares......I know i'm going to lift but 3" of travel isn't going to cut it for me. I know the qx4 has different flares and I am running wider rims than most but i'm also running less aggressive fitment than most running this size tire most are running like a -19mm or 3.75" 8" back spacing. so I am asking for some help is there a possibility to tuck these tires into the fender wheels, they are a tame all terrain as I said im not going to do anything super hardcore so road manners are important. But I still wanted bigger tires and good suspension travel. I am so frustrated i'm on the verge of simply going back to the stock 17x8 +20mm offset and putting something sub 31 on, I am supposing like a 245/70r17 would fit possibly a 255/70r17..... 

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:welcome:

 

Getting the tires to tuck into the wheel well but having enough clearance around the strut is a tricky balance. You can trim the QX4 fender flares a little bit to get about 1/2" more clearance, but that won't make a huge difference. (Take off the rounded edge back to the flat surface where it screws inside the wheel well.) What size tires did you get installed with those wheels? If you're willing to switch out wheels and tires entirely, going for skinny tires will definitely help, such as 33x10.5R17.

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