Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

max tire size w/3.5 lift(already went to faq)?

15K views 48 replies 7 participants last post by  Abstruse 
#1 · (Edited)
max tire size w/3.5 lift. what will work???(already went to faq)?

03 wj 4.7 3.5 lift (2"bb w/ spring helpers only) no other suspension changes other than longer shocks. want tallest tires possible without regearing or redoing any suspension. am willing to trim wheel well plastic only and add 1.5 inch wheel spacers to my stock 16 inch rims. am wanting a very narrow 8.5-10 tread. i have found the tires but wont buy until i am confident of the afforementioned issues. i have read arloguthrie posts in FAQ, but, have since read posts in this forum of 33s' w/ no lift or any mods with supposedly minimal/no rubbing and no trimming. saw the lift/tire table and it shows 33 10.5 w/no trimming if the width is the issue not so much the height they make taller narrow tires. i just want a warm fuzzy feeling about my tires thats why i am posting this. i dont want 33s' just to find out 35s' fit. any input. thanks ron.
 
#4 ·
If you are at a true 3.5" lift then you should be able to fit 33's. That is with bumper trimming and well ar a bit of very minor modding to the wheel well sheet metal that is impossible to notice.

why do i see post in this forum w/ 33 2"bb and no thrimming? is thst because they dont mind the rubbing when turning? because the tires arent hitting front or rear.
 
#5 ·
why do i see post in this forum w/ 33 2"bb and no thrimming? is thst because they dont mind the rubbing when turning? because the tires arent hitting front or rear.
If you are refering to the post above mine, hes on 4.5" of lift. Each Jeep is different, different weight based on cargo and passenger and different spring sag and wear. My friend has 31's on stock suspension with zero issues, I had to trim my bumper(read: rip it off) to make it so my 31's didnt rub with a 2" BB. The rubbing at full lock can be solved by adding a washer to the steering stops, it reduces the turning radius by a few feet but stops the rub. Offroad flex also comes into play, you will be able to fit a much larger tire if you dont care about felxing them out.

I could fit 35's with a bit of trim but have zero flex, as it stands with 31's I can put my tires right up into the fenders.
 
#6 ·
I could fit 35's with a bit of trim but have zero flex, as it stands with 31's I can put my tires right up into the fenders.[/QUOTE]

if i understand then, the 35 will hit the top fender metal instead of rolling up into the wheel well. or, it will roll into the wheel well and damage the top of the well and maybe the tire if i am offroading or maybe run over a curb? i appreciate your patience and input. thanks, ron
 
#7 ·
I could fit 35's with a bit of trim but have zero flex, as it stands with 31's I can put my tires right up into the fenders.
if i understand then, the 35 will hit the top fender metal instead of rolling up into the wheel well. or, it will roll into the wheel well and damage the top of the well and maybe the tire if i am offroading or maybe run over a curb? i appreciate your patience and input. thanks, ron[/quote]

If I was to put a 35x12.5 on, even with my spacers, I would bend the top of the wheelwell sheetmetal all to hell and probably damage the tire.

This is what happens when you flex too much. Light rub with 31's, I came off the gas when I heard the tire grinding against metal.


If I had 35's and not enough lift/trim/bumpstopping done the whole quarterpanel would have shredded. 33's would have probably done the same in that spot.
 
#8 ·
i had a 4" teraflex and 2"bb on mine and i was running 32's. i also like to flex.35's on 3.5" of lift, to me, just sounds like your asking for trouble, not to mention the wear and tear, better get the right size bumpstops!
 
#9 ·
thanks to fraserbrown and kramerh!!!! the picture is exactly what i am afraid of. bumpstops go inside the spring. right? i did some looking at them and am willing to do that to get 35' on there. again 3.5 lift. what size bumpstops? and is this measurement in addition to stock bumpstops(that i have) or in place of overall height?
 
#10 ·
You mentioned you don't want to cut metal, right? If that's the case then stop at 33", bumpstop it well so you don't smack stuff and trim the bottom of the bumper, flatten the pinch seam and trim the inner lip of the fender. To do that just make relief cuts in the lip and then use channel locks with a piece of rubber or something soft to bend in the metal. You won't have the same amount of flex as Kramer or me, but it will look pretty good and work if you dont do much wheeling.

A 33x10.5 on a stock rim should work fine.
 
#11 · (Edited)
ronsaun, im telling you man, by reading your other post your looking to get good gas mileage and wanting 35's on 3.5 inches of lift, its an oxymoron haha. you could probably get away with some 33 10.50's but once again, you hit a curb and get any flex its going to bend the sheet metal like it did on mine and fraser's rigs. arlo is an 6" with long arms and is running 35's, just to put it in perspective.. here i am at 6" (spring and spacer) and i creased my fender due to bump stops being too short.



other side
 
#12 ·
i had rubbing with 2.5" and 32's.... one inch more of lift isn't gonna get 35's in there.... and i'm not just talking about you rubbing on the front bumper, you will rub on the rear's of both front and back wheel wells. and even tho you have the 4.7, 35's need regearing. i notice a huge difference in going from 30's to 32's. my jeep got ALOT slower, AND I have the H.O. 35's= TROUBLE, 33's=REGEAR, 32's=PERFECT
 
#14 ·
35's= TROUBLE, 33's=REGEAR, 32's=PERFECT
i agree with this for the most part, but you don't just lose power when you put on tires, the lift is a contributor as well (IE drive-shaft angles, weight, etc etc) now 35's are trouble, not just meaning gas mileage, power and such, but your d30 was not built to handle that. either was your 44a really, but i haven't heard of any issues unless it was already on its way out. i plan on doing 33's when i get my springs, but im also at 6" with power adders. i do like the way my 32's ride, but i LOVED the power my jeep had stock. wayyy better than it is now.
 
#15 ·
This is all the room i have with 32's on my 2.5"bb, like i said, one inch higher won't fit 35's

heres just a pic from the side
 
#21 ·
wow i love your rig. i think i posted the other day when mine rows up i want it to be like yours. do you have rubbing issues, what size bumpstops and did you regear?
 
#18 ·
not sure to be honest.. its a nice guard though, says jeep on it and everything, they are like $595 or something like that when they sold them for those 2? years i believe. i am getting rid of it becasue i am getting an ARB at the end of the month :2thumbsup: but i dont see why you couldnt make them fit, but i have no idea how they mount up.
 
#17 ·
ahah!!! i am starting to get it!!! this is extremely helpful. thank all of you so much. when i am speaking of gas mileage i am trying to stay where i am at which is 14 city and 18.8 highway at 75 mph(this is calc.w/gps). so by going to taller tires w/my other mods i will probably be able to live with a little loss. thats why i am thinking of a superchip(eco.program). but back to the tires. i would like to see 33s on a 3-4 inch lift? am i right about the bumpstops being the rubber pedestals inside the spring? what size? i will get those!!!! thanks again i am gonna add this thread to my favorites for reference. i sure cant afford to do what you have shown me to my dd. every now and then i go crazy, bounce up/down and get stuck. and i dont even drink!!!!!!
 
#20 ·
my bump stops are the orange cone type looking things that are mounted on the unibody rails if im not mistaken, and i am not a bumpstop scientist, i have no idea what mine should be at to be honest :brickwall
 
#25 ·
i haven't done anything to the bumpstops, i had the KOR lift laying around from my last WJ. i'm running stock springs right now to.. BIG NO-NO, the only reason i even put it on is so that i didn't have to buy tires twice. i'm ordering the IRO 4" soon as spring is here, it's getting to nasty out here in wi to start messing with the jeep to much. ya they rubbed a little, but i trimmed the front bumper, and now the just barely rub the fog light bulbs. BARELY tho. and sometime the rear rubs, but it has to be on a good incline
 
#28 ·
i haven't done anything to the bumpstops, i had the KOR lift laying around from my last WJ. i'm running stock springs right now to.. BIG NO-NO, the only reason i even put it on is so that i didn't have to buy tires twice. i'm ordering the IRO 4" soon as spring is here, it's getting to nasty out here in wi to start messing with the jeep to much. ya they rubbed a little, but i trimmed the front bumper, and now the just barely rub the fog light bulbs. BARELY tho. and sometime the rear rubs, but it has to be on a good incline
your 32s rub. that sucks. i guess i can forget 33s then. how in the hell do they hit the fog lights? when i look in my wells all i see is the liner about 3-4 inches in front of the tire. does the axel move back and forth? dumb question but i dont know. if that is the case then i think my partial understanding just came full circle.
 
#29 ·
well if you're gonna run 3.5'' lift then run a "big" 32. my diameter is really 31.5 so it's a small 32. but you could run 32.1-32.5, but just with aprox the same issues as me
 
#32 ·
^^agreed^^ iro is who you want to contact, they will tell it to you straight. and thanks i really like the out come, just wish they wouldn't have gotten scuffed when the new tires were put on
 
#33 ·
Eh, thats a tire shop for you. but what do you do.

Ron- you might even contact nick (kolak) he is a vendor on here, get his number and call him, i had a 30min chat with his JUST about shocks. very nice and he knows his stuff. he night be able to set you straight!
 
#34 ·
oh and dude, when it comes to tires, consider treadrights, much cheaper, and i haven't heard to many complaints. you can get into 33's in a "toyo open country m/t" but with a different name for about 1/3 the price. just looked it up, $92 a tire... not bad
 
#36 ·
this is true too, which tires are you looking at? i didnt see any that look like my toyo muds? my 33's are going to be from treadwright, and i bet you kolak will be cheaper than iro on the bumpstops too, if not, the customer service is worth the little extra for sure!
 
#37 ·
my bad, i was half a sleep last night when i was looking at them. it's a copy of the ORIGINAL Goodyear MT/R's.

heres the treadwright for $92


and heres the original goodyear mt/r i'd guess they were about $240
 
#42 ·
yeah that's a good length warranty on retreads aswell.
 
#44 ·
im running the mt/r treadwrights right now in a 31x10.5x15 and i love em. had em about a year now and still have almost 50% thread. they have deffinently proven them selves
 
#45 · (Edited)
I'm running the IRO 4" LA lift with Bilstein shocks and Good Year Dura Trac LT265/75R16 (31.7") tires. The IRO kit came with shorter front than rear shocks so Bilstein traded the shorter ones for some longer ones to match the rears, extended the bump stops to keep the shocks from serving as such.

My tires (brand new tread), with no trimming at all, just start to rub on the inside of the plastic stock bumpers when fully flexed and tires are completely sunk in the wheel wells (sorry no pics yet of that). There's no way 33's would work without having issues. I also have a couple local friends with WJ's that are running 35's, but it required 6.5" lift and major fender trimming to get them in there.

When you look at it with just the 31.7" tires it looks like the rear tire is going to hit the door area. The radius of the arm going up forms an arc though and it clears the door fine, hits on the plastic in the rear of the wheel well instead. I could just pull that plastic out of there without even the need of rear bumper trimming, but since its plastic and gives, not to mention just barely rubs it doesn't bother me.

With plastic bumper trimming 33's would fit, but with only 3.5" of lift, and spaced further out like your talking, you're going to hit your fender at flex and do body damage. You'd probably gain more by not using the wheel spacers and could possibly just fit under the fender and into the wheel well. If you just plan to mall crawl then curbs or anything you'd encounter on the street wouldn't be a problem.



Or click here for a larger image.

EDIT:
No idea why the dirty word filter here is editing the picture link like that?

It's changing *** in that link to the *** and making it not work.

EDIT 2:
WTF?
Why is p B W (without the spaces) set by the admin here to be edited out with the censors?

EDIT 3:
pBW still doesn't work, I changed the link URL to make it work.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f6/problem-dirty-word-censor-filtering-894016/#post8234633
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top