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Larger tires in load range "C", almost impossible to find

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  goos 
#1 ·
Gents,
Well, long story short, I cruised on down to Discount tire today for two reasons. The rotated and re-balanced my tires on my '11 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4. I gotta hand to them, they're great in terms of service after the sale. Anyway, while the truck was in line for it's rotation and balance, I kept the manager busy for over an hour while we discussed the purchase of five tires and wheels for our newly purchased 2015 JKUR.

I've consulted this forum, many of you and more, on what our intentions are in terms of lift and what we intend on doing with this Jeep. It's more than likely, after much thought and processing, going to be a leveling kit, from some maker. Most likely either AEV or Terra Flex but, nothing's in concrete yet.

The wife and I are NOT a big fan of BLACK wheels at all. So, being a bit of "old school" technology, we had pre-selected at least three potential 17" wheels that we thought would look good on our Hydro Blue JKUR. For some odd reason, I didn't bother looking up the backspacing on them prior to heading on down to Discount tire.

When we (the manager and I) started on the computer looking up the ones we selected, I notified him of our parameters for tire and wheel choice. I told him, "Machined and not BUSY or, technical". That is, I don't want to take 4 hours to wipe down a set of seriously detailed set of wheels every time we wash the Jeep. Second, we have absolutely ZERO need for MUD TERRAINS, of any type and design.

I want QUIET as we drive this $41K machine down the road. So, I told him ALL TERRAINS ONLY! I've dealt with a few brands in the past pertaining to Jeeps and, I really didn't have a preference in tread patterns or, design. We just didn't want NOISE.

So, in the look for wheels, he must have went through about 50 screens and over a hundred wheels, before we settled on ONE. The problem was the BACK SPACING. So many of the wheels we looked at had over 5" of back spacing. And many were almost exactly what the factory wheels had, 6" of back spacing. Well, that would be dumb, to buy wheels with the same back spacing so, we kept looking. Finally, as both of us were getting eye sore at the computer screen, we came up with a wheel that I picked that would work.

It's the American Racing, Ansen AR 969 17" x 8" with what's called "0" off set or, 4.5" of back spacing, YAHOOOOOOO!!! It's a sort of retro look wheel with a machined surface for the main body of the wheel but, in keeping a "TAD" bit "hip" with the modern crowd, it has a BLACK ring around it with a ton of stainless bolts for a make-believe bead lock look. I like'm alot.

Now, as for the tires. Well, again, based on the fact that I wanted the smoothest ride possible, I wanted a "C" rated tire. And based on what the recommendations from many of you on here and more, I wanted a 34" tall tire. Since I'm doing only the leveling kit (for now), I wanted ample clearance for street and mild off road toying around. That's why I didn't go with the 35s.

So, a tire that's 34" tall, is equal to a 315 70 17. Like the wheels, we went through about 15-20 computer screens worth of tires, IN THE ALL TERRAIN versions. Well, I don't know about you guys and where you shop and or what you put in for parameters in a search but, to find a tire that size, in a load range "C" configuration, is dam..d near impossible. They all jump to load range D and, about 1/2 or more of them, load range E.

Well, this is not a cement truck, I don't need to have that kind of support. So, about the only tire that he could find, with the load range "C", was a mud terrain version of the Nitto Grappler. Well, he knew our feelings on mud terrains. I gotta hand it to him, he kept at it, searching and searching through brands and brands of All Terrains and all we came up with was a D rated (8-ply) Hancook Dynapro All Terrain in the 315 70 17.

He was nice enough to say that, if we ordered them up and installed them, then drove around for a bit and didn't like them, we could trade them in for whatever choice would be next. Not bad.


So, in the end, those will be in the store along with the wheels in about 2-3 days and, by the weekend, the Jeep should have a new set skins with nice looking wheels. Now, to order up the leveling kit. I want to thank all of you for writing up threads on lifts, tires, clearance issues or, non issues I should say, and more.
Scott
 
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#2 ·
You could also check out the Nitro Ridge Grappler in 285/75-17 which has basically the same diameter as the 315's. It's available in C load and is getting near perfect reviews.
 
#5 ·
Also a lot of guys in that 200 page 33x12.50r15 duratrac thread run the polished 15x8 tracker. The duratrac is a good tire but they don't make it in a 35x12.50r15, that's why I recommended the KO2. Here is one of the jeeps from that thread with polished trackers.

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