Rim / Tire / Offset comparison

[samneil2000]

I know it's popped up before and I can't remember the answer. Do 15's clear the front calipers?

[Etfren]

Well they seem to be fine on VXorado's rig. I tried my friend's 15's with 35's on (only on the back, because I thought it was the back brakes it had to clear) and they fit fine with no issues. Tried two different sets actually, some steelies and some alloys with different offsets.

[VXorado]

I'm going for a similar setup to VXorado with mine, although I've got a 4" suspension lift and no body lift (lots o' cutting!) on my rig thanks to the previous owner. Planning on getting some 15X8 steelies, theses ones to be exact:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Cragar/260/342-5860P/10002/-1

They are a +6 offset instead of the -12 that VXorado is running, so by my math they should stick out some (which I like the look of) but about half what his do, so about .75" outside the wheel wells.

Then I'm putting some 35/12.5/15 GY MTR's on. For the price of 15" tires compared to 18" tires for the stock wheels, its cheaper to buy new wheels and tires than to buy just the tires for my 18's that would need to be powdercoated anyway.

Thats exactly the reason why I went with 15" rims, not as blingy but you save a lot of money on tires. I purchased 5 MTRs from Discount Tire and got them for $210 each. The same tire for an 18" rim is $394 each. $1050 vs. $1970


When are you buying the Cragars? Those are the exact same rims I have but with the offset I want. I would like to see how they fit your VX when you get them installed.

I know it's popped up before and I can't remember the answer. Do 15's clear the front calipers?

Definitely no problems running 15" rims.

[LittleBeast]

You asked, so here's what I think..........I think you've set the bar a bit too high with your choice of wheels & tires to obtain 35" O.D. for the compact VX which has extremely cramped front wheel-well cavities. Sure L-Dub, Little Beast, JoFoToz have been successful in that regard, but it took them countless modification efforts, untold hours of hard work, tons of money, and they had to overcome many headaches just to have them fit on in a straight line, much less be able to turn left and right.

For the easiest possible fitting 35" O.D. set-up, you should use the 2000/2001 OEM 18x7 Stock Rim (either standard chrome OR have it powder-coated Black, etc) that has the correct factory offset/backspacing advantage of the OEM stock wheel and use the specific tire size of 285/75R18 (35" O.D.) (aka 35x11.50-18). This specific Wheel/Tire combo will give you the 35" O.D. you're looking for without all of the future headaches of installation.

There are four(4) tires made in the 285/75R18 (35" O.D.) size, they are:

A. Toyo - A/T
B. Toyo - M/T
C. Maxxis - "BigHorn"
D. G/Y - M/T-R with Kevlar

Haha, "headaches"..... "countless modifications"..... "untold hours"....."tons of money".....

Riff if VX.info ever writes a fictional book about the hardships of a simple lift I think you should write it :-)

You can count the modifications necessary and they are not that numerous or complicated.

You can definitely count the hours, normally on one hand and when you are doing what you enjoy the hours are nothing but pleasure :-)

The lift and everything is not that expensive either, the most exspensive part will just be the tires.

But if you have never personally gone through the process yourself and experienced the feeling of a job well done, and a custom ride in which you are proud of and feel almost is an extension of your personality, then you will never fully understand.

[tom4bren]

I know it's popped up before and I can't remember the answer. Do 15's clear the front calipers?

Mine do ... but with my offset, I rekin that's no suprise.

[Etfren]

Well you should all know that Riff's rig is stock height and on the stock wheels. He takes every chance he can get to praise the perfect fitment and low weight you get at stock height or lifted with the factory 18X7 (or 16X7 for 99's) wheels and how a 285 tire looks best and will fit on stock height with minimal trimming.

[VXorado]

But if you have never personally gone through the process yourself and experienced the feeling of a job well done, and a custom ride in which you are proud of and feel almost is an extension of your personality, then you will never fully understand.

I completely agree with this statement.

The reality of fitting 35s:

Lift: Total 4"-5" obtained by coil springs, spacers, body lift, torsion cranking, etc.

Shocks: new longer shocks for the lift

Diff drop: Not required but 1.5-2" drop will help the front half shafts tremendously.

...and thats it!

[tom4bren]

I completely agree with this statement.

The reality of fitting 35s:

Lift: Total 4"-5" obtained by coil springs, spacers, body lift, torsion cranking, etc.

Shocks: new longer shocks for the lift

Diff drop: Not required but 1.5-2" drop will help the front half shafts tremendously.

...and thats it!

Looks like you finally grew a set = Priceless.

[VXorado]

Looks like you finally grew a set = Priceless.

...

[djvx]

Alot of Riff bashers here again. Shame on you all. But what many of you defend as not being a royal pain IS a royal pain for others. I come out on the side of Riff here. Maybe you had a 2nd vehicle to drive while you spent thousand(s)or more making and paying for tire, wheel, suspension, and body mods. Glory for bustin' your tail is great if you've got hours upon hours of free time and cash coming out of your #$$. I'm very glad you have cash and by no means am I a liberal class warfarer. It's not so much the money as it is the damn research, and the crap that constantly goes wrong, or the wrong parts, all that hassle. I'm just saying for you folks with the love of wrenching or pockets packed full of cash and extra rigs to drive while yours is gettin' modded felt mis judged by Riff I can tell you he was speaking for me on that one.

[Riff Raff]

Yeah, so take that!!! Neener, neener, neener. But seriously, no harm; no foal. Ya' gotta love this VX family. It sometimes reminds me of when my relatives are over for Thanksgiving Dinner and the heated argu.... err.... "discussions" (yeah, that's it) that develop, LOL.

For the record, I praise those folks that go the extra effort and mod their VX's to their own personal liking (heck; they own it, so go for it). They take the risk of going through with the mod and that it may present some unknown challenges before final completion or may possibly open-up a whole new can-o-worms creating a domino effect of issues or continued required maintanance due to the mod. That is the risk versus reward factor. Bottom line-- be happy with your VX and do those things or intentionally NOT do those things in your continued quest to be a satisfied VX owner.

[JoFotoz]

WOW djvx...

Alot of Riff bashers here again. Shame on you all. But what many of you defend as not being a royal pain IS a royal pain for others. I come out on the side of Riff here. Maybe you had a 2nd vehicle to drive while you spent thousand(s)or more making and paying for tire, wheel, suspension, and body mods. Glory for bustin' your tail is great if you've got hours upon hours of free time and cash coming out of your #$$. I'm very glad you have cash and by no means am I a liberal class warfarer. It's not so much the money as it is the damn research, and the crap that constantly goes wrong, or the wrong parts, all that hassle. I'm just saying for you folks with the love of wrenching or pockets packed full of cash and extra rigs to drive while yours is gettin' modded felt mis judged by Riff I can tell you he was speaking for me on that one.

I must have done mine ALL wrong.
It took me about an hour of research here..
About three hours of labor and waiting for alignment...
And under $1000.

Thanks for the heads up on whats really involved

I'll set aside hours and hours this weekend, check my #$$ for thousands of bucks...

...and do it right this time





jo

[Vendetta]

One of the "problems" is that the VX looks so damn good in so many lift/wheel/tire configurations, it's tough for certain individuals to pick a combination among them that feels "best." And then we start nuking it out and spending a ton of time on here scrutinizing pictures taken at angles we'll never see in the real world, PMing other members for guidance, calling friends for their opinions, pricing out products from 80 different vendors, adding them to shopping carts to find the best total prices ('cause we're not all gajillionairres)... you get the idea.

But hell, think of all the great threads and info that's been shared 'cause of these nut jobs... like me.

In the end, I went with"
OME 913 and torsion bar crank for ~3" lift
18x9 wheels with +25 offset
285/65/18 tires

Just waiting to get them mounted! The body shop is taking their sweet time with the debadge and paint touch up.

[VXorado]

Alot of Riff bashers here again. Shame on you all. But what many of you defend as not being a royal pain IS a royal pain for others. I come out on the side of Riff here. Maybe you had a 2nd vehicle to drive while you spent thousand(s)or more making and paying for tire, wheel, suspension, and body mods. Glory for bustin' your tail is great if you've got hours upon hours of free time and cash coming out of your #$$. I'm very glad you have cash and by no means am I a liberal class warfarer. It's not so much the money as it is the damn research, and the crap that constantly goes wrong, or the wrong parts, all that hassle. I'm just saying for you folks with the love of wrenching or pockets packed full of cash and extra rigs to drive while yours is gettin' modded felt mis judged by Riff I can tell you he was speaking for me on that one.

C'mon Man! The VX is one of the cheapest rigs to lift. Buy new coil springs and crank the torsion bars... done . Even with all the suspension lift bells & whistles, its still cheaper than any new Jeep lift out there. I have a tiny amount of money invested into the VX compared to any new car for sale today. And my other car... only in my dreams

Your assumptions are way off... I will now assume that because you have a Harley, you have boat loads of money and spend all your time polishing the chrome exhaust pipes. Did I just figure you out? Probably not...

And I don't think anyone is against Riff Raff, its all for fun & okay to disagree with the "Tire Guru" every once and a while.

I understand your argument though... my advice to anyone is don't modify your VX without some time & money to spend. Leave it stock & enjoy it

djvx, I'm a little surprised that you feel this way since you were just interested in building a rear door spare tire carrier. I spent more time on that project than anything else with the VX and your post sounds like you have no interest in modifying. Are you still planning on building a spare tire carrier?

[VXorado]

In the end, I went with"
OME 913 and torsion bar crank for ~3" lift
18x9 wheels with +25 offset
285/65/18 tires

Just waiting to get them mounted! The body shop is taking their sweet time with the debadge and paint touch up.

Nice

You'll lose a 12mm inner clearance because of the rim width. Let us know how they fit in the front and don't forget to take some pics.