Changing Rims?

[Lassen]

Question for y'all: I have a Jeep WK that has the factory aluminum 17" rims. In the future, a year or so when it's time to replace the tires, I was thinking of changing my tires to 32" or 33" and lifting it up 1.5" to 2". Nothing too outrageous. At any rate, I had heard that maybe for off-road use I should swap from the aluminum rims to steel. Is that necessary? My intent for my car isn't heavy rock crawling, but some kind of typical off-road, at least more than dirt roads.

My car currently looks something like this:

I'd like it to get to this look:

Can I keep my existing rims?

Thanks!

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

Yes you can keep using your OE wheels. The only reason to change them would be if the tire you were looking to run were too wide for the recommended wheel width. If you have clearance issues you can always run hub centric spacers to push them out.

 

[Scott]

Yes you can keep using your OE wheels. The only reason to change them would be if the tire you were looking to run were too wide for the recommended wheel width. If you have clearance issues you can always run hub centric spacers to push them out.

I agree with this. I have my factory rims and run tires that are pretty much the max allowable width on a 7.5" wide rim. For that reason if I ever decide to go bigger on my tires I will need to buy rims too.. Wider ones at that. Depending on how big you want to go on tire size you may need to change the rims also, but more often than not I see a lot of people using stock rims even with oversized tires.

 

[Barton Fink]

.

 

[Scott]

I think I may be in the minority here.. But I've been in the rock crawling world with a built jeep on 37s where I could see a valid reason for wanting steel in case the rim bent.. But in the Overlanding world, I have yet to hit a trail where that would even remotely be a worry of mine...

Here are some of the hammers trails we used to do in our jeeps that would warrant worrying about bending a wheel..

 

[Lassen]

I think I may be in the minority here.. But I've been in the rock crawling world with a built jeep on 37s where I could see a valid reason for wanting steel in case the rim bent.. But in the Overlanding world, I have yet to hit a trail where that would even remotely be a worry of mine...

Here are some of the hammers trails we used to do in our jeeps that would warrant worrying about bending a wheel..

Yikes! Where you see a trail, I see boulders! That's awesome! But not the kind of thing for me...I just don't have that kind of experience at this time.

Realistically, for a point of reference, the most extreme I'd likely ever go is what is shown in this Overland Bound video...hope you don't mind, @Michael! So what I'd like to do to my stock Jeep WK is to get it to the clearance necessary to do these kinds of trails, the trails past where he says it's "kitten play." Here's the link: . And also so I can someday do Bald Mountain or whatever trail the Overland Bound crew decides to do for future OTG rally. So, given this, it seems my aluminum rims should do ok?

 

[Scott]

The main reason I got out of the rock crawling scene was constant breakage. Rock crawling, while challenging, was very hard on parts and expensive to repair after every run, something needed attention.

 

[Meta6981]

I changed to steelies. Cost effective, durable, needed 18 inch rims.

 

[The other Sean]

If you are only stepping up a size or two in tires but not changing the wheel diameter, there is no real need to change wheels. Aesthetics aside, as already mentioned, unless you are planning on rock crawling, save your money. I went from 32's to 33's and simply Plasti dipped my OEM wheels black. I spent $15 on paint and put the $700 I would have spent on wheels back in to my pocket. Couldn't be happier with my choice.