Wheel Offsets

[suzyted]

easy way to remember positive and negative ofsets is
negative gives you dish on the face of the wheel
positive gives you a flat face wheel

exceptions to this can be the shape of the spoke or mesh if bends backwards .these generally have to have tyres fitted with the wheel upside down. ( reverse mount ) if any further info req i am a alloy wheel rep and can pass on info

[zuku26]

This comes at a perfect time. I'm trying to fit wider wheels to my suzuki samurai/sierra. I know that the factory backspacing is 3.5 on a 15x5 or 15x5.5 inch rim. I would like the back of the wheel to stay in the factory location. but want the front of the wheel to stick out. I would like to upgrade to a 7-8.5 inch width. The actual wheel I am looking at is 17x8.5

[zuku26]

Any help suzyted??

[derelict_frog]

17???? I would like to see u try and find a 4wd tyre that acctually comes in a 17" lol (waits for rover nut to pop up)

U want a 15x8 with a nice offset.

And if u upgrade tyre width u want the back and front of the tyre (i assume u mean the 2 widest sides?) to move outside the car more so they are further away from the springs and give you a wider ride.

[zuku26]

The 17" wheels that I am speaking of can be seen here:
http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/r36.html

These same wheels on a samurai can be seen here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/335273/2

I will be running a 235/50-17 tire
and will be dropping the suspension 2-3 inchs as well.
What I am trying to do is keep the inside portion of the wheel exactly where it is now with the stock 3.5" backspaced wheel. But add the extra 2 inches of width from the new wheel to the outside only. I don't want wheels that stick way out. I want them out only as far as needed.

[Damo]

17???? I would like to see u try and find a 4wd tyre that acctually comes in a 17" lol

[kimclive]

Toyota Prados come out with 17 inch wheels so the tyres are becoming easier to find.

Not on every corner yet though!

Cheers

Clive

[zuku26]

Do those toyota prados have the same bolt pattern as a zook though. I spent about a year looking for these darn wheels. Now that I found them I need to figure out which offset I need.

[Vineboy]

Don't tell them it's for a suzuki but say a F100 as I am pretty sure that the bolt patterns are the same but see if you can get 17inch rims. Toyota wheels don't fit.

[derelict_frog]

No toyatos would have 6 stud rim and you only want 5 stud rim for a suzuki,


also are u making a low cruising beast with those blingo rims? or lifting it to for 4wding?

[DamTriton]

The 17" wheels that I am speaking of can be seen here:
http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/r36.html

These same wheels on a samurai can be seen here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/335273/2

I will be running a 235/50-17 tire
and will be dropping the suspension 2-3 inchs as well.
What I am trying to do is keep the inside portion of the wheel exactly where it is now with the stock 3.5" backspaced wheel. But add the extra 2 inches of width from the new wheel to the outside only. I don't want wheels that stick way out. I want them out only as far as needed.

We're talking rice here.....

Might have better luck looking in some of the SoCal forums to see what can be made to fit. Most ppl here are only interested in going higher and bigger with the tyre size.

17" rims are the difficult part, 17" tyres are everywhere.

Although not quite legal, you could use some wheelspacers to adjust the effective offset of the rims to what you need. Generally for alloy rims add about 1" to the stated rim "width" and do the backspace calcs from there.

Overall width:
8.5" + 1" = 9.5" = 240mm

Available in -10mm offset:
(240mm/2) - 10mm = 110mm = 4.375"

To maintain original backspace:
4.375" - 3.5" = 0.75" (say 1" for safe clearance to springs/chassis) wheel spacer required

Hope this helps.

[zuku26]

Thanks for the info.
I have built many zooks for wheeling, but came across this super clean 2wd sammy for dirt cheap. I figured I would do something different with this one.

[grimbo]

17???? I would like to see u try and find a 4wd tyre that acctually comes in a 17" lol (waits for rover nut to pop up)

he is in the USA where there are many more 4wd tyres available in the 17"+ sizes

[zuku26]

You are correct about me being in the USA, the the problem here is that the samurai (what you call sierra) is a very rare vehicle. We haven't had them new in over 11 years, So companies don't make aftermarket parts for them like they used I read somewhere that there are only 500 2wd zooks still on the road. and I have one of them. I will say that there are tons of 20 inch rims for the samurai on the US market but this is the only 17 that I have found with a year of searching. I think that's why I want to build a "street prepped" 2wd sammy. It;s the realm of the unknown.