Steel rim back spacing and offset

[stewwalker]

I currently have american racing baja rims on my 95 suburban (15x10). My 33" tires rub when I am at full lock. The rims are a bit to wide I suspect. I'm thinking about swapping the rims out with some black steel rims. My question is what rim size width is a good fit for a 33" tire. I only have a 3" lift on the truck.

 

[gun45boat]

15x8 or 15x9 would be great, as I am willing to bet the 33's are 12.50 width? I personally would go with the 8" wide as they tend to stay on the wheel better at lower are pressures if you are not running beadlocks. just my $.02

 

[4x4x4doors]

Width of the rim should be related to width of the tire. Your 33" tire is a measurement of diameter. If your tire is a 12.5" width, the 10" rim is probably good and your backspace is the more likely culprit.

Unless you have easy access to a number of different wheels to trial and error it, you really need to look at the geometry of where and under what conditions it rubs. If it only rubs on the frame at full lock, less backspace may be all you need. If it rubs on the fender liner or edges of the fender, less Backspace may do it.

 

[stewwalker]

It rubs on the fender at full lock quite allot. Tires are 33x12.5 bfg a/t. What is a normal amount of negative offset, or is zero offset fine.

 

[4x4junkie]

Assuming your current 15x10s have the standard 3.5-3.75" backspacing... My suggestion would be if you rarely air down for offroad use and/or you put a lot of miles in on the street, stay with 15x10s but switch to a 4.5" backspacing. This should bring the tires in slightly hopefully getting them off the fenders when you're turning.
If you do air down frequently, then I would 2nd gun45boat's suggestion. 15x8" w/3.75" backspace works great for that (and still brings the tires in about the same amount).

 

[stewwalker]

With a 8" wide rim would I still have the same -19 offset? How much does your footprint shrink with a narrower rim?

 

[4x4junkie]

A 15x8" w/3.75" backspace I think is around -12mm offset, where a 15x10" w/4.5" backspace should be closer to -19mm offset (not too real big of a difference).
A 15x10" w/3.75" backspace OTOH will be more like -38mm offset.

Some 15x8" wheels can be had in a 3.5" backspace, which would share the same offset as a 15x10" 4.5" BS wheel.

 

[gun45boat]

4x4junkie is dead on!!!!!