Why? 33X12.50 on a 15X8

[Yomie]

I have been to a few (3) Shops here so far, and each one said that they will not put a 33X12.50 on a 15X8" rim? What am i to do? Should i keep looking for shops around here to do it? The three shops I went to were regular tire shops, should i go to a 4X4 shop and see if they will do it?

[RFR2212]

If they won't put the tire on for you, don't give them your business. They may call it unsafe, etc....But, I believe a few hundred people here can attest to the fact that a 33x12.5 on a 15x8 rim is safe. Check the local 4x4 shops!
Pete

[olivesman]

it's not recommended for many reasons: looks kinda stupid, you'll rub more, and it can create some funny tire wear. you always want to try and stay w/ in 2" of your tires width. ie- if you tires are 12.50's then you want your wheel to be at least 10"(not exactly 2" difference but it works).

if you have to stick w/ 8" wheels then i would NOT recommend going to someplace like kauffman or sears. you need a 4x4 shop or some hole in the wall place. good luck man- russel

[rpenner54]

Thats a bunch of phooey if you ask me! I have been running my 33x12.50's for the past year on my 15x8's with no problems at all! With the 15x10's you probably will loose the bead easier when off-roading. Plus your rims will not get as scared up when off-road. I know that Paul Gagnon has been running 33x12.5's on stock rims for the past few years without any troubles. It can be done you just have to find a shop that knows something about what they are talking about. Discount Tire is where I got mine done.

[Yomie]

33X12.5 on a stock rim(15X7)? that can be done? Damn, if i could find a shop to do it, ill prolly do that for now. I'll keep looking around for now, i'll let you guy's know......

[CHH777]

I'm with rpenner54 on this one. I have 2 sets:

- 33x12.50 BFG M/Ts on 15x8 RockCrawlers
- 33x12.50 BFG A/T KOs on stock 15x7.5 Mazda rims

Both sets look and perform great. Personally, I don't like the way these tires look on 15x10 rims...

[Yomie]

I agree, i like the way they look on a 15X8 rather than a 15X10. I was loking at pics of Paul's truck, and saw them on 15X7, looks alright, and i would do this untill i got some 15X8's. The only problem is trying to find a shop to mount em, i pass this one shop every once in a while, you wouldn't even know it was there if it wasnt for the HUGE pile of tires in front of the shop, i am gonna try and see if they will do it! I'll let you guy's know!

[Qxa47e]

Yomie-
There is a place called "Quick and Gwisee" two exits north of Louisville on I-71. They will mount it for you. I can get you their phone # if you want. My buddy uses them all the time and they do good work and inexpensive too.

Qxa47e in Louisville, Ky

[Clint]

ok i worked at discount tire and a 15x8 will cause extra stress on the side walls and will have wierd tire wear and are not recomended did i still mount them?yeah i did but i wouldn't suggest it unless it's off road only plus it looks kinda dumb my spare is on one

[olivesman]

Mr. Martin-

thank you so very much. i always feel alone w/ my opinion on tires. i really DON'T like the hour glass look but i do respect others opions and understand that others have different preference, BUT why somebody would choose an 8" wheel over a 10" beets the heck out of me. the only logical explanation i've heard is that the bead keeps better, but when using 3 ply bfg's you better not be taking that much air to start with

anyway, thanks for backing for me up. i felt like a cat in a room......

-russel

[Maniak]

The other reason to run an 8" rim over a 10" rim is more rim protection. With the narrower rim your tire will help protect the rim. I never thought of that but it is in a 4x4 mag and it makes sense (and seems to work. I don't have any damage on our rims with our 11.50" wide tire on 8" rims). They say you do have to be careful and not go too narrow or it crowns the tire etc. I've always heard/read that the tire/rim shoudl be within 4"..

~Mark

[jimbo74]

Originally posted by Maniak
I've always heard/read that the tire/rim shoudl be within 4"..

~Mark

yup this is what i was taught at america's tire company which is the same as discount tire company

[Clint]

ok when u do this u create a crown on the surface of the tire so then u have to lower the pressure of the tire to keep even tire wear and then after u have lowered your tire pressure when driving on the freeway the tire gets really hot and starts shredding rumber meaning u don't get the proper mileage out of a tire and off road u stretch the tire and make it vunerable to sidewall punctures

[RangerX]

If you look at a BFG spec chart, it recommends 8-11" rim width for their 33x12.5x15 tires.

I ran my first set of that size BFG's on stock 7" rims, and got 50,000 miles of even wear from mud tires.

[Clint]

what size were they and were they muds cause damn that is some good wear with 33 inch mud bfg

[Elder Elemental Evil]

I have read in several places, one of which is Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, that you want your rim width to be as close to the tread width as possible. A 12.50 tire has a tread width close to 10 inches. My 33x1250x15 Thornbirds are 9.8 inches wide, and should thus be used on 15x10 wheels. However, I run them on 15x8 black mods. The other advantage is that the 15x8's are cheaper thatn the 15x10's, and that they do not stick as far outside of the fender as the 15x8's. I haven't had any problems with the tires on the 15x8's, except that the place I took it to to get an alignment said that their machine could not reach around my tires to grab the rim, and so they could not do the alignment because the rims were too narrow for the tires. I took the fron tires off and mounted my mom's mustang's front tires and drove it down there (looked pretty funny, I should have taken pictures) and was able to get the alignment that way.

[Maniak]

Keep in mind that the mustang people and the off-road Explorer people are after different goals. The mustang people want the looks and the handling while most of the off-road explorer people want function then looks (ok.. maybe the same).. but not on road handling. If your rim is too wide you don't get the extra help that a slightly smaller rim will give in holding the bead when your tires are aired down for wheeling.

Now if we were talking about a street oriented(sp?) explorer I'd say yes, keep them the same as that will normally give you better handling (but you also ususally have a much smaller sidewall with bigger/taller rims)..

~Mark

[olivesman]

i think we should all just get some 44x18.5's and a set of 14" beadlocks and say "screw it". that way we couldn't go wrong. it's all about the sidewall baby! -russel

[Elder Elemental Evil]

The reasons that I have heard that you use a rim that is closest to your tire's tred width is for proper wear purposes, not necassarily handling. The handling aspect comes with the type and size of tire, i.e. no handling advantage for a 33x1250 tire, as the height of the sidewalls allow for too much flex to even think about having good handling characteristics.

[cableguy]

I think the main reason people run 8" rims instead of 10" rims is because they don't rub. It puts the tire inside the wheelwell more and won't rub when you turn. I personally run 33x12.50 mt's on 8" wide rockcrawlers. After airing them down to around 10-14 psi this weekend in Attica, I had no complaints whatsoever. The cops leave me alone now and I don't rub when I go off road, so I am happy, and my truck is happy. I guess that's all that matters.