Cragar Soft 8's?

[xTOM153x]

A couple of months ago I installed BTF lift 2.25F/1.75R and put on 265/75/16 BFG All Terrains. So far I absolutely love the truck but the stance of the truck looks very narrow. I was looking at Cragar Soft 8's. Right now i have the 16x7 stock Ford rim. I want the tires to stick out past the fender flares. My question is which would be better? There is a 16x8 rim with 5in backspacing +13.00mm offset or a 16x7 rim with 4in backspacing 0mm offset?

 

[Riverrunner]

I'm running 16x8 soft 8's with 265's and the tires stick out about an 1".

 

[xTOM153x]

Are your 16x8 5in backspacing? also did you have purchase special lug nuts? Thanks

 

[Riverrunner]

Yep it's 5" BS. There is only one 16x8, 5 on 4.5 wheel offered.

No special lug nuts needed. I did get new nuts but there were included in the cost. the factory one's would of worked too. It's just a plain ol' steel wheel. Cheap too....



Front view....

 

[xTOM153x]

Thanks a lot for the information! I'm going to order them tonight and post a picture when they're on. Also btw your Explorer looks beast with those tires/rims.

 

[Riverrunner]

Thanks, Doesn't look like the average mall crawler and she see's a fair amount of off-pavement use. The small lift and bigger rubber definately helps it's offroad capability. I'm very happy with it and it's still a work in progress.

 

[xTOM153x]

I also ordered hubcentric rings for them to fit my hub since these rims are lugcentric. Have you had any problems with breaking studs or a lot of vibration at high speed with these?

 

[Riverrunner]

I've only had the wheels and tires about 3 months and 3k miles. I did have to have them rebalanced since I don't think America's Tire got it right the first time. Steel wheels are not as "perfect" as cast or machined as far as balance goes and the tires are not perfect either. With this size of tire and heavy wheels like the soft 8's and the reletively "soft" suspention of the explorer, the tire shop has to do a good job of balancing IMO to get the vibe's out. Seems to be fine now, however.

This is my second set of soft 8's. I had them on my 98 and had no issues. I've had several aftermarket wheels on various rigs and never got the hubcentric rings for any of them. Most of the aftermarket wheels are not hubcentric as I've come to find out. I think as long as you (or whoever) tighens the lugs in the right order and torques them to spec, it'll be fine.